☁ Brian Benz Email and Phone Number

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: Producing AI materials and guidance including Content for Microsoft's "AI Tour" (https://aitour.microsoft.com) and the "AI for Java" video series (https://aka.ms/aiforjava). Delivering impactful AI and Machine Learning presentations and projects.Cloud Expertise: Over a decade advocating for Microsoft Azure, leading strategic collaborations, product development, and demonstrating cloud best practices for scalable, secure solutions. Keynote speaker at global events. Strategic Cloud Partnerships: Maintaining critical partnerships with industry giants like Oracle, IBM, and Red Hat. Example: created https://aka.ms/ampereonazureData Analytics & DevOps: Creator and maintainer of DevOps for Java Shops (https://devopsforjavashops.com). Leadership in Learning & Development: Created educational content and programs, enhancing learning for global audiences. Continuously mentor emerging tech leaders.

Responsible for maintaining the Azure CLI, building an engaged Java community, and developing cloud-based tooling, documentation, services and solutions.Highlights:-Managed the conversion of the Azure CLI to Python, and inclusion in runtimes including the Azure Cloud Shell, Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions.- Collaborated with partners such as Oracle, IBM, CloudBees, VMWare, Jenkins, Red Hat, HazelCast, LightBend and others.- Presented at conferences and meetups- Created content for the Azure Developer Center, Azure QuickStarts, and social media accounts. (Links Below)- Established a blueprint for meeting the needs of non-Microsoft technologies and communities:o Review competitive offeringso Conduct customer and partner interviewso Gather feedback from prospects, customers, partners, MVPs and RDs at third-party eventso Collect event attendee survey responses o Produce and share documentationo Build canonical apps to validate assumptions, recreate issues and enable customers to accelerate adoptiono Advise and educate internal teams on communities and industry landscape

Promoted open source software solutions on the cloud using Microsoft Azure.- Created go-to-market materials, campaigns and strategies. - Enabled collaboration between Microsoft product groups and open source software communities- Enabled partner solutions on Azure for LAMP, NoSQL, big data, virtual machines, functional languages, integration technologies, search platforms, Web frameworks, and Web sites.- Worked with vendors, partners, community members, and internal Microsoft resources to deliver code, demos and related content (blog posts, presentations, tutorials, demos, recordings, etc.)- Presented at numerous conferences and Meetups.- For more details on my experience during this time, check out my blog in the links below.Areas of focus:- Java: Oracle JDK, Azul Zulu JDK, Eclipse and other Java Dev Tools- Reactive Programming: Scala, Play Framework, Akka, ActorFx, Reactive Extensions- Oracle on Azure: Oracle DB, WebLogic Server, Oracle Linux- IBM on Azure: DB2, WebSphere, MQ- PaaS Services: MongoLab (MongoDB as a Service), Cloudant (CouchDB as a Service)) - BI, integration and Big Data: Jaspersoft, OData, AMQP, OSS Integration with Hadoop- OSS Mgmt/DevOps Technologies: Nagios, Zabbix, Jenkins, Hudson, Zookeeper- LAMP offerings: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, MediaWiki, phpBB, Symfony- Other cool stuff: ASP.NET MVC, Web API, Web Pages, SignalR and the Entity Framework projects, and Katana

Accomplishments: Planned and delivered MDM, Analytics, Data Models, and Information Governance solutions to government and business. Estimating effort and costs, preparing, delivering and presenting professional service proposals and SOWs.Responsibilities Defining, planning, and implementing MDM, Analytics, Information Governance solutions. Developing and enhancing Stream Integration’s solution and service marketing materials for delivery to customers at conferences and online. Participating in the IBM Information Governance Council on Stream’s behalf.Benefits: Customers realized enhanced value from Stream Integration’s MDM, Analytics, Data Governance and Information Governance solutions.

Accomplishments: Planned and delivered Enterprise Data Warehouse, SOA, MDM, Analytics, Data Models, Data Governance and Information Governance solutions to several Perficient Customers. Prepared and delivered proposals and SOWs.Responsibilities Defined, planned, and implemented SOA, EDW, MDM, Analytics, Data Governance and Information Governance solutions. Benefits: Successfully planned and delivered several solutions on time and on budget.

Accomplishments: Leveraged 20+ years of software development and database architecture experience to develop the Deloitte Recap Web site (www.recap.com). Deloitte Recap provides analysis of more than 20 years of historical life sciences industry data ranging from alliance formations to intellectual property ownership and clinical trials. The Web site delivers advanced real-time analytics based on more than 50GB of data in 300,000+ documents to thousands of customers. Responsibilities defining, planning, and implementing the Deloitte Recap Web site, systems and infrastructure architecture, application development, system administration, application migration/upgrades, and user/developer mentoring and training. Managed Data Internal Governance initiatives related to acquired People, processes and Technology. Planned and Implemented customer and analytics Data Modeling / Data Quality / Data Cleansing Initiatives internally and externally.Benefits: Numerous new and complex real-time life sciences analytics products, tools and services were delivered to customers.

