Promotion with adding responsibility in addition to ERP for IT infrastructure, datacenter, SAP basis, web technology / e-commerce, application and database development, increasing the number to 15+ in North America (Canada, US, Mexico) and Australia.Created and established a highly regarded web technology department, creating a global multimillion dollar multichannel e-commerce platform for the leading IT / High-tech industry. To offer a wide range of solution platforms and web technology options at competitive costs, a network of internal and external provider was created offering solutions like Dot.Net, Magento, Hybris, Content Delivery Networks (CDN) Akamai / Level 3 Communications and payment gateway provider for credit card transactions. The IT infrastructure organization was restructured, leading to a more approachable, more efficient, faster and accountable customer orientated set-up. international co-operation was intensified and synergies between team resources realized leading to cost savings and cost avoidance.Consolidating 12 major ERP and business legacy systems into 2 remaining SAP systems by migrating and integrating the business model, functions and customer.Working closely with the business owner of newly acquired sites to rollout a common North America SAP platform into the existing landscape, replacing older legacy systems.Introducing integrated professional services and applications for international trade compliance, North America inbound and outbound customs compliance and duty / VAT cash management.

Being part of a multi-national organization reporting directly to the Global CFO with responsibilities for a variety of Enterprise Application systems across 10+ locations in North America. Locations include manufacturing sites, fulfillment and distribution sites, transportation center, call-centers, financial services center, business process outsourcing service centers and headquarters. For the first 5 month I resumed responsibility for the Irish IT operation in addition to the new North America appointment until a replacement for Ireland was found and hired, allocating time and on-site presence between continents.The IT team located across sites consisted of 40+ internal multi-cultural staff and during project peak phases of up to additional 50 external consultants located across 4 continents. The system landscape included a variation of 5 different SAP systems, CRM systems, BPCS / Logpro, legacy transportation systems, subsystems and the EDI integration of customer, retailer and vendor.Working closely with the operational Site Directors, Executive Vice President and the Management Team, the North America IT team structure and system landscape was quickly transformed into a leaner, more efficient and customer orientated IT organization. As a result IT costs were reduced by over 30%, IT overhead reduced by 25%, EDI customer integration / monitoring of >1 million EDI transactions per month off-shored and EDI retailer connectivity outsourced to a leading retail EDI integrator improving integration turnaround times.

Reporting directly to the Managing Director I was part of the Senior Management Team. In addition to my local role, I also acted as official deputy for the European Sr. IT Director Enterprise Application.The role of the IT department, consisted of 10 internal team members and additional external consultants, included all aspects of SAP application support and development, database and web development, IT infrastructure support and maintenance as well as consultancy for internal and external customers.As the manager of a customer focused IT department, I was also heavily involved in quoting for new business and successfully winning new customers for our then new supply chain business stream to ensure future growth of the organization.The highly professional, flexible and customer orientated approach of the team lead by me, had earned me a very high level of respect throughout the European and global Senior Management and IT community within Arvato.As the deputy for the European Director of SAP Application (Manufacturing) I have emerged as the natural contact and escalation point for locations in Europe and beyond my role in Asia and Latin America.Major achievements include:• Designing and guiding the transition of the warehouse from a traditional concept towards a leaner RF and Pick-to-Voice environment reducing labor and risk, while increasing throughput.• Designing, developing and implementing a new SAP Distribution Plant Solution in order to allow ADiS Ireland to grow a new distribution business stream outside the traditional manufacturing business.• Winning new global business in the hardware and software distribution business industry.• Winning the business and setting up IT solutions for a mobile phone distribution center in Ireland for a major global player in this industry.• Harmonizing global database development and European SAP development.• Offshoring of application development to Eastern Europe.

Head of Application Development leading jointly with the IS Manager the IT department of a manufacturing plant in Dublin. This function included application support, application development, IT infrastructure and support, IT strategy and budgeting.Successfully launched the development of a new common European automated order entry interface based on XML technology and the functional specification of an automated Bill of Material interface to our customers to reduce manual intervention in the Client Services department. I was part of the internet/ e-business team for Sonopress Ireland, investigating new business areas, suggesting new business strategies and system enhancements.As the Irish Project Manager I upgraded our SAP system successfully to 4.6. The IT Team consisted of 13 IT professionals and external service provider.

