Brent Gardner Email and Phone Number

Spearheading the technical launch of Cisco at the Cyber Range and the new Cisco Security COE program, while serving as the primary escalation point for junior Solutions Architects and the pre-sales engineering team. Deliver live demos, presentations, and comprehensive security enablement for both internal stakeholders and external partners at workshops, CTO/SE events, and webinars.• Conduct Cisco security training for partners and their end customers, including Threat Hunting Workshops, resulting in increased technical knowledge and product utilization• Develop and implement innovative solutions for major customer initiatives, facilitating smooth migration from on-prem to cloud/hybrid-cloud environments, achieving cost savings and improving efficiency• Manage TD Synnex Solutions Center to assist with POCs & training. Created & direct Proof of Value (POV) program• Support and advise on a range of advanced technologies, including SWG/DNS Security (Umbrella), NGFW/IPS (Firepower/ASA), EPP/EDR (AMP), MFA/Zero Trust (Duo), and SASE/SD-WAN (Meraki/Viptela)

Served as the outsourced Head of APAC Network Services for Credit Suisse. Successfully assumed leadership of the largest BT APAC contract in the middle of a global financial crisis and swiftly enhanced client satisfaction by improving transparency, stability, and service delivery. Full regional accountability for network delivery & architecture, financial performance, and operational stability for a contract worth over $200M with 70+ staff.Key achievements under my leadership included:• Reduced service impacting trouble tickets by 57% and outage minutes by 59% over 5 years through better adherence to standards, staff training, adoption of more reliable technologies, elimination of SPoFs, and improved incident & problem management• Delivered over $5.2M of savings over 3 years through supplier renegotiations, elimination of unnecessary services, and infrastructure consolidation while improving service.• Collaborated with key directors and MDs in the bank to advocate for networks, resulting in networks transitioning from having the worst reputation in infrastructure to the best.• Played an instrumental role in the $1B non-competitive re-signing of the outsourcing contract for another 7 years.

APAC Chief Architect with responsibilities encompassing innovation, architectural governance, and standards covering more than 60 Operations and Engineering professionals• Reviewed all technical designs and mentored engineers to architect per best practices and CTO standards resulting in a more consistent, resilient, and easier to troubleshoot infrastructure• Improved the quality of customer proposals and designs by establishing templates & guidelines for technical designs, documentation, and complex proposals. Translated customer requirements into technical solutions with an emphasis on business deliverables • Redefined the CTO role from a purely technical to a role focusing on education and enhanced customer engagement by utilizing technology as a vehicle to improve client perception• Successfully completed a PoC to enhance the performance and monitoring of the low latency environment for the TSE that involved key members of the app dev community • Led regular client chalk talks and presentations for the infrastructure and app communities

Acted as the Technical Director for BT's largest Hong Kong based customer (CLSA). Standardized software levels, agreed to a common hardware configuration, and overcame numerous technical blockades.Served as the Regional Technical Team Lead in a successful drive to achieve Cisco Gold Partner Certification in four countries concurrently in only 9 months.Regional Technical Expert for Cisco TelePresence: Worked to get the first Cisco TelePresence system completed for BT APAC installed in Hong Kong in record time. Configured and installed Yahoo India's first Telepresence site. Served as a TDA for at least five more installations as well as numberous customer opportunities.

Functioned as the senior Sydney Pre and Post Sales Engineer for the largest Australian distributor of Juniper NetScreen products and a leading network distributor of IP communications, security, VoIP, networking, and associated technologies. Responsible for all sales technical support for the New South Wales, Queensland, and Canberra regions consisting of over $AU 6 million in yearly sales. Qualified, prepared, and presented appropriate technology solutions at the senior management level (CIO, CTO). Focused on selling and deploying the Juniper product line including NetScreen firewalls, Secure Access SSL VPNs, Intrusion Detection and Protection (IDP/IPS) appliances, and Juniper M and J Series enterprise routers. Assisted with the implementation and troubleshooting of Juniper firewalls including the 5400, 5200, ISG2000, ISG1000, and 208 for a number of large customers.

Served as the lead Network Security Engineer for Level 3 Communications (formerly ICG Communications). Architected and administered Cisco PIX 525 and NetScreen NS500 firewalls, Cisco 3060 VPN concentrators, IPSEC VPN tunnels, WebSense web-content filtering software, and Cisco ACS Tacacs / Radius servers. Developed, implemented, and enforced security standards on both corporate and production networks for all data devices including Cisco and Juniper routers, Windows and Solaris servers, and Cisco Catalyst switches. Installed NetScreen firewalls using multiple VLANS and high availability to protect nationwide VoIP deployment. Implemented centralized virus-scanning servers using Network Associates software for updating and monitoring all anti-virus agents throughout our organization. Worked with Network Engineering, IT, UNIX Data Systems Engineering, Network Operations, and the Help Desk to establish and enforce security requirements.

Maintained and repaired LAN, WAN, and backbone data networks for a national NSP. Troubleshot and configured all types of Cisco equipment including AS5300s, AS5800s, 7200s, 7500s, 12000s, BPXs, MGXs, and Catalyst 5500/6500 switches. Demonstrated ability to master numerous data technologies: PPP, AAA, BGP, IS-IS, OSPF, ISDN, ATM, Frame Relay, Gigabit Ethernet, POS, VoIP, VPN, NAT, and VPDN. Primarily used the Cisco CLI, but also employed Cisco WAN Manager, Netcool, Cisco Works, Visio 2000, HP OpenView, and Remedy on both NT and UNIX platforms. Mastered Cisco IOS versions 11.2 to 12.2. Worked on the Network Design Team, which was in charge of transitioning from OSPF to IS-IS and the nationwide physical overhaul of our production network. Responsibilities also included testing and implementing IOS upgrades for our dial platform. Managed network-wide project to upgrade Gigabit route processors, Gigabit Ethernet line cards, and IOS for over 30 core GSR routers.

Directed and managed Princeton Student Agency with over 40 employees and $300,000 in annual sales. Addressed all employee issues from hiring and firing to payroll. Worked with student agency accountants to develop a computerized accounting system using MS Access. Developed website using FrontPage and Netobjects Fusion. Designed advertising and employed desktop publishing skills using PageMaker and PhotoShop.