Chris Barber

Chris Barber Email and Phone Number

AVP, Data and AI @ CNA Insurance
Texas, United States
Chris Barber's Location
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, United States, United States
Chris Barber's Contact Details

Chris Barber work email

Chris Barber personal email

About Chris Barber

Visionary technology leader with 20 years of experience leading innovation in data, infrastructure, and cloud. Proven ability to architect high-performing global teams, deliver strategic initiatives, and optimize performance across hybrid IT landscapes. Expertise in data governance, cloud-native architecture, disaster recovery orchestration, and digital transformation. Passionate about building agile teams and fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement.Specialties:• Technology Leadership• IT Strategy and Delivery• Design and Operation of High Availability Architectures• IT Infrastructure Management• Database and Enterprise Technology• Performance and Capacity Analysis• Vendor Management and Contract Negotiation• Capital Planning and Asset Lifecycle Management• Strategic PlanningMy thoughts and opinions shared on LinkedIn are my own and do not represent the position of my company.

Chris Barber's Current Company Details
CNA Insurance

Cna Insurance

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AVP, Data and AI
Texas, United States
Website:
cna.com
Employees:
7231
Company phone:
+1 417-501-4357
Company email:
communitycare@allstate.com
Chris Barber Work Experience Details
  • Cna Insurance
    Avp, Data And Ai
    Cna Insurance
    Texas, United States
  • Allstate
    Engineering Director Of Data Systems And Orchestration
    Allstate Dec 2018 - Present
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    Accountable for full data lifecycle and supporting systems for Allstate’s operational, analytic and reporting ecosystems. Consolidating disparate processes and technologies into a unified data architecture that delivers the right data at the right time to the right stakeholders via automation and predictive analytics to know what the business needs before they know they need it.• Led a 170+ person, geographically dispersed data powerhouse, managing a $50M+ annual budget.• Championed enterprise-wide data governance initiatives, ensuring data security, compliance, and accessibility.• Established a best-in-class Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practice to drive data platform automation, self-healing, and autonomous scalability.• Drove out millions of dollars of software expense by replacing proprietary technology with cloud agnostic and open-source solutions. • Successfully migrated core data systems to multi-cloud offerings, achieving agility, elasticity, and cost-efficiency.• Optimized data analytics and reporting systems to improve data time to value from weeks to near real-time.
  • Allstate
    Senior Manager Of Enterprise Infrastructure Transformation
    Allstate May 2017 - Dec 2018
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    Led global organization of 70+ individuals responsible for mainframe systems engineering and enterprise job scheduling accounting for financial reporting and data integrity of $30B+ in annual revenue.• Optimized global talent pools, fostering a collaborative and geographically agnostic IT organization.• Led the strategic automation and disaster recovery initiatives, ensuring high availability for mission-critical applications.• Eliminated single points of failure in application architectures, achieving 24x7x365 service uptime and unparalleled resilience.• Revitalized application development through strategic partnerships with agile development teams.
  • Allstate
    Enterprise Technology Strategist
    Allstate Sep 2015 - May 2017
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    • Masterminded the execution of Allstate's most successful large-scale disaster recovery exercise to date.• Delivered a 20% annual reduction in software expenses through innovative licensing models and platform optimization.• Developed and implemented a future-proof mainframe modernization strategy for GDPS implementation, mitigating legacy technology risk.• Championed the value proposition of enterprise systems careers and spearheaded initiatives to modernize core mainframe applications.
  • Allstate
    Enterprise Architect And Modernization Catalyst
    Allstate Dec 2012 - Sep 2015
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    • Delivered Allstate's first Linux on z environment, unlocking increased efficiency and significant cost savings.• Designed high-availability, cloud-native Web Services environments, generating $10M+ annual savings, replacing an entire legacy platform implementation.• Partnered with infrastructure leadership to optimize hardware, software contracts, and platform costs, driving financial accountability.• Led the adoption of industry best practices, resulting in a dramatic 74% reduction in planned downtime.
  • Allstate
    Mainframe Capacity And Performance Lead
    Allstate Aug 2012 - Dec 2012
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    Technical Lead for mainframe platform performance tuning and capacity planningDeveloped procedures for benchmarking performance in order to detect performance anomaliesBuilt relationships between application and testing organization to drive performance and capacity considerations into the initial phases of the software lifecycleProvided training to application development and testing staff around performance enhancement techniquesLed R&D and proof of concept activities around mainframe performance enhancing technologies (hybrid computing, appliances, etc.)Partnered with numerous IBM experts to help shape the future of the mainframe platform and see that Allstate's computing needs are addressed in future mainframe hardware and software releasesDeveloped mainframe management dashboard for enterprise reporting of mainframe performance metricsRecommended mainframe hardware lifecycle changes
  • Allstate
    It Consultant
    Allstate Mar 2010 - Sep 2012
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    Led effort to completely refresh Allstate's mainframe hardware in order to realize $5 million annual savings while improving platform performance.Reliably supported over 20 vended software products used by thousands of individuals across 37 z/OS images. Successfully implemented and maintained z/OS system exits. Built and maintained Coupling Facility structuresSuccessfully utilized z/OS knowledge and skills to quickly identify problems in the environment, maintaining a high level of availability for our customers.Mainframe performance and capacity analysis Change and Release coordination for mainframe environmentAccountable for all sysplex configurations and hardware lifecycle eventsLed team to optimize mainframe performance, resulting in a decrease in utilization of 10%Created reporting process to give management full transparency into mainframe utilizationRepresented Allstate in IBM workgroup calls and biannual meetings to help shape the future of mainframe technology
  • Allstate
    It Professional
    Allstate Mar 2006 - Mar 2010
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    Reliably supported over 20 vended software products used by thousands of individuals across 37 z/OS images. Successfully implemented and maintained z/OS system exits. Maintained and implemented changes to the Hardware Configuration for over 35 z/OS images without incurring a single outage.Built and maintained Coupling Facility structures to support 4 high performance sysplexes.Led a team effort which resulted in the successful implementation of a quality system utilized by the z/OS team to measure successes.Successfully consolidated workload from three production sysplexes to two in order to drive down the cost and complexity of technology.Successfully utilized z/OS knowledge and skills to quickly identify problems in the environment, maintaining a high level of availability for our customers.Installed, maintained, and tuned IBM Websphere MQ and IBM DB2 Connect on Windows and Unix environments.Led a team in the upgrade of Websphere MQ for z/OS across 21 mainframe systems.Installed and upgraded z/OS operating system across the enterprise mainframe environment.
  • Allstate
    It Specialist
    Allstate Dec 2004 - Mar 2006
    Northbrook, Il, Us
    Reliably supported over 20 vended software products used by thousands of individuals across 37 z/OS images. Led an effort to integrate a new scheduling system into a highly modified z/OS system.Successfully implemented and maintained z/OS system exits. Designed and implemented system to track all vended software usage on all mainframe systems, resulting in a savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
  • Kelley Services For Allstate
    Specialist
    Kelley Services For Allstate Aug 2004 - Dec 2004
    Reliably supported over 20 vended software products used by thousands of individuals across 37 z/OS images. Successfully implemented and maintained z/OS system exits.
  • Allstate
    Intern
    Allstate May 2004 - Aug 2004
    Supported mainframe system programming efforts through coding of z/OS exits, vended product support, and usage reporting.

