CTO

Robert W. Stepeck

New York, NY Southbury, CT

********@*****.*** 917-***-**** www.linkedin.com/in/robert-stepeck/

Chief Technology / Information Security Officer

Cloud Infrastructure Security and Compliance Product and Software Development

Data, Analytics and Reporting

Hands-on CTO/CISO with a legacy of designing and delivering innovative, cost-effective, secure, and high-performance IT infrastructure and applications working collaboratively with C-Level and Board colleagues. Deep experience with finance, sales and marketing, healthcare, Internet, insurance, manufacturing, R&D, and aerospace industries.

Global Leadership and Team Building Enterprise Security Architecture Process & Operational Excellence

Digital Transformation Business Strategy and Transformation Infrastructure, Architecture, Engineering

Policy, Governance, and Compliance Continuous Improvement Stakeholder & Business Engagement

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

SKYWIRE NETWORKS, Brooklyn, NY 2023 to Present

Chief Information Officer / Chief Information Security Officer

Skywire is a leading solutions provider that offers reliable, affordable, high-quality data, mobile and voice solutions to residents, small to medium-sized businesses and enterprises leveraging fixed wireless and fiber delivery solutions. Managed network engineering, software development, cybersecurity, product, AWS Infrastructure and desktop support. Led team of 40+. Oversaw $5M+ budget. Reported to CEO.

Tasked with streamlining and scaling business operations. Mapped current business process and systems, detailing overlapping processes and data. Designed new architecture and detailed project plan to incrementally reduce systems, simplify integrations, lower operating expenses and time to market for all products and services.

Combined multiple disparate data sources into a single data warehouse/gold master to provide KPIs, analysis and actionable visualizations using Qlik while drastically reducing data inconsistencies across organization.

Implemented Salesforce for Residential and Enterprise business lines, covering Sales, Service, Installations, Customer Service and Marketing.

Deployed offshore teams from India for development and Philippines for customer service, reducing cost – improving scale and customer satisfaction.

Moved all development teams to Agile, focus on prioritization and always working on the most important tasks. Provided clear transparency on all development efforts using KPIs and Jira dashboards.

Implemented SolarWinds and Aruba ClearPass to provide networking monitoring, alerting and multi-factor authentication across all network devices and servers increasing uptime/reliability to 99.99%.

Instituted Mimecast for email security and cybersecurity training, Crowdstrike for EDR, Expel for MDR (24x7 SOC) and full identify management and MFA across organization. Moved NIST cybersecurity score from 18% to 55% in 5 months.

CLARITY SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, Madison, CT 2019 to 2023

Chief Technology Officer / Chief Information Security Officer

Clarity is the leading provider of healthcare communications and member engagement and is part of the Morgan Stanley technology portfolio. Managed cybersecurity, product, engineering. Infrastructure, compliance, customer support and desktop. Designed dynamically scalable, distributed client data processing system that was both efficient and performant in handling highly variable workloads. Led team of 200+. Oversaw $20M+ budget. Reported to CEO.

Took successful startup to scalable SaaS company, leveraging dedicated development teams, Agile processes, Jira, and Confluence. Focus on building tools to remove manual processes. Restructured technology and operations, aligning company roadmap across all departments and stakeholders.

Architected and migrated on-premises and private cloud applications to AWS, saving $4M+ per year on infrastructure costs while increasing security, reliability, and client satisfaction and reducing day to day maintenance via automated DevOps leveraging containerized deployment via Docker & Kubernetes. Achieved 4 9s reliability through AWS architecture leveraging both availability zones and separate regions. Conducted

Robert W. Stepeck www.linkedin.com/in/robert-stepeck/ Page 2 of 3

regular failover and tabletop exercises to validate DR and Business Continuity processes. Created all relevant business continuity and compliance documentation.

Leveraged multiple offshore relationships in India, Europe, Philippines and South America to scale development and outsource data onboarding, increasing capacity and saving $1.4M per year.

Implemented state-of-the-art security tooling, 3rd party security partners and built a dedicated in-house cybersecurity team, ensuring enterprise level information security across all departments, systems and data.

Instituted processes for cybersecurity training, vulnerability scans, regular penetration tests (technical and social), system software updates, integrating with advanced monitoring and automated remediation.

Architected and built data warehouse to provide KPIs, analysis and state of the art visualizations, using Qlik for both internal teams and external clients. Leveraged AWS AI/ML for next best action for medical services.

