Senior Technology Cloud Solutions

Robert D. Cousins

Phone : 914-***-****, E-Mail : ***.*******@*****.***

Summary: Senior technology executive with experience managing infrastructures for various industries. Led staff in the design and rollout of business-critical systems, providing products, documentation, applications, and infrastructure. Managed the resolution of service disruptions, providing Root Cause Analysis and foresight to prevent recurrence. Delivered results in organizations with complex management structures. Knowledgeable in cloud solutions, continuous improvements, migration strategies and cost efficiencies. Skilled in IP Routing and configuration protocols, and analysis of complex networks for troubleshooting including wired and wireless methods. Provide executive dashboards based on established metrics. Deep insight into advanced security and support processes including change control management, financial industry acumen of concepts and compliance regulations, and continued awareness of future technologies and their integration along with risk mitigation. Developed policies, budgets, procedures, and ensured all services met full governance and compliance requirements. Management style is servant-leadership, and collaborative, with strong mentorship and communication skills.

Hardware: Dell, HP, IBM for Servers/Blade Servers, EMC Storage, Software, Desktops and Laptops (IBM/Dell/HP/Lenovo). Apple Mac and Ipads/Iphones, VMWare/VSphere, Hyper-V and Virtualization, Cisco Routers/Switches/Firewalls/WLC, Meraki, Prime, ISE, Cisco CUCM and VoIP phones, Juniper Routers, Switches, Pulse Secure VPN SSL SG4500, F5 Big IP GTM.

Software: OS: Azure (VPC), GCP, AWS, Windows Desktop/Server/Surface platforms, (including all AD services and Group Policy), Unix, (AIX/HP-UX), Linux (Red Hat/Ubuntu, etc.), Cisco IOS, JUNOS. Applications: Office365, Project, Visio, MS Exchange and Outlook/Web Access and e-mail archiving, SQL, (MS/Oracle), Python, Ansible, Kubernetes, Docker (containers) Citrix XenApp, Okta, Zerto, Veeam, SRM, Wireshark, PRTG, ConnectWise, ServiceNow, Bloomberg, SharePoint, Skype (Enterprise/Home), Microsoft Teams, SQL, and IIS. Veeam, Commvault, Audit and compliance tools (Varonis DATAdvantage/Quest Change Auditor), SIEM Systems (Solarwinds, Splunk, eSentire), MDM Mobile Iron/Intune. Scripting (Perl, Python, VB script, SQL, Powershell).

Experience:

Spire Orthopedics

IT Network Director 4/22 – 7/23

Oversight of day-to-day operations of service desk, productivity, remediation of outages and overall client satisfaction.

Managed moves, adds and changes ensuring successful turn up of all IT facilities, and for new site buildouts and construction.

Established reports of OKR/KPI for baseline of reporting of services, detailing improvements, and overall service health.

Direct interface between three telco carriers, Lightpath, Crown Castle and Webex.

Developed policies and guides to improve service efficiency. Established systems to ensure policies were enforced, using Mimecast for email and other systems to rigorously enforce policies wherever possible.

Mentored staff on ways to improve service and resolution explanations. Resolved staff conflicts.

Oversaw efforts to improve service times, introduce formalized approach to KPI, SLA’s and reporting. Improved service resolution time by 15%. Resulted in the reduction of recurrences by an estimated 75%.

Led efforts to develop DevOps mindset and continuous improvement.

Hands-on leadership and support to outages, and disruptive events, assuring timely resolution of issues and reporting of root cause explanation for failures and remediation efforts to prevent recurrence. Provided root cause analysis to investigate way to prevent future outages or failures.

Presidio (Data Innovations)

Systems Manager (contract) 9/21 – 12/21

Provided Systems Administrators with 2nd and 3rd level support to all existing systems, resources, and ensure resolution of issues. In a hybrid environment, managed the cloud/Azure, and local system resources.

Managed Azure and AWS instances for the application development team for deployment of new VM’s and containers for their work. Ensured provisioning of necessary instances and resources for their development. Collaborated with the team to ensure that their applications were cloud ready and resilient for the workloads proposed.

Document system state, procedures, and ensure greater resilience and efficiency of the network, workstations, and applications.

