Brian Hightower Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Assisted in four major Data Center exits in 2023, overseeing application and server decommissioning, and managing rental equipment maintenance and returns. Successfully decommissioned over 40,000 servers, including both physical and virtual instances.Researched, designed, developed, operated, and maintained support services for both existing and new business applications and information systems solutions. Identified, developed, and prioritized support services based on business criticality to ensure alignment with organizational needs.Served as Incident and Duty Manager for Global Compute Operations, effectively handling incident responses and ensuring smooth operational continuityApplied technical expertise to operate and administer infrastructure and software platforms of moderate to high complexity. Independently resolved highly complex technical issues, collaborating with IT teams as needed.Acted as Incident Lifecycle Coordinator and Service Delivery Lead, managing resolution of complex issues and driving escalation processes through Level 4 support. Proactively identified potential escalations and alerted management to ensure timely resolution.Conducted proactive searches for potential issues and implemented solutions to prevent future problems, including overseeing patch management to maintain system integrity.Collaborated with delivery and operations teams to ensure timely acknowledgment, routing, and closure of tickets within client SLA periods.Independently reviewed, implemented, and verified highly complex and high-risk changes and solutions. Provided mentorship to team members to enhance overall team capabilities.Ensured accuracy and completeness of configuration management database entries, maintaining reliable and up-to-date records.Participated in architecture reviews to ensure solutions adhered to standards and utilized approved technologies, serving various functional areas such as Supply Chain, R&D, Marketing, and Finance.

Greater Atlanta Area

Ensured reliable and successful project execution through rigorous scope definitionDeveloped and maintained a comprehensive timeline and schedule, highlighting major milestones.Identified and communicated project dependencies and their impactsImplemented controls to maintain project oversight and ensure ongoing management.Promoted and enforced security best practices to protect vital financial servicesEngaged with key stakeholders to build trust, mobilize teams, and drive project success

Alpharetta, Ga

Led a team of 12 in managing server decommissioning for Unix, Linux, and Windows systems company-wide.Achieved $1.2 million in monthly savings by optimizing the reuse of equipment.Set a departmental record by decommissioning 7,000 servers in 2015 and surpassed this by mid-March 2016.Introduced new technologies to accelerate the decommissioning process.Successfully closed two data centers in eight months, ahead of schedule.Developed detailed project plans and documentation based on scope, resources, and time constraints.Collaborated with stakeholders to identify and utilize servers that provided necessary resources for project completion.Designed executive summaries and status reports for senior management.Facilitated daily team meetings to enhance communication and drive productivity.Addressed and removed obstacles, including technical and staffing issues, to ensure successful project outcomes.Redefined the decommissioning process to mitigate risks and safeguard company assets.

Alpharetta, Ga

Coordinated a comprehensive audit of six main data centers for HP.Created SQL-based reports for the Decommission Project Manager.Configured and installed servers valued between $50,000 and $300,000.Managed and troubleshot servers during the first 90 days post-installation.Replaced hard drives in tape libraries.Conducted inventory management for warehouse and break-fix rooms.

Associate Of Science (As), System, Networking, And Lan/Wan Management/Manager

Bachelor’S Degree, Software Engineering