Built out enterprise level Customer Experience team, including advanced software to create, track and analyze critical KPI metrics to allow for continuous improvement of processes and training, improving customer satisfaction metrics 50%.

Owner of compliance, creating state of the art security and compliance to ensure protection of customer Personal Health Information (PHI) and gained HITRUST, SOC2 and HIPAA certifications.

CYRUS CAPITAL PARTNERS, New York, NY 2015 to 2019

Chief Technology Officer / Chief Information Security Officer

Cyrus Capital is a hedge fund specializing in distressed credit with over $4B under management. Led team of 75+ and $25M budget reporting to COO. Delivered secure and agile technology footprint, leveraged a needs-oriented / product-first managerial approach to IT that transitioned a rudimentary cybersecurity system into a state-of-the-art platform that became the envy of Wall Street for boutique hedge funds. Ensured critical day-to-day functionality, conducting weekly workstation and server updates, real-time asset scanning, and annual social / technical penetration testing, security training and DR implementation. Designed and implemented corporate data warehouse containing golden record MDM standard for all trading, investor, fund accounting, payroll and vendor data.

Conducted company-wide listening tour before introducing pragmatic systems and security infrastructure, reducing overall IT budget by 50%, increasing employee retention and turning handwritten financial reports taking days to complete into fully automated, gold master-based reporting generated within seconds.

Migrated production infrastructure to Azure public cloud, increasing reliability and reducing costs by $1.7M per year. Achieved 4 9s reliability through Azure architecture leveraging both availability zones and separate regions. Conducted regular failover and tabletop exercises to validate DR and Business Continuity processes.

Leveraged Python and R to create custom analytic and risk models for distressed credit trading desk.

Instituted uniformity and redundancy across all global offices via common infrastructure, software, security and processes while at the same time overseeing design, deployment and monitoring of all information security systems, policies and procedures, including security architecture, R&D and 3rd-party integration.

Designed and implemented enterprise cybersecurity architecture based on traditional and AI-based systems, producing overlapping “fields of fire” for immediate detection and automated mitigation of technical and social attacks. Complied with all SEC, NIST CSF and FINRA Cybersecurity requirements.

Partnered with CIO / Owner, COO and CFO to create a unified business culture, analyze existing operations and introduce proactive and responsive IT and security solutions, addressing immediate and long-term strategic goals.

Transitioned “ad-hoc” fixed paper reporting process into a leading-edge, fully interactive, Qlik-based reporting system comprised of internal data warehouse and 3rd party datasets.

Directed complete transformation of multiple departments’ business functions, upgrading a hand-built, one-off Excel-based system into a combination of streamlined 3rd-party and custom-built in-house applications, resulting in a massive reduction in errors, cost and wasted time and effort.

Oversaw technology design and buildout of a new office with move executed over weekend, delivering uniformity via Surface Pro laptops / docks, designing lighting, simplifying AV & VOIP systems, leveraging Zoom-based conferencing, installing integrated furniture, and architecting data room, servers, networking, and redundant power / internet.

Robert W. Stepeck www.linkedin.com/in/robert-stepeck/ Page 3 of 3

NOVUS PARTNERS, New York, NY 2011 to 2015

Chief Technology Officer / Chief Operations Officer

Fulfilled dual CTO/COO role, managed $10M technology budget while transitioning boutique portfolio analytics and data solutions firm from a promising start-up with a limited prototype into a SaaS product with a world-class engineering team supporting high-end allocator and manager clients with over $2T in assets. Led team of 100+ reporting to CEO.

Cultivated a collaborative team of risk & fixed income experts and top developers to architect a scalable, distributed, high-volume / high-speed system, enabling hedge funds, endowments and foundations to maximize ROI through discovery of true investment acumen and risk, proprietary industry insights and effortless data management.

Implemented pragmatic approach to technology, delivering a leading-edge platform founded on proven and tested principles, saving over $1.5M per year by designing and implementing customized Equinix data center.

Introduced repeatable and redundant engineering process and governance controls in Agile and test-driven development environments, resulting in major reduction in production issues and support time.

Employed sleeves-up / door’s open / lead-by-example managerial approach, growing technology department from a staff of 10 to over 100 capable and driven product owners, architects, developers, data scientists, testers and sysops engineers.

Leveraged multiple offshore relationships in India and Eastern Europe, to scale development and outsource data onboarding, increasing capacity and saving $1.M+ per year.

Capitalized on highly effective organizational and time management skills while delivering projects on-time and on budget, including Risk Allocators, Fixed Income, MemSQL, ETL SOA migration and datacenter build / migration with real-time telemetry (AppDynamics) and automated monitoring / alerting to ensure high availability (“four nines” uptime SLA).