Developed reporting dashboards for results of system availability, remediation of outages, and details for management.

Provide management with status updates on projects and services outages, and path to resolution, and root cause whenever possible.

Lead for outage response and remediation; responsible for SLA adherence, and for Root Cause Analysis to management.

Onboard and terminate accounts, per standard operating procedures.

Make recommendations regarding Python and Ansible automation strategies, which ultimately management did not approve, despite successful testing results in lab environment.

Oversaw and managed the backup procedures with Veeam and coordinated offsite courier service. Handled the restoration of Veeam Backup and Replication, after a major system crash, resulting in no loss of data or corruption to repositories.

Wipro (Pitney Bowes)

Network Operations Manager/ Network Solutions Architect 9/19 - 2/21

Directed, mentored, and ensured the work of 30 engineers and providing guidance and scheduling of 24/7 network operations team which was an extension of client’s staff. Ensured investigation of all network anomalies to 10k servers globally.

Led successful outage resolutions and ensured progress of their closure towards full restoration and to provide detailed Root Cause Analysis to Executive Management. Gave regular presentations communicating updates and service improvements.

Worked with AT&T and other telco vendors to resolve outages, ensure proactive remediation, and restoration of services to all facilities and adherence to SLA’s. Assured continuous improvement and contact with vendors to monitor new services which may benefit our environment.

Reduced network outages by 20 percent, improved MTTR, and assured vendor RCA summary to management.

Worked with accounting to budget annual spending and to ensure successful cost saving of $2MM with carriers and business units. Verified site closure and carrier circuits were shutdown, which allowed for cost reductions.

With the application team’s collaboration, we designed dashboards and reporting tools to provide real time analytics of network health for upper management and executive team.

Beta tested the use of Python and Ansible to determine its practical use in a large enterprise environment. Ultimately upper management determined that its use was too burdensome and onerous to production deployment. SOC already had tools in place.

Configured and maintained F5 Load Balancers for Pitney Bowes business units. Applied maintenance schedules as needed.

Implemented and designed engineering architectural changes involving VxLAN spine leaf topology across the enterprise.

Championed efforts to automate configuration bulk changes, using Python, Ansible and other tools to achieve a DevOps mindset and agility. Used Kubernetes and other containers to

Provided C-level guidance on Next Generation solutions which would provide resilience and efficient architecture for business.

Lead architect for network routing changes supporting 4 Data Centers and 160 sites, with multiple carriers utilizing BGP, DMVPN, VxLAN, MPLS, and IPSLA. Managed relationships with carriers and ensured contracts and support agreements were in adherence.

Engineered the aggressive updating of 160 ASA firewalls to new code within 2 months, resulting in secure and resilient network security functions. Ensured status of project progress continuously communicated to management due to its criticality.

Monitored Azure platforms for Exchange Office365 hosted infrastructure and ensured connectivity via monitoring.

Provided hands-on configuration and troubleshooting of routing and firewall incidents, working with vendors and business users to determine root cause and remediate for a 24/7 business.

Researched next generation products and architecture to determine how to incorporate into existing architecture.

Represented network operations in Change Control board, ensuring enterprise collaboration, justification of proposed changes, adherence to Change Control process, and minimizing outages and rollbacks. Verified changes adhered to best practices and intentions.

Velocity Technology Partners 1/18 – 8/18

Customer Program Manager

Led Project Management and upsell initiatives for clients. Ensured client services were correctly deployed to their satisfaction.

Led client initiatives to reduce cost and on-premises reliance of data center footprint, migrating assets and resources to utilizing Cloud and hosted resources. Architected the potential migration of on-premises servers and services to the cloud.

Ensured all client projects were delivered on time and successfully to clients in my portfolio.

Fi-Tek

Consultant 4/16 – 10/17

Configured Solarwinds alerting/monitoring to improve hosted Cloud and Citrix server and client responsiveness and system reliability, ensuring nodes, interfaces, and automation of their self-repair with scripts and batch monitoring.

Oversaw the creation of dashboard and monitoring services for telco circuits and servers.

Created and modified physical to virtual cloud servers to add to Azure and expand upon portfolio for new and existing clients.

