Owner / IT Business Leader

Colin De Mers

Waunakee, WI **************@*****.*** 608-***-**** www.linkedin.com/in/colin-de-mers

Innovative and Strategic Technology and Business Leader

Healthtech / Finance / Utility / Multi-Industry Consulting / Manufacturing Industries

Technology Leader offering 25+ years of progressive experience in the technology space within established companies such as Citigroup, Epic, and FTI Consulting. Problem solver who thinks outside the box to solve organizational issues.

Skills and Expertise

Backup & Restore Infrastructure Budgeting, Cost Control and Forecasting Cost-Benefit Analysis Business Continuity KPI and Goals Cross-Functional Team Leadership Coaching, Training & Mentoring Stakeholder Engagement Scalable Architecture C, Python, Anaconda Unix, Linux, Solaris, Windows Server, Mac OS, Oracle Cloud Agile methodology (Agile, DevOps, Scrum) Microsoft Project, Azure DevOps SaaS, IaaS SOX, SOC-1, SOC-2 Compliance Knowledge Data Center Management Some networking knowledge Cybersecurity

Leadership Certification

NASBA Center for the Public Trust Ethical Leadership Certification (Culture / Leadership / Strategy) - July 2019

Contracting Expertise

Coeur De La Terre Holdings LLC Waunakee, WI July 2018–Present

Owner / IT Business Leader

Offer IT leadership and business expertise to 15+ small- to medium-sized clients with 100–500 employees in locations from California to Wisconsin; industries include medical and manufacturing.

Provide services such as analysis of strategic positioning within a given market, identification of startup costs, development of IT business structuring plans, and elevation of customer experience through identification and implementation of zero cost-add solutions.

Contracted by GLG Partners to perform business analysis, SWOT analysis, and various IT and business projects for company clients.

Researching applied quantum computing in finance and engineering using Microsoft's Azure Quantum and Anaconda (Python).

Leveraged quantum computing to analyze portfolios for stock trading activities to achieve 100+% return in 2018 and 2021, using Anaconda on Microsoft’s quantum computer.

Career Highlights

Madison Gas and Electric (MG&E) Madison, WI March 2020–January 2022

Financial Systems Analyst, Level 2

Provided business computing services and reports using SQL, including Separation of Duties (SOD) reports. Acted as a liaison between IT and other functional areas.

Worked with Oracle Cloud in 5 separate environments.

Experienced with Azure DevOps.

Managed CoA (Chart of Accounts), providing additions as needed.

Delivered analysis, documentation, and execution of software system test plans to verify accuracy of system changes for implementations, upgrades, and modifications.

Utilized Cherwell and Azure to monitor project progress (error identification and issue reporting.)

Performed test and development system post-refresh steps after Oracle updates to comply with MG&E standards.

Responsible for the Oracle Mobile Expenses project, including documenting progress.

Gained experience with Agile and Scrum development methodology.

Took almost 2 years of LTD to get my knees replaced and find a new position

EPIC Verona, WI July 2015–June 2018

Senior Unix, Security and Caché Database Engineer

Developed process to back up HP-UX server boot drives, enabling the restoration of HP-UX server boot drives without rebuilding the entire systems.

oGenerated up to $10M+ in income loss mitigation and cut 2 - 3 days of system rebuilding per system by restoring data for production and development systems running on HP-UX UNIX systems.

Deployed open-source OpenVAS security scanner that quickly identified security risks requiring remediation, with no process downtime. Decreased vulnerability of internal systems and secured UNIX / Windows / VMware systems.

Conducted cost-benefit analysis, cash-flow analysis and NPV analysis for multiple projects, including cost of data center rack space when installing new data center components.

Appointed as an integral member of 2 key Epic IT councils:

oInternal Security Council (champion company-wide security efforts).

oBusiness Continuity Council (develop protocol identifying restoration order and timelines of infrastructure components in the event of a catastrophe).

Owned quarterly UNIX server infrastructure review process and remediation as directed by FDA requirements.

Support for a small number of Windows Servers, updating Caché and overall administration.

Note: Took 2 years of LTD to get knees replaced one at a time an also find a new position.

FTI Consulting Inc. Annapolis, MD April 2013–July 2015

Business Manager

Oversaw and improved communication with 2 business segment owners.

Conducted cost-benefit analyses, identified cost savings opportunities, and supported the development of future infrastructure design goals for 2 main business segment leaders. Also responsible for forecasting future technology trends.

oDelivered critical cost-benefit analysis of on-premises versus cloud SAN architectures which resulted in cost avoidance of $250K per year.

Chosen as a member of 5-person subject matter expert panel that provided legal and operational input for technical contracts, Master Service Agreements (MSAs), vendor agreements, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), among many other contracts.

Developed 2 technology and best practices trainings for managers and other stakeholders and conducted trainings for 21–30 managers and senior managers.

Oversaw storage billing chargeback program that billed $2M+ in annual infrastructure costs.

FTI Consulting Inc. Annapolis, MD March 2006–April 2013

Data Backup Group Manager / Chief Architect

Saved FTI over $100 million by designing, implementing, managing, and continuously improving a robust global data backup and recovery system. Lead team of 3 experienced data backup engineers, and $1 million OpEx and $1 million Capex per year to oversee operations of 3 sites worldwide.

Assigned tasks and projects, led troubleshooting efforts, and held weekly staff meetings with data backup group.

Led teams of vendors and employees to accomplish several extensive integration and infrastructure refresh efforts.

Managed contract staff from multiple vendors worldwide.

Responsible for budgeting requests, forecasting, and forensic analysis of other groups’ benefit analyses.

Improved data restore rate from 0% to 98% and sustained that level for seven years.

oArchitected, implemented, and managed enterprise-level encrypted data protection solutions.

oLed disaster recovery/business continuity efforts and performed biannual execution of efforts

Spearheaded 1 major and 3 minor integration and infrastructure refresh projects.

Stanley Black & Decker Inc. Towson, MD May 2002–March 2006

Systems and Storage Group Team Lead

Led a team of 7 UNIX systems administrators.

Generated $20M+ savings by reducing downtime of servers and storage subsystems during critical production periods utilizing backups.

Co-architected, implemented, and managed a $25M EMC storage subsystem.

Developed standard operating procedure (SOP) for an SAP platform refresh process that shortened refresh times by 90%+ (from 3 days to 6 hours).

Education

M.B.A. in Finance (Minor in IT Management) University of Wisconsin—Whitewater

Honors & awards

Sub emphasis in IT management

Member Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society.

Served as a graduate student representative both with the graduate studies meetings as well as a graduate student representative for the College of Business and Economics graduate department heads and leadership to approve curriculum decisions as well as decisions which impacted the business school's programs and students. Have also served as a representative at MBA open house events to promote the graduate school's MBA program.

Volunteered to meet with heads of AACSB during the school's accreditation process. Also served on UWW's CoBE Dean search committee (Oct. - Dec. 2014). Spoke at special events such as MBA nights for new students, as well as AACSB committee for CoBE.

CFA Exam Level I Scholarship

oAssociated with CFA Institute. Won a $1,200 scholarship to take the Level I CFA Exam in June 2012.

CFA Institute Global Investment Research Challenge 2012 Team Member

Issued by University of Wisconsin Whitewater and CFA Institute · Feb 2012.

This was a sell-side financial analysis of JOY Global in Milwaukee, WI. We worked well together and our team of 4 people from CoBE placed 2nd of 5 in the first round of competition.

B.S. in Mathematics University of Maryland

Awarded 3 NSF grants in the field of non-linear control systems.

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