TARANGIRE, New York, NY 2004 to 2011

Chief Technology Officer

Owner and CTO of a technology company specializing in providing full life cycle consulting services. Internal staff of 25 engineers and data scientists, consultant staffing from 10-100, offshore and internal client as required

NATIONAL WESTERN LIFE INSURANCE, Austin, TX – Aug 2009 to 2011

Program manager and architect overseeing a staff of 100+ with full P&L responsibility for the design, implementation and deployment of a comprehensive insurance and annuities enterprise solution using C#/ASP/.NET, Java, SQL Server 2008 and SSRS. Tasked with replacing legacy Policy Administration, Claims and New Business systems that were built using S/390 Assembly language, CICS entry screens and standard ASP web pages

HART SYSTEMS, Hauppauge, NY – Sep 2009 to 2011

Coordinated with in-house IT staff to evaluate current technology infrastructure including servers, software, web architecture, security and databases. Evaluation included documentation of areas in need of improvement broken down by criticality. Produced project plan with cost/benefit analysis for all recommended updates. Created Standards & Best Practices documents for each functional area within IT. Worked with IT staff to provide hands-on training for C# development using Visual Studio and Database tuning and management with using SQL Server Management Studio

OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER, Albany, NY – Mar 2009 to 2010

Worked with in-house IT staff to evaluate current technology infrastructure including servers, software, web architecture, security and databases. Evaluation included documentation of areas in need of improvement broken down by criticality. Produced project plan with cost/benefit analysis for all recommended updates. Created Standards & Best Practices documents for each functional area within IT. Worked with IT staff to provide hands-on training for C# development using Visual Studio and Database tuning and management with using SQL Server Management Studio

ECHO TRADE, New York, NY – Sep 2008 to 2011

Architect, analyst and lead developer for a suite of financial applications built using Java, C#/.NET 3.0, WPF, WCF, Activ Financial market data, Sterling execution and SQL Server 2008/Oracle 10g database backend including:

oUS and LSE equities black box automated trading system. Ultra high performance system capable of tracking 8000 equities while calculating 200+ market analytics for each, checking each print against a library of 80 strategies, placing orders and automatically managing positions. Position manager tracks market conditions in real time and adjusts risk parameters and trade size based on market state and current risk profile. Dynamically configurable system can adjust profit/loss goals, strategy capital, position size, entry criteria and a variety of other inputs in real-time using a dashboard interface

oMarket analytic filtering and execution tool. Client server application that uses predefined stock baskets as well as user created baskets based on custom analytic variables and user defined filters. Each basket of stocks can be manipulated by the user and executed directly using Sterling

oTrade tracking tool which maps individual trades against a set of market analytics giving traders feedback on each of their trades as well as summary reports outlining successful strategies and market conditions

oTickerplant which tracks 8000+ equities in real-time saving HLOCV information as well as imbalances, standard deviation and a host of analytics using an Activ Financial feed

SOUTHERN CONTAINER CORP, Hauppauge, NY – July 2007 to 2010

Architect and operations analyst with overall responsibility for the design, implementation and creation of corporate application (C#/.NET), data (DB2, SQL Server 2005 & Oracle 10g) and reporting (Crystal 2008 & SSRS) architecture. Tasked with replacing and consolidating various legacy systems including SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, ISAM, AS/400 (RPG), Lawson and KiwiPlan systems into the new corporate architecture. Upgraded existing SQL Server 2000 systems to SQL Server 2005 and migrated all procedures, data and recovery plans. Worked with a team of 15 including corporate sponsors, business analysts, application, database & report developers and QA/training personnel.

T3 LIVE, New York, NY – Feb 2007 to 2011

Technical architect and business analyst with primary responsibility for the creation of a US equities black box automated trading system supervising a team of 5 developers. Work with traders to document and digitize various trading strategies, risk management and market variables. Designed C NET application and SQL Server 2005 data architecture. Created data model and data dictionary using ERWin. Using 10 years of market data designed and tested various analytics and identified correlations. Designed and implemented testing setup to allow back testing and paper trading. Created real-time reports using SSRS for both individual trading strategies and P&L.