Management of KPI and metrics which ensured client availability. Focus on reporting and adhering to SLAs for client success.

Conducted cyber security audits, penetration testing, remediation, and training and user manuals.

Paloma Partners (Hedge Fund/buy side)

VP/Head of Infrastructure 10/07 – 3/16

Supported all firm executives and ensured rigorous efforts for client satisfaction. Ensured budget spending and costs were in line with management objectives.

Managed projects for all initiatives, gathering business requirements, and publishing project schedules for their implementation.

Led the implementation and optimization of Varonis for data access reporting and violation of users improperly viewing files which exceeded their authority or privilege, especially those of a confidential or financial nature. Worked to provide reporting alerts, and reports on violations and ensure configuration integrity for ongoing use.

Developed Disaster Recovery strategy, RTO/RPO guidelines, and defined critical business services to be included in plan. Maintained detailed documentation, with strategic input from business owners. Reduced runbook complexity by changing DR plan to SRM, where all VM’s were resiliently tested and active in our plans. Provided hands-on direction to engineers and testing procedures, methodologies and managed the entire testing process which was tested annually at 100% success rate.

Directed all global project initiatives to properly scope, define, schedule, and align resources, while ensuring timelines and scope. Ensure detailed accuracy of completed support documentation runbooks, materials, and diagrams. Provided final sign-off.

Oversaw the maintenance and development of applications providing Risk Management, Document Management, and other mission critical resources for daily P&L activities and operational services. Led a small team on their use cases, and provided strategy on iterative upgrades, and timelines.

Monitored the daily operations of all Exchange 2010 operations, including backup, archiving and retention. Provided interaction with Mobile Iron MDM for non-Blackberry device deployment.

Provided due diligence and vetting of all new additions to infrastructure and services, ensuring compatibility and security costs.

Developed cyber-security policies ensuring all intellectual property assets were secured and enforced through various mechanisms. Vetted all procedures and vendors via due diligence via extensive measures. Trained users on policies and awareness.

Oversight of all data center hosting, including co-located(hosted) and cloud-based solutions directing governance, facilities assurance, and relocation to off-site and new service providers. Kept abreast of provider changes, consolidations, and new offerings.

Directed the full transition from a PBX to a VoIP solution for users, ensuring minimal downtime and full training for users. Managed ongoing support and maintenance of all related circuits and systems.

Managed facility/network renovation project ensuring trading desk functionality, A/V and camera systems were installed to required scope and specifications. Re-designed electrical services to ensure full UPS coverage.

Engineered VMWare ESX infrastructure hypervisors, hosts, and clusters. Provisioned new servers, managed storage, and connections to databases. Ensure viability of hosts DR through Site Recovery Manager and VM snapshots.

Configured AD and Exchange environment, account and mailbox creation, backups and restores. Ensured archival integrity of data for compliance via multiple archiving solutions. Led a team of consultants who managed hands on engineering tasks for us.

Determined network monitoring scope and ensured compatibility of protocols and monitoring thresholds using Solarwinds Network and Application Monitoring; oversaw the migration from What's Up Gold.

New facility turn-up, for new data center and DR functionality. Migrated from locally homed DC to remote/private cloud facilities.

Alden Associates (Skadden Arps) 5/07 – 8/07

2nd level support Shift engineer for Global Network Operations Center in a multi-site environment.

Perform backup and restore operations with CommVault Network Backup Systems.

Maintained Blade Server infrastructure, Virtual Server and Exchange Clusters for management and reboot schedules as dictated by 3rd level support teams and their runbooks and recommendations. Environment consisted of approx. 5000 servers across the globe.

Investigate network latency of Cisco IOS and circuit configurations. Performed advance configuration changes as directed.

Management and configuration of 4 Citrix Server Farms, serving 4 global data centers and user needs. Ensured root cause analysis provided for all outages, and reason for outage communicated to management.

Evolution Markets (Broker/Sell-side) 3/06 – 4/07

Sr. Engineer Trading and Back-Office Support

Lead technical engineer for a financial trading brokerage, with varied geographical responsibilities.

Supported Exchange 2003 environment and email connectivity to Blackberry Enterprise Server for e-mail.