Accomplishments: Founded DataVida (datavida.com), a company providing independent consulting and implementation services to clients worldwide for Custom Analytics, Information Governance, and Master Data Management Solutions, including Information Governance plans and Maturity Assessments, Solution analysis and comparison, data profiling / data quality analysis, extraction and cleansing, data modeling, XML, DTD and schema design, XBRL solutions, data integration strategy, SOA Governance, Data Delivery, Presentation and Reporting.

Accomplishments: Delivered threat and fraud intelligence (TFI) solutions to governments and organizations worldwide using IBM’s Identity Insight (Entity Analytic) Solutions and Master Data Management (MDM) offerings. Principal consultants work with customers, business partners, IBM sales, project managers, and legal and implementation teams to manage relationships and ensure customer satisfaction during IBM product and service engagements. Responsibilities include estimating solution budgets and resources, drafting and negotiating contracts, managing solution delivery and customer expectations during implementation, and cultivating customer references. Developed tools for estimation and planning, and contract templates.Benefits: The implemented systems have delivered benefits ranging from preventing terrorism and saving lives to discovering money laundering schemes and avoiding mortgage fraud. The estimation tools have reduced the cost of producing a solution services estimate by 70-80% while improving estimate accuracy and reducing sales cycles. The contract templates have reduced misunderstandings by clearly defining common implementation issues and their related assumptions.

Accomplishments: Provided services to clients of the IBM Identity Insight (Entity Analytic) Solutions Group. Delivered threat and fraud intelligence (TFI) solutions to foreign and domestic government and corporate clients. Customer projects included Information Governance plans and Maturity Assessments, data modeling, data profiling / data quality analysis, extraction and cleansing, SOA Governance, XML, DTD and Schema design, and Data integration strategy Solutions included border security for foreign governments, money laundering detection for banks, and fraud detection for foreign and domestic stock exchanges. Created several XML-based ETL / data quality analysis tools. Advised and supported Analytics product engineering and QA. Assisted in the development of MDM and Analytics implementation processes. Produced extensive product and project documentation. Benefits: Every solution implementation exceeded expectations, resulting in benefits such as safer international borders and less bank and stock fraud. The XML-based ETL tools and processes helped deliver projects on time and on budget, as well as enhancing solution offerings and implementation processes.

Accomplishments: Responsible for email and data archival and compliance-based data governance based on Federal Government regulations. Plannned and completed multiple governance and implementation projects with tight deadlines and complex deliverables. Provided guidance and training to development and admin teams. Designed, implemented and managed a customized Software Configuration Management (SCM) process. Planned and managed the migration of applications and email to new systems and platforms.Benefits: The application and mail archiving system provided access balanced with security for previously inaccessible data and exceeded regulatory requirements for security and accessibility. The SCM process improved the quality and efficiency of software development and assisted in achieving CMM level 2 certification for the IT group.

Accomplishments: Owned and operated an IT Consulting and Training Business / IBM Business Partnership. Leveraged more than 20 years of technology industry experience to provide services to various projects to companies worldwide. Clients included IBM, Wachovia Bank, Panasonic, Lexis-Nexis, John Wiley and Sons, NEC, BellSouth, Bell Canada, and Air Liquide.Solutions Included data governance, data quality assessments / data profiling, data modeling, business intelligence, business partner management, Maturity Assessments (CMM), competitive intelligence, content management, corporate budgeting, CRM, custom documentation, custom training materials, enterprise information delivery, group faxing, help desk support, agreement tracking, asset tracking, Infrastructure migration and upgrades, mailing list management, new business opportunity evaluation, process management, product development, project proposal management, repair (RMA) tracking, resource planning, software configuration management (SCM), system and infrastructure audits, Web applications, Web newsletters, Web portals, Web service development, workflow, and XML content syndication.Responsibilities included solution budget and resource estimation, sales, project management, consulting, systems and infrastructure architecture, implementation, application development, system administration, messaging/application migration/upgrades, and customized user/developer training. Authored/co-authored three technical books and numerous articles. Presented dozens of IT seminars and lectures at conferences worldwide. Benefits: Numerous complex IT solutions were delivered on time and on budget. Thousands of IT professionals have read my books and articles, attended my seminars, and used my advice and techniques to successfully deliver IT solutions.

Accomplishments: Managed a staff of seven developers and administrators that implemented a messaging and groupware infrastructure, and migrated messaging systems. Created applications for sales and lead management, collections tracking, safety information (MSDS) distribution, and help desk support. Developed the corporate intranet. Managed an eight-person team to customize a data warehouse and operations system. Planned, developed and implemented a distributed accounting system for order entry, invoicing, inventory, purchasing, payables and general ledger. Benefits: The new systems resulted in a 35% cost reduction by increasing process efficiencies. The implementation of the new messaging and groupware systems reduced travel and administration costs by exploiting new ways of communication and access to information within the company and with customers.

In my early career (1983-1993) I developed my technical, leadership and sales skills while working for several companies, in Canada (Seaboard Life Insurance, Sunny Hills Hospital, MicroAge), the UK (NatWest Bank, County Unit Trusts), and Australia (AMP Society, Agoston Douglas and Partners).