SAP Application SupportResponsible for the support and development of the SAP system in a multi-national environment. The support role included business support for 320 SAP users in two plants (Swords/Balbriggan), user training on SAP, application development using ABAP and customizing the modules SD, MM, WM, PP, FI, CO and the Configurator. The support group consisted of 5 members of the IT team and two external consultancy groups.The SAP system was put in place in Sonopress Ireland as a pilot installation in August 1999 with the view to use it as a European wide system. During the implementation phase I was responsible for the automated and manual migration from the in-house developed manufacturing system (AS/400, DB2) to SAP. I was in charge of outsourcing planning, preparation and implementation of a business structure to continue production and customer support during the shutdown period of the implementation.ISIS Manufacturing SystemFrom the date I joined Sonopress Ireland until SAP implementation, I was responsible for business support, development, customizing and training on the Sonopress Ireland manufacturing System ISIS. I managed the design, development and implementation of an automated order entry system to cut down manual labor.During this time system integrity was constantly measured and went up to 99%. This task included training, changes of business processes, system enhancements and building up trust in the system by the people within the company.Application Development I consolidated existing applications in Visual Basic and SQL Server and implemented the Bertelsmann software development methologies. The Sonopress website and intranet were re-developed with FrontPage, JavaScript, ASP and SQL Server.Application Support summary: COBOL, ABAP, SAP SD MM WM PP FI CO and the Configurator, Visual Basic, Access, SQL Server, HTML, Java Script, ASP, Business support

Additional to the application support I was responsible for the day-to-day support of the IT system in our two plants in Swords and Balbriggan. The support included PC support of 250 users, LAN / WAN network, network security, Meridian Phone Systems, leased line communications to key customers and full maintenance of the IBM AS/400. During this time I was responsible for changing the IT infrastructure from Novel to NT, changing the mail system from MS Mail to Exchange. I also negotiated and implemented 24 hour support agreements. I managed network splitting, availability improvement and contingency plans to decrease the risk of disaster situations. I implemented a helpdesk, which operates today for SAP and IT systems.

In November 1996 I was promoted to the IT department supporting the financial department of the headquarters of the Bertelsmann AG. The in-house developed software in the headquarters had been developed in COBOL, Natural and PL/1. The financial software was used in 180 companies by approximate 1000 users and was being replaced by standard software. As a project manager, I was responsible for the replacement of the royalty system with a standard software package named PPM. This was a client server architecture system based on SQL Server and PowerBuilder. This multimillion pound project included the evaluation and documentation of the requirements from the headquarter and profit center, control of external consultants, design of the future system and infrastructure, migration scenarios, estimates of the development cycle, implementation and maintenance cost of software and hardware.I became part of a development team that consolidated different host based direct marketing systems of three business units into one client server platform. The design and development was object oriented and based on software methologies including IFD-0, IFDX, ERD, State Transition diagrams and Dialog Flow. The functional description in pseudo code of over one thousand functional objects was completed using the case tool Designer 2000. My main duty within the team was the system design and specification of the objects for programming by the internal and external developers. I developed some of the modules using Visual Basic, C++ and Oracle developer.Development Requirements: Project management Skills, Software Development Methodologies, COBOL, PL/1, DB2, Designer 2000, Visual Basic 5.0, Oracle

Bertelsmann Media Systems was the software development and consultancy company of Bertelsmann, today known as Arvato Systems Technology. The department I worked for supported mainly the CD manufacturing company Sonopress. My main duties in the international support team were the development, testing and training of the in-house developed manufacturing system ISIS. I worked closely with the Sonopress companies in Ireland, USA, Brazil and Hong Kong. This was done remotely and on-site. My main focus were the financial modules (ISIS, BPCS), but I was involved in production, sales and material management modules also. I developed, implemented and trained the financial module for Sonopress Ireland which was the first implementation within the European Community. As a member of the international support team I rolled-out the in-house developed warehousing system. My duties included consulting in business processes related to the manufacturing system. I defined and implemented the business process during the rollout of the ISIS installation in Hong Kong.Development Requirements: COBOL, DB2, AS/400, Business Process Definition

Customer service and product placement activities within the furniture center.

This trainee program is highly regarded by industry in Germany. It combines theoretical course content with significant practical experience and ‘on the job’ training. After 2-3 years, the training program concludes with a final examination undertaken by the chamber of industry and commerce.Content of the training on day-to-day business in finance, purchasing, sales and shipping. The courses included accounting, economics, process organization and mathematics.

Installation, end user support and testing of hardware components, applications, operating systems and database tools for the central training department of one of the biggest German energy suppliers.Development Requirements: FoxPro, dBase, Oracle

Software development support within the IT department for the Bertelsmann Book Club. Development Requirements: Office, Flow charter, Charisma, Excelerator, MVS/TSO,

As part of my civil service, I worked as a paramedic. After the end of the civil service time I continued this work on a voluntary basis and part-time job for the local and county ambulance services. On a voluntary base I joined the Fire Brigade service and continued this service until my departure to Ireland.