Chris Barber Skills

Ibm Mainframe Mainframe Architecture Ibm Assembler Smp/e Z/os Workload Management Performance Analysis Cobol Sas Sql Db2 C++ C# Java .net Unix Hardware Support Enterprise Software Performance Tuning Capacity Planning Capacity Analysis It Strategy Enterprise Architecture Disaster Recovery Leadership Software Development Vendor Management Bal Integration Analysis Mainframe Operating Systems Solution Architecture Process Improvement Business Analysis Ibm Db2 Data Center Software Development Life Cycle Cloud Computing Linux Management Testing Cics High Availability Requirements Analysis Websphere Mq

Chris Barber Education Details

  • Northern Illinois University
    Northern Illinois University
    Business Administration
  • Northern Illinois University
    Northern Illinois University
    Computer Science
  • Northern Illinois University
    Northern Illinois University
    Computer Science

Frequently Asked Questions about Chris Barber

What company does Chris Barber work for?

Chris Barber works for Cna Insurance

What is Chris Barber's role at the current company?

Chris Barber's current role is AVP, Data and AI.

What is Chris Barber's email address?

Chris Barber's email address is cb****@****hoo.com

What schools did Chris Barber attend?

Chris Barber attended Northern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Northern Illinois University.

What are some of Chris Barber's interests?

Chris Barber has interest in Cars, Financial Management, Golf, Food, Movies.

What skills is Chris Barber known for?

Chris Barber has skills like Ibm Mainframe, Mainframe Architecture, Ibm Assembler, Smp/e, Z/os, Workload Management, Performance Analysis, Cobol, Sas, Sql, Db2, C++.

Who are Chris Barber's colleagues?

Chris Barber's colleagues are Roxana Alvarado, Torina Otoko, Aaron Camphor, Michelle (Kramer) Grimestad, P.e., Barbara Vandenbos, Zach Hoffmeister, Robin Toler, Cris.

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