Architected network infrastructure of DHCP, DNS, VLAN’s and security of remote sites adhering to SLA’s.

Began work on Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan. Conducted assessment of business needs and expectations.

Administered Windows AD Domain, group policy settings improving desktop security and ensuring accuracy of accounts.

Used scripting languages (Perl, Python, VB Script, Powershell) to automate tasks and improve efficiency.

Managed and maintained Linux hosts ensuring full availability for developers.

Directed the network connectivity between sites and ensured maximum uptime.

Re-designed AD incorporating Group Policy objects and detailed requirements for security compliance.

Datapath 6/05 - 3/06

Network Consultant

Audited networked systems for security gaps, bandwidth and performance degradation, and remediated. Implemented improvements for change management and problem resolution workflow.

Installed, configured and optimized network management systems to ensure compliance with SLA’s.

Direct oversight of 7 employees for a Managed Service Provider NOC.

Performed additional network enhancements and modifications as requested by clients to improve overall system health.

Managed Disaster Recovery plan and provided site to site replication, minimizing risk to clients.

Alliant Cooperative Data Solutions 6/03 - 5/05

Network Systems Manager

Managed an on-premises data center ensuring all digital and physical assets were available for system usage.

Installed and configured Cisco Pix 520 firewall with IDS monitoring of network security.

Documented all processes, procedures, and configurations for backup engineers. Provided extensive materials and FAQ’s for clients describing policy and procedures for contributing data and transmitting data securely through the Internet.

Deployed monitoring utilities to assure continued availability of systems, and compliance with standardized policies. This included e-mail filtering for spam and viruses, and system hardware failure detection to proactively detect anomalies and correct failures.

Established network and operational controls for all workstations and networked resources in compliance with established guidelines.

Installed and maintained IPS for analysis and logging of network events. Ensured rules and signatures based on new threats.

Installation, configuration, and maintenance of Windows 2000 with Exchange 2000 Active Directory. Designed AD infrastructure and domain tree architecture and group policies to ensure security of network resources.

Managed migration of Windows 2000 Servers to 2003 Active Directory Structure.

Used scripting languages (Perl, Python, VB Script, Powershell) to automate tasks and improve efficiency when possible.

Installed and configured Veritas/Symantec Backup Exec for Windows Servers. Scheduled backups and rotated tapes for offsite archiving. Tested and ensured reliability of backup procedures.

Developed and tested disaster recovery and business continuity plans.

Vianet Technologies, Inc., Plano, TX 7/00-5/03

Director Global Client Support

Primary resource for all product service and support related issues and processes, in addition to hardware and software desktop support for all applications used by company employees and business partners.

Directed Network monitoring operations of four engineers for network availability. Developed SOP’s and runbooks to ensure system availability and maintenance processes. Provided evaluations and developmental guidance.

Managed backup and restore operations as needed of company data.

Engineered Cisco routers and PIX Firewall for company’s Internet access with VPN/RAS capability to remote users. Provided vendor analysis for Cisco products to similar products for interoperability comparison.

Lead technician for company presentations to investors and potential customers on-site requiring comprehensive product discussions with meeting attendees discussing architectural and networking needs for Proof of Concept implementations.

Authored technical documentation for website FAQ's and product literature.

Montefiore Medical Center, New York, NY 9/98 - 6/00

Senior Systems Analyst

LAN/WAN Monitoring with HP Open View, resolving and coordinating repair of outages with vendors.

Ensured viable operation of SAP for multi-campus configuration spreading across the WAN.

2nd and 3rd Level support for 30,000 clients with regards to Windows and Enterprise Application Services.

Developed and edited service runbook for training of new Systems Analysts at MIS.

Evaluated team of analysts for performance and managed their support queues to ensure accuracy of tickets and forecast support trends. Provided training for new analysts on systems, processes and support procedures.

Lead for a centralized helpdesk for all Technical Concerns of MIS.

Directed 12 junior and senior staff members on daily responsibilities.

Administered Novell and Windows NT Domain accounts for user password resets and account creation.

Assisted with implementation of SMS for remote application support.

Managed vendor relationships and SLA definition for fulfillment services.

Education:

Rochester Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Arts (Major: Criminal Justice / Minor: Computer Science)

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