Ben Schaefer

Ben Schaefer Email and Phone Number

Journeyman Systems Administrator and Engineer @ Insight
Chicago, IL, US
Ben Schaefer's Location
Greater Chicago Area, United States, United States
Ben Schaefer's Contact Details
About Ben Schaefer

20+ years of experience as an IT professional. Extensive familiarity administering everything from small-business LANs to 100+ global domain controller environments. Thorough experience collaborating with junior, senior, and executive team members to maximize efficiency and morale. Comprehensive experience creating, configuring, monitoring and maintaining on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures including servers, Active Directory forests, virtualization, and storage.

Ben Schaefer's Current Company Details
Insight

Insight

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Journeyman Systems Administrator and Engineer
Chicago, IL, US
Website:
insight.com
Employees:
16844
Ben Schaefer Work Experience Details
  • Insight
    Insight
    Chicago, Il, Us
  • Valent Biosciences (Through Bayforce)
    Senior Infrastructure Engineer
    Valent Biosciences (Through Bayforce) 2022 - Present
    ● Configured new cloud storage, networking, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in AWS and Azure, manually and via Terraform, while consolidating workloads to reduce our spend by 35%● Monitored and maintained Entra ID RBAC in conjunction with Okta to keep our SSO processes securewhile ensuring compliance with Valent’s parent corporation’s regulations● Managed thousands of M365 resources within our Azure tenant in order to keep operations assmooth, secure, and efficient as possible● Reduced licensing fees by $37,000 by customizing a solution in Tanium which broadened endpoint visibility and automated the monthly maintenance weekend’s patching ● Elevated 12 legacy workflows from Nutanix NX devices into the cloud to while repurposing the hardware to create a proper test environment for the development teams ● Visualized our entire hybrid infrastructure across 15+ sites via Brainboard/Azure Monitorto decrease administrative overhead and boost responsiveness during outages
  • Insight
    System Engineer
    Insight 2019 - 2022
    Chandler, Arizona, Us
    ● Transformed a minimal starting inventory of existing client assets into a comprehensive migrationplan for over 300 servers from Server 2012 to Server 2016/2019● Surveyed the entire infrastructure with a customized PowerShell script to account for all servers and hand-checked them all to verify their upgrade readiness● Achieved a 60% reduction in hardware footprint by virtualizing and consolidating traditional servers to Dell VXRail hyperconverged infrastructure and Azure VMs ● Finished the migration significantly under budget and ahead of schedule due to the aforementioned hardware reduction as well as our highly organized and documented migration process● Completed an AD domain functional level upgrade on the client’s primary domainwhile removing over 20 unused legacy GPOs
  • Paylocity
    System Administrator
    Paylocity 2018 - 2019
    Schaumburg, Illinois, Us
    ● Maintained and monitored hundreds of on-prem and cloud servers daily for any signs of instability and to smooth out the working conditions of our DevOps sister team● Deployed temporary and permanent pieces of new infrastructure via ARM templates across multiple development environments ● Modified and grew massive amounts of automation through the use of PowerShell, scheduled tasks, and other custom scripting● Utilized the ELK stack for data ingestion and as an SIEM tool to survey potential security vulnerabilities and configuration changes which could smooth out inefficiencies● Provided leadership by training two junior systems administrators while documenting the team’s onboarding process from scratch
  • Prescient Solutions
    Senior Systems Administrator
    Prescient Solutions 2017 - 2017
    Schaumburg, Illinois, Us
    ● Assumed ownership of multiple existing infrastructure responsibilities for maintenance,updates, security, and performance from the outgoing administrator● Maintained Active Directory/Group Policy for an entire multi-forest environment● Created a proof of concept for moving and consolidating member servers into Azure from older hardware to shift expenditures from CapEx to OpEx● Worked hand in hand with another administrator to ensure maximal uptime of all production VMs,VMware hosts, NetApp storage, and Cisco networking● Mentored the junior administrator on our team while planning and creating projects in-house to promote team chemistry and cohesion
  • United Airlines
    Senior System Engineer
    United Airlines 2016 - 2017
    Chicago, Il, Us
    ● Supported end-line technicians and other technical staff through an imaging technology migration between HPCA/SCCM 2007 to SCCM 2012/NOMAD● Executed a runbook to correct inconsistencies on the back end through the SCCM console and AD Sites & Services to aid software distribution for 100+ remote sites● Migrated and consolidated numerous Sharepoint sites from on-premise servers to Sharepoint Online
  • Microsoft
    Office 365 Ambassador
    Microsoft 2015 - 2016
    Redmond, Washington, Us
    ● Architected and engineered cloud solutions for SMB clients from start to finish, ranging from single-server shops to high-availability SQL clusters● Diagnosed and troubleshot issues throughout the entire range of Office 365 and M365 productsincluding Exchange Online and Azure Active Directory● Utilized PowerShell to securely connect onsite resources to online O365 tenants andgather information for in-depth problem resolution● Analyzed problems in Exchange and Office migration projects leveraging hybrid setups and staged migrations to offset legacy Exchange limitations
  • Aptargroup, Inc.
    Systems/Infrastructure Engineer
    Aptargroup, Inc. 2014 - 2015
    Us
    ● Served as the sole North American member of a global team dedicated to the health of 65virtualized Domain Controllers and over 100 member servers● Spearheaded a last-minute operation with a VAR during my first day on the job to migrate 4800 users into Azure AD in order to secure $160,000 worth of free services for use in Office 365● Led a project to explore the benefits of directory synchronization and a hybrid AD environment● Headed up the domain services and server aspects of a weekend-long project virtualizing over 50 production SAP hosts with high executive visibility● Assisted with migrating our full contingent of DCs and verifying their health during a forklift move from one datacenter to another
  • Abbvie
    Global Systems Analyst (Ad, Dns, Ilm, Fim)
    Abbvie 2013 - 2014
    North Chicago, Illinois, Us
    - Monitored and managed 100+ domain controllers globally for issues with AD replication, DNS propagation, and DHCP scopes.- Troubleshot and solved a widespread issue with Kerberos token bloat that was affecting users from multiple domains and organizations. Co-created a simple web-based tool for direct support technicians to use in order to fix the issue.- Interfaced directly with development teams and project managers to issue guidance in the use of our multi-forest LDAP authentication.- Kept watch over MIIS/Forefront Identity Manager servers to ensure maximum uptime of global, high visibility and mission critical web-based applications. Was entrusted with 24/7 manipulation of all resources and re-creating entire VMs utilizing Avamar backups in critical situations.
  • Insight Beverages Inc.
    Network Administrator
    Insight Beverages Inc. 2011 - 2013
    Lake Zurich, Il, Us
    - Managed 25+ virtual servers running the company's entire IT software infrastructure. Decommissioned antiquated servers and re-allocated limited resources to prioritize mission critical SQL servers and ESX hosts.- Managed Exchange 2010/Exchange online server maintenance and upkeep, alongside policing user mailbox and Online Archive size limitations.- Reorganized the Active Directory infrastructure for more efficient management, as well as more streamlined and accurate application of Group Policy.- Optimized Insight’s backup and disaster recovery solution utilizing a robotic tape library through Backup Exec, and sent tapes to Iron Mountain in accordance with a backup schedule modified to fit the company's existing DR plan.- Worked with users to remedy problems ranging from small hardware failures to those with enterprise-wide impacts such as Exchange server outages.- Collaborated with other staff to maximize performance for mission-critical ERP and proprietary data warehousing applications. - Manually altered SQL databases using queries after hours to conform with legacy software requirements under the leadership of an in-house DBA.

