Project Management Continuous Improvement

Jerrold West

330-***-**** Rittman, OH ***** *********@***.**.*** www.linkedin.com/in/jerroldwest

SUMMARY

Accomplished technology executive with over 20 years of experience in VP, Director, and Managerial roles, delivering strategic leadership and innovative solutions to drive organizational growth and operational excellence. Expertise includes technology implementation, project management, and team development, with a proven ability to reduce costs, optimize processes, and ensure seamless operations. Adept at addressing complex challenges such as cybersecurity compliance and remote work transitions while consistently meeting or exceeding SLAs. Skilled in ITIL framework adoption, vendor management, and cultivating a culture of continuous improvement. A forward-thinking leader passionate about leveraging emerging technologies, including AI and ML, to drive transformative change. Dedicated to lifelong learning and the strategic application of cutting-edge innovations.

COMPETENCIES

Leadership/ Strategic Planning/ Process Improvement/ Project Management/ PMO/ Agile Scrum/ PMP/ ITIL/ COBIT/ SMO/ Communications/ Staff Development/ Operations/ Vendor Management/ Analysis/ Compliance/ DR/BCP/ Teamwork/ IAM/ Security/ Procurement/ Employee Retention/ Service Delivery/ Mentoring/ Time Management/ People Management/ PCI/ CMMC/ SOX/ Data & Metrics/ Network and System/ Root Cause Analysis/ Development/ Budgeting/ Service Desk/ ITSM/ Roadmap/ CMDB/ Asset Management/ Licensing/ BI/ RPA/ Contract Negotiation/ Research and Development/ ERP Systems/ Cost Benefit Analysis/ Policy Planning/ User Training/ Troubleshooting and Issue Resolution/ DLP/ KPIs/ NOC & SOC Management/ Continuous Improvement/ Cybersecurity/ MSP Management

TECHNOLOGY

AWS/ M365/ Azure/ Entra ID/ SharePoint/ Exchange/ MS SQL Server/ MDM/ Intune/ Autopilot/ Mac OS/ IaaS/ SaaS/ PaaS/ VMware/ Hyper-V/ Linux/ Unix/ DNS/ DHCP/ WAN/ LAN/ VDI/ Citrix/ Cisco/ Meraki/ SonicWall/ Sophos/ Palo Alto/ SIEM/ Advanced Hardware & Software/ Salesforce/ Mimecast/ KnowBe4/ Tableau/ Ubiquiti/ NAS/ SAN/ iSCSI/ VoIP/ 8x8/ Five9/ CCaaS/ AV/ Single Sign-on (SSO)/ Zendesk

PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

As SVP of Information Technology:

oReduced telecom spending by more than $250,000 annually by eliminating waste, redundancy, and renegotiating existing contracts.

oAchieved a 99.3% monthly average for meeting Service Desk response Service Level Objectives.

oReduced equipment shipping costs by more than $10K monthly by adjusting processes and to eliminate overnight shipping charges and drop shipping from suppliers who offer free shipping.

oEffectively managed projects to bring the entire organization into 100% full cybersecurity compliance (GLBA, NYDFS, CCPA, CFPB, and PCI) ahead of defined deadlines.

oZERO Downtime when transitioning 5000 users to “Work from Home” in response to Covid-19.

oLed efforts and transitioned all IT Systems and Operations to the cloud within my first 6 months with the organization (AWS, O365, MS Azure, IaaS / SaaS / PaaS).

oImplemented an industry standard ITSM Service Operation framework adhering to ITIL v4 standards.

oImplemented new process and technologies to reduce support call abandon rate from an average of 16% in 2021, to just over 2% in 2022.

oDeveloped and implemented many new ticket handling automations utilizing RPA functionality within Salesforce. Automated approximately 40% of the ticket routing, ticket prioritization, and fulfillment of service requests.

oAdopted and implemented an ITIL based Change Enablement process and chair the Change Advisory Board (CAB) responsible for approving all IT system changes.

As Director / Manager of Information Technology:

oStreamlined processes and reduced overhead spending by more than $100,000 annually.

oAchieved a 98.9% customer satisfaction rating.

oManaged BSA Software Piracy Audit compliance program to settle legal requirements.

oReduced telecom spending by more than $30,000 annually by eliminating waste, redundancy, and renegotiating existing contracts.

WORK HISTORY

Midwest Industrial Supply, Inc. Canton, OH 6/2023 – 8/2024

DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Utilized a continuous improvement mindset along with proven ITIL and NIST frameworks to manage and direct an IT operations team responsible for helpdesk support, development, cybersecurity, compliance, reliability, and growth. Researched, selected, negotiated contracts, and managed relationships with all MSP and MSSP operations. Developed numerous process improvements through the implementation of an industry standard Helpdesk, Service Management, Problem and Project Management ticketing system which took advantage of available automations to fulfill service requests.

