Research Director covering multi-tenant datacenter (colocation), hosting and cloud providers. Produce syndicated research content, receive vendor briefings, engage in consulting work, and participate in conferences as a speaker and panel moderator.

Oversaw 2 capacity-constrained Data Centers for the Auto Finance division and worked on a team to migrate servers to a 20K SF enterprise Data Center that supported all business units. Managed Auto Finance division’s IT needs and supported other business units in new Data Center. Provisioned power and cabling and assigned floor and rack space to support equipment installation. Planned risk-mitigation strategies. Collaborated with Project Managers, Engineers, and System Administrators to establish priorities and schedules. Supervised 5 external vendors.Operational Highlights:• Saved $750K and reduced risk for Data Center changes by significantly influencing an architectural decision to adopt a standards-based structured cabling plant.• Migrated more than 600 servers and network and storage equipment from 2 capacity-constrained Data Centers to 1 enterprise Data Center.

Directed business analysis and project management efforts for multiple Data Center and IT operations projects. Identified Data Center capacity issues and documented business requirements. Coordinated Data Center upgrades among IT groups and steered communication regarding activities and potential risks.Operational Highlights:• Achieved Tier 3 classification by managing a $2.5 million Data Center upgrade to double power and cooling capacities and achieve goal of power and cooling redundancy.• Spearheaded infrastructure security project, formulating new strategies and processes and initiating implementation of roles-based IT security to address regulatory audit issues.• Negotiated revised project scope, identified new stakeholders, and guided consultants to successfully turn around a $500K HP OpenView operations management project.

Supervised 24/7 management of 2 Data Centers and monitored their applications, servers, storage, networks, tape operations, and job scheduling. Supervised, trained, and developed 14 computer operators on use of enterprise management systems to monitor facilities. Collaborated with disaster-recovery and network teams to establish capacity planning and recovery plans. Managed off-site data-storage facilities to ensure proper audit trails and backups complied with company’s legal, financial, and operations needs. Engaged in troubleshooting to resolve Data Center problems affecting delivery to customers.Operational Highlights:• Consolidated IT Operations staff and Help Desk staff to maximize efficiencies and eliminate the need for new hires.• Identified gaps between actual operations and ITIL best practices and initiated implementation of improved incident, problem and change management processes to resolve problems

Directed companywide knowledge management activities for Data Centers and IT operations. Remotely supported more than 300 consultants worldwide in delivering Data Center and IT operations projects to clients. Assisted sales staff with Data Center and IT operations projects.Operational Highlights:• Initiated local development of $2 million IT operations consulting practice and partnered with a national team to grow practice into a $70 million companywide business.• Co-developed the Web-based knowledge management system used by more than 4K consultants worldwide.• Volunteered for the planning of the annual HP OpenView Forum industry conference for 3 years.

Supported pre-sales efforts, drafted proposals, estimated for and managed projects, mentored staff, and delivered IT operations projects. Worked with CEO and CFO to review potential acquisition candidates.Operational Highlights:• Managed team of 4 in $900K network operations center project for Southwestern Bell Internet Services. Defined target architecture, delivered compliant toolsets, and trained operations staff.• Initiated and developed an innovative Web-based marketing campaign for INS by conducting 8 worldwide industry surveys on the company’s Web site. Survey results were later used as sales collateral; surveys are still performed monthly.

Directed pre-sales support, developed proposals and seminars, estimated for projects, and delivered IT operations projects. Implemented Netview/6000 management system for Sears.

Implemented enterprise-wide network designs and plans for 20K end-users. Prepared $1.7 million departmental budget. Managed 11 network engineers.