Design and implement all aspects of support structure for startup organization supporting multiunit restaurant companies – Jim ‘n Nick’s Bar-b-que, Dinosaur Bar-b-que. Define support strategy for multiple organizations with individual needs. Oversee support operations and ensure SLA compliance. Serve as intermediary between customers, vendors and other support departments. Provide vision, insight and technical support for all restaurant systems and IT infrastructure.• Support management: Establish support structure to fit organizational needs. Identify opportunities in the existing support model to provide higher availability and reduce time to resolution. • IT Management: Oversee support operations, manage third party support providers, monitor and maintain accountability for SLAs. Serve as escalation point for support providers • Project management: Plan, design and implement software and hardware implementations. Work with other departments to identify needs, requirements for project implementations, monitors progress and ensure project completion.• Security and compliance: Work with other departments to establish and implement security guidelines and improve PCI compliance standards.

Plan/implement information technology infrastructure and operations for multiunit restaurant franchises - Applebee’s, Wendy’s, Famous Dave’s. Select scalable network storage solutions, hardware/software redundancies, and backup solutions for virtual Data Center resulting in the highest levels of network availability. Work with vendors to reduce cost by renegotiating contracts. Execute the hiring/termination process of information technology department staff. Write IT job descriptions, and provide input on compensation for information technology departmental staff. Liaison with senior management to create organizational alignment.• IT Management: Oversee a team of 5 IT staff. Manage $1M departmental budget.• Hardware Maintenance Plan: Implemented hardware maintenance plan to include lease, maintenance, repair & supplies which brought better service, product and $20k/yr. cost savings.• Overtime Reduction: Designed/implemented new support labor structure to reduce overtime and maintain acceptable SLAs. Reduced overtime by 90%, saving the company $60k/yr.• Contract Negotiations: Effectively negotiated contracts with various vendors to address the company's evolving needs, and cost reductions initiatives. The negotiations resulted in a $25k/yr. savings in current and projected cost.• Vendor Consolidation and Infrastructure Upgrades: Consolidated infrastructure services, eliminated underutilized services, implemented new network and server infrastructure allowing us to consolidate services and provide better security. Consolidated services with primary service providers, providing better infrastructure and $22k/yr. cost savings to the company.

Supervised and trained a team of computer help desk technicians to support company-wide technology aspects for headquarters, 80 stores and remote warehouse. Served as administrator of data center, including physical and virtual servers, and storage network. Supported multiple operating systems. Maintained LAN and WAN architecture with hardware equipment from Cisco, Netgear, Microtik, and SonicWall manufacturers.• Network Administration: Reorganized Microsoft Active Directory and implemented MS Group Policies to standardize and enforce desktop security, provide patch management, and automate access to network resources.• Infrastructure Upgrades: Planned and implemented a POS software upgrade across 75 stores to standardize versions, resulting in streamlined support and better customer service. • Service Maintenance: Created service level agreement for store support, monitored and maintained accountability.

- Software and Hardware consulting- Disaster Recovery consulting- Lead and Sales Generation- Marketing initiatives

Designed, planned and implemented network infrastructure for a 175,000 sq. ft. expansion.• Email Maintenance: Assisted in the migration of and upgrade of multiple email platforms (Groupwise, Lotus Exchange, Exchange). • Network Infrastructure: Supported various server operating systems.• IP Telephony: Maintained Cisco Call Manger IP Telephony system

Administered Warehouse Management System, planning, implementation, ongoing support and configuration of Enterprise Database software. Documented operational and system processes to align with current business needs. Served as liaison with customer and vendors for all technology selection, planning, implementation and support.• Project Development: Assisted with new Warehouse Management System for a new facility (300,000 sq. ft.). Assisted with system configuration, documentation and training.• IT Reports: Created queries and reports to assist management and operations team in making sound business decisions.