Infrastructure Project Management, Project Delivery

Gopal Shankar Thangavelu

Ph. +1-732-***-**** email: ***************@*****.***

Objective: Seeking a position as a Project/Program/Delivery Manger where I can utilize my strong Project Management and people management skills to leverage my expertise and to help the organization achieve its goals.

20 years of IT Program/Project delivery & Management experience

Extensive experience in handing close to 15+ projects of various size, complexities from kick-off to delivery

Hands on experience in handling various technical teams of NOC, network, server and application management.

Successfully delivered the projects within budget and on schedule gaining client satisfaction. Academics:

B.E., bachelor's in computer science & engineering International Certification in Project Management, PMI PMP Professional summary:

Sr. Project/Program Delivery Manager with an expertise in Program, Project & People management @ various IT industries ranging from Internet Service Provider, Product, IT Consulting Services & Utility providers.

Managed Projects delivery in On-Prem, Cloud, data center/network operation centers (NOC) under the areas of Network, Server, Application Software development, Enhancements & Data Centre related environments.

20 years of IT Program/Project delivery & Management experience with proven expertise in infrastructure projects planning and implementation with strong Project & People Management skills, Customer service attitude, exceptional organizational ability, Procurement process and supply chain management, along with communication skills bundled with technical knowledge.

Demonstrated ability to quickly learn organizational processes, workflows, policies and procedures, ensuring Service Delivery & maintaining service quality norms.

Expertise in handling IT Infrastructure projects under both Cloud & On-Prem areas. Major contribution towards Network & Security related commissioning & decommissioning projects including all types of migration activities within Data Centre and between Data Centers.

Capable of handling multiple roles simultaneously. Successfully handled projects through all its phases beginning from solutioning to Steady State support (BAU). Excellent qualifications in strategic planning with comprehensive knowledge in technical, management, organizational development, team building and project execution.

Strong communication skills to handle Clients across the globe.

PMI Certified, AWS Certified, IBM Certified, Cisco Certified & Microsoft Certified Tools and Skills: PMI based PMP delivery, Agile project delivery, CCNA, MCP, Data Networks, 24*7 Data Centre / NOC operations, Wi-Fi & Wi-MAX Wireless Networks, IBM Cloud, AWS, Software Application deployment, Application software enhancements delivery.

Professional Experience:

ViaPlus, Carrollton, TX, USA Oct 2024 - till date

Sr. Project Delivery Manager

Co-ordination with business to understand client requirements & enhancements. Collaboration with Network architects, engineers, & implementers to develop a roadmap and plan for delivery.

Schedule and present the delivery plan to business and top management to get it baselined.

Co-ordinate with-in Data Center/Network Operations Center (NOC) to have the on-prem /cloud infrastructure ready for deployment.

Gopal Shankar Thangavelu

Ph. +1-732-***-**** email: ***************@*****.***

Onshore/Offshore coordination to have the baselined plan moved to implementation

Regular co-ordination with Offshore delivery team to have the issues/risks addressed and mitigated.

Monitored team performance, provided constructive feedback, and identified areas for improvement to ensure goals were met.

Managed the resolution of recurring client issues, ensuring proactive measures were in place to prevent future occurrences. Ensured timely and efficient project completion by managing schedules effectively.

Collaboration and Escalation Support: Collaborated with the Delivery Director to provide escalation support for reactive issues and optimize resource utilization.

Identified and promoted additional services to existing clients and maintaining service standards.

Reported to Engineering Director

Project Highlights:

Enhancement areas on CTRMA/SR-91 ongoing production toll back-office system covering website redesign, HV Impoundment, Digital Wallet, POS device and PCI IVR implementations. Consolidated Edison (ConEd), NY, USA Jul 2022 – Aug 2024 Sr. Project Manager

Maximo Consolidation, to design, migrate all functionalities from an inhouse designed SharePoint tool to salesforce. Full lifecycle project management including vendor management. Size: Large, Complexity: High, Budget: $10M

Redundant Auto-failover Commissioning, to design and implement an auto failover path for an application team to access their vendor. Managed the firewall and network SME’s, design, co-ordinate with the external vendor until the scope is successfully implemented and handed over to Network operations center (NOC) Size: Medium, Complexity: Medium

Nutanix VDI Implementation, VM migration project where in the Nutanix Hypervisor hardware is moved across various data centers/NOC. Full lifecycle project management including 2 vendor management & their contracts. Size: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Budget: $8M

Rye Playland Connectivity Solution, to design & implement a new solution to have internet connectivity to corporate LAN network for employees during On-demand situations. Full lifecycle project management including 2 vendor management & contracts Size: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Budget: $5M IBM, Chennai, India Apr 2016 - Apr 2022

Project Manager

IBM Cloud (Soft Layer) projects for IBM North America, Canada, UK & European Enterprise clients – Year 2019 till April 2022 Size: Medium & Large, Complexity: Medium & Large, Budget: $11M

Dedicated Tape Backup & Recovery Infrastructure setup @ 2 IDCs/NOC for American Airlines – Year 2018 Size: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Budget: $10M

Tape Backup & Recovery cloud & Strategic DC/NOC Infrastructure setup to migrate Client data from the existing On-Prem DCs to new On-Prem & cloud Infrastructure for AT&T in IBM – Year 2016 to 2017. Size: Large, Complexity: Complex, Budget: $10M

AT&T Firewall Refresh, to replace Net Screen Firewalls to Juniper SRX-300 as per the audit compliance @ US, Canada, UK, Singapore NOC locations. Global procurement with SCM – Year 2016 till 2017. Size: Large, Complexity: Complex, Budget: $12M

Roles & Responsibilities:

Part of the Sales to Delivery discussion where the project will be handed over to the project services by the engagement Architect / Manager.