WIN HEALTHCARE, Rye Brook, NY – Feb 2005 to January 2007

CTO responsible for the development of medical, pharmacy and claims systems supervising a staff of 20 developers, analysts, testers and trainers. Worked with clinical and business users to gather and document all business requirements. Developed a C#/.NET/J2EE service oriented application architecture using IBM WebSphere application server and Oracle 10g database architecture for national healthcare company. Researched and documented claims adjudication rules and then designed and implemented a custom claims adjudication application. Created data model and physical databases for medical, pharmacy and claims applications using ERWin. Designed, coded and tested all application SQL and server based PL/SQL stored procedures. Designed, wrote, executed and verified data migration programs/scripts for migration from Microsoft Access to Oracle 10g. Responsible for all application and database performance tuning. Built all enterprise reports using Business Objects Crystal Reports and Cognos. Performed extensive data analysis on medical claims data and pharmacy data and produced supporting reports and commentary, focusing on both areas of improper or hidden billing and fraud. Experienced in all forms of medical coding including CPT, ICD-9, DRG and HCPCS codes. Implemented EDI for processing claims and E-Script for specialty online pharmacy PBX.

ERWIN PEARL, New York, NY – Jan 2004 to 2012

Program manager and technical architect responsible for the development and implementation an IT plan for this fashion jewelry company to move from a manual/paper based system to leveraging technology to increase sales, manage inventory and provide real time feedback of sales trends. Led business and data requirements collection and documentation, working with leaders from purchasing, production, warehousing, shipping, sales and marketing to create a comprehensive business and data model from which a complete set of tools and databases could be built. Primary application and database architect for a .NET and SQL Server based system managing a team of 8 developers and analysts to deliver a sales and marketing tool to match inventory to buyers, track purchase habits, create customized reports and facilitate inter-store communication between 25 nationwide branches.

A PIECE OF THE PLAY, New York, NY – Jan 2004 to June 2005

Program manager and technical architect. Designed and created a complete online system for the cataloging, presentation, sales and shipping of game used NHL hockey pucks. Data warehouse constructed from reverse engineering of the NHL FTP site containing multiple file directories of all NHL data including team & individual statistics. Initial prototype was done using MS Access and a Visual Basic user interface. The production system allows for both the administration and reporting of inventory and online sales via the Internet using J2EE and a SQL Server 2000 backend.

VISALIA, New York, NY 1995 to 2004

Chief Technology Officer

Founded a technology company specializing in providing management, engineering and consulting services to the commercial, financial, manufacturing and IT markets. Responsible for client procurement & sales, relationship management, technology strategy & acquisition, capital expenditures and staffing. Responsible for 75 in-house and 200+ client employees from developers and project managers to business analysts and support personnel.

PHILIP MORRIS, New York, NY

Instituted a business driven IT culture in Sales & Marketing to leverage technology to rapidly respond to business opportunities and increase market share and overall sales volume.

Designed and implemented the Promotion Management Consolidated System (PMCS) using .NET and Oracle. PMCS is used by marketers to plan, construct, budget, communicate and distribute retail promotions to the Retail Sales Force. Deployment of PMCS increased overall sales by 10%, lifted promotional sales from $200 million to $2 billion and increased promoted volume from 5% to 80% of total volume.

Initiated a review of existing sales force processes and identified manual, time intensive areas in need of automation. Developed a suite of web based sales tools using J2EE that facilitated immediate turnaround, which allowed for the application of strategic marketing goals, a 40% reduction in the cost per promotion cycle and a reduction in human error.

Built and staffed a 24/7 customer support center responsible for handling and tracking user requests. Maintained a customer support register to follow up on defects, feature requests and status of each support request.

Planned and led the organization through platform migration converting all Sales & Marketing applications from Mac to PC. This was a three-year conversion that was completed 6 months ahead of schedule and $500,000 under budget.

Developed and executed a Year 2000 certification project plan for Sales & Marketing. Year 2000 issues were successfully detected, corrected and tested well in advance of the 2000 dateline.

AOL TIME WARNER, New York, NY

Provided a software solution to facilities management at Home Box Office. This suite of Mac based tools allowed planners to schedule sound stages, equipment and personnel at multiple HBO production facilities. These tools eliminated overlap and increased total facility usage resulting in the savings of $100,000 in the first year and $250,000 the following year.

Instituted a successful change management process leading to greater accountability, improved scheduling and a more business driven enhancement process.

Provided a wide range of training courses, including all training materials. Courses were taught in object oriented design and programming, business process analysis and facility management.

THOMAS H. LEE CAPITAL, LLC, Boston, MA

Designed and installed a secure network between New York, Boston and overseas offices.

Provided on-call desktop support for both the New York and Boston offices.

