Senior IT Systems Engineer & Cyber Specialist

Bryan Vela

Systems Engineer/Administrator **** Martin St. Houston, Texas 77018

Phone: 713-***-**** LinkedIn: linkedin.com/bdvela

Email: ******@*****.*** X: @bdvela

I am an IT professional with over 25 years of Microsoft enterprise network design and maintenance experience. My focus has been cloud technology, Email Security, Cyber Security, network administration, infrastructure, SD-WAN, DR and BC, engineering and maintenance of existing enterprise environments. My strengths are my autonomy and ability to apply company IT policies to achieve the desired results in a timely manner.

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

I am an experienced IT system engineer, network architect and Cyber specialist. I have extensive experience supporting deploying and maintaining IT architecture, focusing heavily on Microsoft technology. I support high- availability technology solutions for clients.

Infrastructure Planning and Architecture: I have comprehensive experience deploying utilities, tools, and software from initial strategy through concept, design, development, testing and implementation; I am proficient in Microsoft Administration; High availability; Low latency. Production & Infrastructure Support: I support multiple national and international companies for mission critical data and communications availability. 24x7 technology support. I have a current TWIC card for maritime jobs. Business Partners / International: I have experience working with both technical staff and senior management to provide solutions. I have consistently shown a proven ability to develop strong relations with vendors and firms across all services industry including, shipping, medical, trade and finance, trading desks, construction, distribution, oil & gas and energy.

Experience Kempner Capital Management 2004 to present

It Director for SEC regulated trading firm.

• Designed, procured, and deployed a hybrid Office 365 and Azure environment, including Active Directory, DNS, certificate services, and IIS.

• Administered and maintained Exchange Server environments (2003–2016) for 13 years, ensuring secure and reliable messaging systems.

• Built and maintained the firm’s offsite disaster recovery solution, ensuring compliance with SEC regulations for data availability, retention, and documentation.

• Managed and secured a SQL-based trading application server in Azure, with full enterprise backup and recovery processes using Veeam and Intermedia Hosted Exchange.

• Served as firewall and security administrator, architecting Cisco ASA and WatchGuard solutions, implementing site-to-site VPNs, and automating secure data transfers.

• Oversaw business-critical trade application (AXYS), including procurement, installation, backup, and remote access capabilities as part of the business continuity plan.

• Administered a broad range of infrastructure technologies: Azure AD, MPLS, Citrix, SonicWALL, Dell, HP, and Cisco networking.

Sunnova International 2022 to 2025

Senior Infrastructure and Cyber Security engineer for energy company. 2500+ user community.

• Served as primary architect and administrator for Meraki SD-WAN, including wireless (MR), switching (MS), and firewall (MX) solutions.

• Lead engineer for Proofpoint email security (PPPS, CASB, TAP, DLP, ITM), maintaining compliance and ensuring email resilience.

• Architect and administer Netwrix Privileged Access Management (Netwrix NPS) and Netwrix Auditor for identity, auditing, and sensitive data monitoring.

• Manage hybrid cloud platforms: administer AWS (Route 53, S3, EC2) and support Azure services (Intune, Entra, OneDrive, SharePoint, Defender, Purview).

• Primary Microsoft Exchange Online administrator, overseeing mail flow, security, and compliance.

• Additional tools supported: Okta, KnowBe4, Carbon Black, Printer Logic, Egnyte, Atlassian (JIRA/Confluence), Slack, Keeper.

• Function as an escalation point for critical infrastructure issues across Windows Server, VMware, Exchange, and endpoint management.

Bishop Lifting products 2020 to 2022

Senior Network engineer and infrastructure Engineer for 500 user community. I support 16 companies over 21 locations nationally.

• Built and maintained a hybrid VMware/Hyper-V/Azure environment, including VSAN and TrueNAS storage.

• Administered Active Directory, Group Policy, and scripting for secure identity management.

• Managed Office 365 and Azure tenants, including Azure AD Connect synchronization and troubleshooting.

• Oversaw Exchange Online administration (shared mailboxes, groups, Teams).

• Developed and maintained the company’s Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plans.

• Implemented and maintained Quest Rapid Recovery backups and Azure blob storage archiving.

• Secured perimeter and VPN access via Fortinet firewall with MFA-based VPN authentication.

• Managed Meraki SD-WAN and Velocloud routers through Meraki Cloud portal.

• Coordinated with vendors/MSPs to manage service contracts and subscription-based technologies.

• Administered Fortinet Firewall to protect endpoints and data.

• Administered Sophos Cloud Native Data Security to protect endpoints and servers. Crowley Maritime 2009 to 2020

Sr Administrator in charge of enterprise technology for 5th largest ocean-going ship companies in the world.

• Designed, procured, and installed enterprise Microsoft networks, including Office 365 and on-prem AD/Exchange deployments.

• Administered Exchange Server (2007–2016) and Office 365 hybrid environments.

• Deployed and maintained enterprise backup and retention systems using Veeam.

• Led migrations from aging infrastructure to new hardware platforms (Lenovo, HP, Dell) with minimal user downtime.

• Implemented satellite communications and email systems (Inmarsat, Telaurus, Blue Tide VSAT, Iridium Open Port).

• Designed and secured on-board wireless networks and multi-ISP failover solutions for maritime operations.

• Installed and configured Cisco VPN, POE managed switches, and CradlePoint dual- band routers.

• Collaborated with engineering teams on shipboard systems integration (Rolls Royce, Siemens, Kongsberg).

• Leveraged TWIC card clearance to perform secure IT work at U.S. docks. Fulcrum Power 2004 to 2009

Systems Architect for energy provider and brokerage firm.

• Led procurement, design, installation, and maintenance of the company’s enterprise IT environment from the ground up.

• Designed and deployed the core network infrastructure, including servers, workstations, wireless networking, and backup solutions.

• Consulted on PBX phone system design and supported the Williams Tower office build- out, including data and voice cabling layout and availability.

• Administered daily IT operations, including Active Directory, user/group management, and Exchange mail accounts.

• Implemented enterprise security by configuring and maintaining the Cisco ASA firewall.

• Developed and managed the company’s backup and disaster recovery strategy, using an automated Verbatim tape library for business-critical data protection.

• Supported enterprise technologies including: Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server, Cisco ASA, Veritas backup, Windows NT/XP.

Software and

Hardware Meraki SD-WAN, Proofpoint, Netwrix NPS, Netwrix Auditor, AWS, KnowB4, Carbon Black, Printer Logic, Brandsight, Room Alert, Egnyte, Slack, Keeper, Note Shred and Atlassian Cloud products, VMWare, Fortinet, Sophos, Quest Rapid recovery, Meraki, Velocould, Office365, Azure AD, Azure, OneDrive, Dropbox, SharePoint, ServiceNow, Microsoft Server OS, 2012, 2016, 2019, Windows 10, WatchGuard Firewall, Lenovo, Dell, HP, SonicWall, Intermedia, AppRiver, Cisco routers and switches, EnGenius WIFI routers, Hawkin WIFI routers, Barracuda firewall and email retention, Iridium Open Port, Veeam, Veritas, Microsoft Exchange server, Skype for business, TWIC Education ITT Tech Aug-1991 to May-1993 Bachelors in Business Administration Austin Community Collège Aug-1989 to May-1991

University of Houston Aug-1987 to May-1989

Certifications CompTIA Cloud+ KN7QM2-PATH-810200 Sept 2025

CompTIA Network+, KN7QM2-PATH-810200 July 2025,

Windows 10, 2019,

MCP, 2004,

MSCE, 2000

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