Kathy Cooke Email & Phone Number

Georgia, United States

Macon, Ga, Us

Macon, Ga, Us

Actively lead the infrastructure development and modernization efforts of 300-employee organization operating in 27 locations across the Southeast, Washington and New Hampshire. After transitioning server environment to hyper-converged architecture and negotiating a change in vendor-supported telecom infrastructure, replaced analog-based phone system with Unified Communication and Collaboration capabilities. Moved company from single point of failure data and voice environment to a software-defined WAN with redundant internet hub capability. Recently migrated company from Google to Microsof365 environment with additional backup and anti-spam functionality. Currently co-leading a project to combine 3 separate ERP's (2 cloud and 1 on-prem) into a single cloud-based system. As time permits, working with a team to develop a company intranet aimed at increasing communication and productivity among employees.

Carrollton, Ga, Us

Responsible for Data Center infrastructure including VBlock converged systems, Standalone XtremeIO, VNX 5700 and Dell Compellent storage systems, UCS converged infrastructure, and Dell server farm. Led effort to streamline data center, consolidating Dell servers into UCS and Vblock systems, significantly reducing data center footprint while significantly increasing processing capability, redundancy and uptime for Southwire's computing environment. Piloted and implemented VDI infrastructure, piloted Zerto disaster recovery in the cloud with planned implementation 1st quarter 2017. Consolidated and upgraded vmWare farms to vmWare 6.0. Developed detailed migration plan to move existing SAP ecosystem (production, test, development) to Vblock architecture.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, Us

Provided technical leadership and IT operations management for corporate headquarters and 25 service centers located in 5 states and international offices in Dubai, UAE and Cartagena, Colombia. Managed all IT vendor contracts and relationships. Led a lean staff in execution of all network/storage, server, telecom, desktop and help desk operations responsibilities for entire enterprise. Provided 7X24 support for all service centers. Actively sourced, negotiated and managed more than 30 hardware/software contracts for the company. Directed the technical infrastructure build of 3-5 service centers per year. Revamped corporate telecom infrastructure using SIP technology which resulted in doubled bandwidth and greater redundancy without increasing year-to-year costs. Deployed leading-edge virtualization, storage, telecommunications and backup technologies for all locations which increased production uptime to 99.9999% and resulted in a robust, secure computing environment. Implemented secure mobility platform for all locations. Constantly researched new and emerging technologies to assess business value and suitability to corporate environment.

Chattanooga, Tn, Us

Successfully executed all compliance, security and risk management functions including Sarbanes-Oxley and I.T. audit program development. Managed I.T. vendor relationships and contractual obligations. Saved company over $200k per year through vigorous contract renegotiation and replacement. Established technology security program for company. As PMO Director, created start-up organization reporting directly to the CIO with a mandate to prioritize management of corporate projects and ensure alignment with corporate strategy. Established first-time Project Management Office for company. Integrated Project Management ethic into corporate culture; introduced System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology to development staff. Integrated CobiT-based IT governance framework into organization. Developed and managed Sarbanes-Oxley General Computer Controls compliance program for corporation and all subsidiaries.

Dalton, Ga, Us

Led and directed the diverse functions of Training, Project Management, Disaster Recovery, Help Desk, and Security for world’s largest carpet manufacturing corporation. Provided leadership for Senior Systems Programmers, Disaster Recovery and Security professionals. Managed various server and DASD consolidation projects with the acquisition of competitor business as well as renegotiation of mainframe equipment and software maintenance contracts totaling more than $10 million. Conducted yearly benchmarking studies to determine feasibility of outsourcing various Information Technology functions. Ensured corporate security and recoverability of IBM computing environment. Re-invented Help Desk function through implementation of appropriate technology tools and professional development/certification of Help Desk employees. Expanded Training curriculum to offerings outside the corporation, transforming the department into a profit center offering over 30 courses at significant savings over comparable vendors. Also incorporated distance learning as a training alternative for the corporation. Provided leadership for four Project Managers of more than 30 ongoing Information Technology initiatives ranging in scope from $10,000 to $2 million. Within 8 months, improved key metrics of Response Center effectiveness by over 30% while dealing with a 20% increase in call volume, and no increase in staff. Served on corporate cross-functional team, which re-engineered capital procurement processes and designed, implemented, and delivered a certification program for all project managers within the company to ensure effectiveness and compliance in corporate capital stewardship. Created first-time Disaster Recovery function for company, which included the creation of a corporate Business Impact Analysis, resulting recovery strategies, and high-availability recovery plan development. Established corporate Security infrastructure with attendant policy and procedures.

Managed all aspects of information services function in a 500-employee footcare products manufacturing facility generating annual sales of over $225 million in a $625 million, 2200-employee healthcare division. Served as executive liaison between business community and technical community for translation of business requirements into technical solutions. Actively managed an annual budget of $1.3 million and the professional development of employees. Provided all technical, end-user, and client liaison support for local professional customer base (175 clients) operating in a production wide area network environment and accessing geographically dispersed IBM and DEC computing platforms. Served as Project Manager for development of Cleveland portion of a $30 million division-wide enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Led the effort to modernize technological capability for 175-user manufacturing facility and accomplished project six months ahead of schedule. Developed and conducted various courses in technical and soft skills education curriculum. Also served as member of the Plant Executive Management Team, the leadership body for the manufacturing plant.

Knoxville, Tn, Us

Reporting to Vice President of Operations, established first-ever production management function for company with 3 managers and 55 systems analysts, programmers, and technicians performing help desk, disaster recovery, security, outage management and production application management functions. Managed departmental operations, actively promoted development of employees, and integrated Total Quality Management ethic into departmental culture. Also acted as one of four ground-floor participants in building a consulting function for TVA. Provided in-depth Strategic and Operational Planning seminars for local power distributors and private companies throughout the Tennessee Valley. Provided business and technology consulting expertise as required. Created start-up department with $3M budget to centralize production ADP operations, which resulted in reduction of error rates from 17% to under 2% in less than two years.Developed and implemented enterprise-wide automated software management capability, which resulted in ADP development life cycle productivity increases of 50%.Applied innovative outage management and disaster recovery strategies which ensured consistent system availability of 99%. Initiated and led print reduction effort which resulted in elimination of 20 million print pages and cost savings of $2 million per year. Conducted more than two dozen Strategic Planning consulting engagements for regional businesses. Developed Information Services Strategic Planning Model for translation into consulting engagements.

Computer Science

Bs, Political Science