Implemented numerous redundancies to eliminate single points of failure throughout the organization by enacting new processes, hardware, and network segments to ensure a 99.9% uptime.

Transitioned all in-house AD functions to the Entra ID (Azure) cloud environment utilizing Microsoft Intune, Autopilot, and Microsoft ATP for endpoint management.

Introduced over $35,000 in savings by analyzing and eliminating waste within the existing IT budget.

Managed the implementation and configuration of a document management system, incorporating automation and workflow processes to streamline numerous business functions.

Implemented and oversaw the Document Management Steering Committee, charged with defining structure, standards, and policy for the safe and efficient handling of company documentation.

Implemented Microsoft Entra Purview Compliance to identify, classify, and tag company documentation with appropriate sensitivity labels by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Developed and implemented an ITIL standardized change management process for the IT operation.

Instituted an asset management program to document and track hardware and software assets, lifecycle management, contracts, leases, and facilitated asset recovery from terminated employees.

Developed, documented, and implemented numerous policies and procedures.

Negotiated contracts and pricing with both Microsoft and Cisco for more than $40,000 in savings for the purchase of upgraded hardware and software purchases.

Initiated and oversaw efforts to implement PCI and CMMC compliance by adopting and adhering to NIST 800-171 standards.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC Cleveland, OH 6/2016 – 6/2023

SVP OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Successfully built and managed an IT team of 50+ individuals supporting the needs of 8,000+ employees, disbursed across most of the 50 states and Puerto Rico. Implemented numerous processes to eliminate excess spending and reduce overall costs through internal investigations, negotiations with vendors, and implementing new standards of operation and process change.

Oversaw and managed corporate security operations responsible for monitoring, testing, end user training, incident response, and remediation.

Implemented, oversaw, and managed equipment & acquisition teams who were responsible for contract negotiation, order fulfillment, shipping, receiving, and tracking of all technology assets.

Orchestrated and managed all technical support, service desk, network/systems engineering, and access teams responsible for all technical platforms. Oversaw and managed the PMO and IT Project management teams.

Modernized and managed the communications and IT onboarding process and teams responsible for all telecom systems, and the successful onboarding/offboarding of over 500 branch offices.

Management, development & deployment of streamlined and efficient ITSM systems built upon the Salesforce Service Cloud SaaS platform.

Implemented and managed a Five9 enabled Contact Center (CCaaS) operation to efficiently handle incoming support requests, ultimately creating a better customer experience (CX).

Developed and managed a standardized Knowledge Base system/function, laying the groundwork for the development and deployment of the ML chatbot “Self Service” tool.

Developed, analyzed, and reported on many new KPIs and Metrics to identify areas of improvement for all IT support teams. (MTTR, FRT, Adherence to defined SLOs, Call answer/abandon rates, etc.)

Worked with senior business leadership to develop and implement appropriate Service Level Objectives (SLO) for the entire IT operation.

Introduction and adoption of an ITIL v4 principle-based framework to promote greater alignment with new ways of working, such as Lean, Agile, and DevOps to co-create additional business value.

SD Myers, Inc. Tallmadge, OH 7/2010 – 1/2016

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER

Managed and directed an IT operations and development staff of 8 and built a more effective and cohesive team in a Windows/VMware/SQL Server/IIS/Exchange/SharePoint/Cisco Environment. Implemented site security and monitoring tools to establish a consistent 99.95% uptime for all network and server tech.

Provided strategic planning, project management, financial analysis, budget management, contract negotiation and management, staff development/training, performance evaluations, and delegation.

Worked with business leadership to develop and implement appropriate Service Level Objectives (SLO) for much of the IT operation.

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Bachelor of Science – Business Administration University of Phoenix Online (Phoenix, AZ)

Associate of Science – Management Information Systems Stark Technical College (North Canton, OH)

Leadership Essentials Certification University of Akron (Akron, OH)

Applied Project Management Certification University of Akron (Akron, OH)

Agile Scrum Product Owner Certification Scrum Alliance

Amazon AWS Certification (Certified Cloud Practitioner)

VMware Certifications (VCA-Cloud, VCA-DCV)

Microsoft Certification (MCP)

Microsoft Certification (AZ-900, Azure Fundamentals)

ITIL v4 Certification (Foundations)

ITIL v4 Strategist Certification (DPI)

ITIL v4 Specialist Certification (CDS)

ITIL v4 Managing Professional Certification (MP)

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