JP MORGAN, New York, NY 1993 to 1995

Officer of the Bank

Manager - Foreign Exchange Rates

Develop, execute and support rates storage, delivery and analysis tools to the JP Morgan foreign exchange desks located at 18 branches worldwide. Perform risk assessment on existing foreign exchange network and applications. Based on risk assessment, produce plan for migrating from multiple platforms and independent servers to an integrated client/server solution utilizing JP Morgan’s global data network and a common PC platform. Supervised 20 developers and business analysts. Reported to the Managing Director of Foreign Exchange.

Implemented Foreign Exchange Instrument Rates (FXIR), a global real-time rates entry, delivery and analysis client/server application. FXIR is used globally by foreign exchange traders for market making and analysis. Worked with traders to produce specifications of mathematical models for various analytics including forward rate agreements (FRAs) crosses, zero coupon curves, hedging and position exposure.

Developed Chartist, a financial charting and analysis tool used in 18 JP Morgan branches worldwide by over 1500 clients. Chartist receives 2000+ financial instruments in real time and displays charts & graphs using a wide variety of analytical tools and customized layouts. Analytics include correlations, directional movement, historical volatility, moving average, oscillator, parabolic, RSI and stochastic.

Designed and delivered market data systems to incorporate real time rates contribution and delivery to/from a variety of financial services. These rate systems store historical data in a data warehouse and provide a cross-platform API for use by any application in the bank.

PRODIGY SERVICES COMPANY, White Plains, NY 1989 to 1993

Director of Reception Systems

Responsible for all technologies of the Prodigy Service as well as providing content creation tools to the application development team. Played a major role in the national launch of the Prodigy Service. Supervised 25 multi-level professionals. Reported to the VP of Information Systems.

Designed the architecture and oversaw the implementation of the Prodigy Network. This pre-internet nationwide X.25 network allowed users to access the network from anywhere in the US.

Developed the Prodigy Application Language (PAL), a platform independent interpreted language similar to today’s Java. PAL is used by in-house application developers to produce content for the Prodigy service. A complete set of development tools was provided, including compiler, linker and interactive debugger.

Developed the Prodigy Reception System (RS), which serves as the base application for the Prodigy service. The RS is responsible for running and displaying PAL content, streaming video and providing communications to the Prodigy network and tracking user activity.

NORDEN SYSTEMS, Norwalk, CT 1985 to 1989

Mode Engineer

Mode Engineer for Air-to-Air flight software, assembling and managing a team of eight engineers and scientists. Responsible for all aspects including system design and military specification documentation, military approvals, coding, integration and verification of mode performance through flight-test.

Delivered an Air-to-Air package with over the horizon and fire and forget capabilities.

Exceeded Air Force performance requirements in both number of trackable/engageable targets and weapon delivery range.

Senior Software Engineer

Assembled and directed Programmable Signal Processor (PSP) Diagnostics, a team of hardware and software engineers responsible for the design and development of all radar diagnostics.

Led a team of 6 engineers in the design, implementation and testing of fault isolation assembly language and micro diagnostics for the Norden designed PSP. Worked with the team of hardware engineers to produce an automated diagnostic package used to verify the entire radar system prior to delivery to customer as well as FIT, the in-flight diagnostic package.

Supervised the development of the PSP Exerciser, a real-time software package used for flight worthiness testing. This package operated the system at capacity simultaneously or in user configured groups to verify radar integrity during extreme flight and environmental conditions.

Software Engineer

Developed, tested and deployed an operating system for use on a Z80 based microcomputer for the debugging of digital signal processors. This embedded system examines and modifies memory, executes run and breakpoint control and manages communication and terminal interfaces.

Designed, implemented and certified the PSP Test Set DR11, RS232 and IEE488 access software used to communicate with the PSP from various VAX computers.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science, University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT

SKILLS

AWS:

S3 / RDS / Terraform / Lambda / Route53 / CloudWatch / Docker / Kubernetes / KMS

Languages:

C++, C#, Java, Scala, R, Python, JavaScript, Assembly

Frameworks:

.NET, J2EE, Angular.js, Backbone.js, Play, Spark, Apache, Mesos

Databases:

SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MemSQL, Mongo, DB2, GridGain, Hazelcast

Reporting:

Qlik, Tableau, SSRS, Crystal Reports, Cognos

Platforms:

Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Thompson Reuters, Bloomberg, Geneva, FIS, SS&C, Electra, Xpressfeed, Sterling, Activ Financial, Microsoft Office 365

Contact this candidate