Ben Schaefer Skills

Windows 7 Operating Systems Networking Technical Support Security Software Installation Software Documentation Hardware Help Desk Support Windows Voip Project Management Active Directory Microsoft Certified Professional Vpn Virtualization Windows Xp Windows Server Servers Microsoft Exchange Vmware Troubleshooting Dhcp

Ben Schaefer Education Details

  • University Of Phoenix
    University Of Phoenix
    Finance (Associate'S) / Computer Information Systems/Finance (Bachelor'S)
  • Self-Study
    Self-Study
    A+/Network+
  • Harper College Tech
    Harper College Tech
    Mcsa/Mcse 2000/2003

Frequently Asked Questions about Ben Schaefer

What company does Ben Schaefer work for?

Ben Schaefer works for Insight

What is Ben Schaefer's role at the current company?

Ben Schaefer's current role is Journeyman Systems Administrator and Engineer.

What is Ben Schaefer's email address?

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What is Ben Schaefer's direct phone number?

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What schools did Ben Schaefer attend?

Ben Schaefer attended University Of Phoenix, Self-Study, Harper College Tech.

What are some of Ben Schaefer's interests?

Ben Schaefer has interest in Football, Collecting Antiques, Exercise, Sweepstakes, Nascar, Home Improvement, Collecting Art, Reading, Gourmet Cooking, Watching Auto Racing.

What skills is Ben Schaefer known for?

Ben Schaefer has skills like Windows 7, Operating Systems, Networking, Technical Support, Security, Software Installation, Software Documentation, Hardware, Help Desk Support, Windows, Voip, Project Management.

Who are Ben Schaefer's colleagues?

Ben Schaefer's colleagues are Jaanvi Dhariwal, Tyrone Johnson, Janell Rice, Diana Navarro Rodriguez, Bj Ptk, Ron Woten, Hemlata Sharma.

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