Delivered projects based on PMI PMP based delivery methodologies. Gopal Shankar Thangavelu

Ph. +1-732-***-**** email: ***************@*****.***

Gather requirements on stake-holder details, approved budget, timelines for project delivery

Conduct Kick-off, discuss with resource manager to engage appropriate resources from the project pool based on the requirements.

Prepare & maintain Action, Risk, Issues logs & maintain the same till end / closure of every project.

Co-ordinate with Network / Back-up solution Architects until the Technical solution document gets finalized and delivered. Interface with engineers, prepare and deliver the project plan and get it baselined with the client.

Conduct weekly project calls, send minutes, document all project related activities, and store it in a centralized repository.

Conduct weekly status update on the project progress with the completed and in-progress task and milestones to the stakeholders including the budget spent. Send an email to stakeholder's weekly on the project status.

Raise PCRs whenever necessary on demand scope creep. Conduct audits on cross-sectional accounts based on the process documents.

Test and handover the Project to the Steady state team (BAU) and close the project with an operation readiness assessment.

Document Lessons Learnt, store all project documents in the centralized repository and close the project. Hewlett Packard, Chennai, India Mar 2013 - Mar 2016 Project Manager

Commissioning & Decommissioning projects under leveraged networks for various Corporate & enterprise Clients in Hewlett Packard Enterprise – Year 2015 till 2016. Size: Small & Medium, Complexity: Medium, Budget: $8M

Commissioning of new links, network devices & Decommission Projects for Enterprise & Retail segments for Bank of America client in Hewlett Packard - Year 2013 till 2014. Size: Small & Medium, Complexity: Medium, Budget: $5M

Roles & Responsibilities:

Part of Project services team engaged to deliver projects for Bank of America client.

Delivered projects based on PMI PMP based delivery methodologies.

Worked on their Retail and Enterprise IT infrastructure projects.

Calculated budget for the “Define” projects assigned. Presented the same to the client covering the man hours, hardware, software, firmware and support expenses.

Once approved took over the “Measure & Analyse” phase to implement the scope as prescribed during the “Define” phase. Delivered the project within the approved budget and timelines.

Worked as a change manager for Bimbo Bakeries client. Responsible for all the production and non- production changes to implement various infrastructure changes for client. All changes records created will be reviewed by me and the approval of regular and emergency changes will be given based on the artifacts attached to the change records.

Presented the changes during the CAB review call and will get the same approved. Accountable till the change records are in Implementation phase for the engineer to proceed with the change during the change window.

Gopal Shankar Thangavelu

Ph. +1-732-***-**** email: ***************@*****.***

Documented the results of all change records. For failed changes, the reason and the RCA are documented with the help of implementation engineers.

IBM, Chennai, India Jan 2012 - Mar 2013

Project Manager

802.3 refresh across AP regions for IBM Global Account – Year 2012. Size: Large, Complexity: Complex

Graduate Hire Tool, Application Hosting Environment for IBM – Year 2012. Size: Small, Complexity: Simple Roles & Responsibilities:

Refreshed / Replaced In-scope network devices that are identified as end of life / end of support during audit compliance across 10 global data centers of IBM

Delivered projects based on PMI PMP based delivery methodologies.

Delivered 2 software application projects for IBM internal HR team in a shared production environment. Previous Employment(s):

Direct on PC Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria Sr. Manager – NOC Operations Nov 2010 - Sep 2011 Aircel Business Solution (ABS),

Chennai

Assistant Manager – NOC Dec 2006 - Nov 2010

BroVis Wireless Networks, Chennai Team Leader – Tech Support & Implementation Support

Dec 2005 - Dec 2006

Sify Ltd (Payroll Contract thru

Origin & Prolease Staffing Services)

Engineer – Project Management

Group

Feb 2003 - Nov 2005

At DoPC, I was onsite managing the technical support and implementation team for this ISP. Including 3 direct reports, managed a total strength of 80+ engineers. Reported to the CTO and GM. At Aircel, I was placed @ the centralized NOC managing the entire day to day operations. Managed a team of 15 engineers from various teams of Wi-MAX, technical support, provisioning, L1, L2 and L3 engineers. Reporting directly to the GM technical, providing utilization and TAC reports on time. Whenever reqd have supported the sales and Pre-sales team on the technical feasibility. At BroVis, a wi-fi indoor and outdoor manufacturer, I was a Team lead managing 10 engineers on their day-to-day work. Interface with clients to suggest the best product to deploy for wi-fi hotspot and P2P connections, testing and certifying products from different vendors, procurement management. At Sify, Class A ISP, I was a part of the Project Management Group. Feasibility study for establishing the last mile connectivity for enterprise and corporate clients using wireless, leased lines, ISDN & PSTN. Prepare a Project scope statement and a plan to implement Internet, VPN & VoIP services. Configured Cisco switches and routers @ the client end.

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