As a Cloud Solution Architect dedicated to 100% technical presales, I enable customers to achieve their outcomes, based on their investments in Microsoft technology. Leveraging my 20 years in on premises + Microsoft 365 and Unified Communications technical subject matter expertise, I lead technical conversations with customers to drive value from their Microsoft investments, including identifying resolutions to issues blocking customer success projects. I work closely with our internal Sales teams to drive growth in their accounts tied to the Modern Workplace ecosystem. This means working closely also with the relevant Microsoft Account Executives to secure funding opportunities and wider alignment in the partnership. My team won Microsoft Partner of the Year (Canada) 2022, due to our ability to see the whole picture from a customer business and technical standpoint and to always maximize impact of Modern Workplace productivity tools, to help them work better.

Stratiform merged with Insight in December 2019.

I was previously a Snr. Systems engineer with Softchoice for a couple of years, then departed to IBM for a year. I returned as a Solution Architect.Microsoft Solution Architect, responsible for driving Microsoft M365 consumption across all customer metrics: - Accelerate cloud adoption in strategic accounts by providing deep technical expertise, aligned to Industry, Microsoft and Partner  recommended practices- Lead projects, create collateral, coach, mentor and encourage team members- Be accountable for the overall quality of engagements - Identify, validate, and grow opportunities in strategic accounts by driving solutions  aligned to Partner offerings, in partnership with the business development team- Keep up to date with market trends and competitive insights- Deliver immersive customer insights, collaborative demos and all associated technical presales functions- Create Statements of Work and drive all Sales engagement

"...The Microsoft Virtual Technology Solution Program (V-TSP) is a select group chosen from the elite in Microsoft’s partner community, whose focus is to augment Microsoft’s internal Technology Specialist team. Their primary role is to communicate the value of Microsoft Solutions to customers and to provide architectural guidance for Enterprise Integration solutions. The Microsoft VTSP program was designed to create a deeper relationship with Microsoft Partners, the Product Teams at Microsoft Corporate, and Regional Microsoft Offices, in order to provide highly skilled solution specialists to Microsoft customers. It is designed to enable a high performance team of partner-based resources to deliver pre-sale activities and resources to empower customers and help them meet their solution and integration needs...."

I joined IBM at a time of huge transformation, as Big Blue pivoted away from on premises to a hybrid Cloud strategy. My role as a Cloud technical leader was to assist both internal Sales and IBM customers with an understanding of Hybrid IT and how IBM was positioned to serve the market. I spent most of my time talking to customers about business transformation and the value proposition of IBM Cloud vs competitor offerings. In particular:- Watson Analytics- AI - IoT- Blockchain- Private Cloud- VMware migrations

Subject Matter Expert to customers across North America and internal Sales, evangelizing the adoption of Microsoft cloud services such as Azure/O365 in a dedicated pre-sales capacity. Responsible for Professional Services engineering content creation, SOWs and any Microsoft Partner collateral which aided our Modern Workplace initiatives. Also leveraged the Microsoft P-Seller role, integrating with Microsoft resources on some large customer accounts.Highlight of Year 2016 and continuing through 2017 is working as Lead Architect on the TELUS Exchange Server migration for 80k mailboxes, one of the largest migration efforts in Canada. Having successfully completed a 3000 employee Pilot migration in Q4 2016, we proceeded to migrate 32,000 in 8 weeks...achieving a customer milestone of having all primary user mailboxes completed by 31st March 2017.- Office 365/Exchange Online- Azure- Exchange Server/Hybrid- Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) - Directory Services- Identity Management- Platform Migrations with third party tools- Pre-sales- Training

Exchange | Office 365 | Azure | Directory Services | Design | Deployment | Migration | TrainingExchange Technology was my own vehicle for deploying Microsoft solutions to customers.

Design and implementation of an email upgrade and migration (including archived data migration), from Exchange 2007 on-premise to Exchange 2013 on-premise. Additional Office 365 Hybrid configuration with ADFS. This project included the following deliverables: Discovery/Planning sessions with EIA management. Develop detailed Work Breakdown Structure.  Business case analysis of Exchange 2013 vs Office 365. Architect Exchange 2013 Design incorporating High Availability. Storage Sizing/Planning. Hardware Load balancing (KEMP). Public Folder conversion. Office 365 Hybrid configuration with ADFS. Mimosa NearPoint data extraction/conversion to native Exchange 2013. Build and configure Exchange 2013 environment. MDM - Blackberry Server upgrade/Good Technology Server upgrade. Upgrade messaging dependent infrastructure applications. Implement SCOM 2012R2 for Exchange and ADFS monitoring. Migrate all mailboxes and resources from Source to Target. Implement Litigation Hold etc. Assist with Office 2013 rollout/Outlook 2013 client upgrade. Decommission legacy Exchange Org and dependencies. As-Built documentation of new environment. Train resources on supporting new environment.- Closure date end December 2014.

During my time at Compugen, I worked exclusively on the 55,000 user University of Calgary Exchange Upgrade Program, working onsite in Calgary. I worked with resources from Microsoft (FIM), Quest (QMMAD/QMMEX) and other Compugen resources on a 10--member team.I was responsible for taking the already-completed Exchange architecture and implementing this in a pre-Production lab environment.The lab was mainly used to validate/benchmark storage performance (JetStress) and internal/external client connection performance (LoadGen) which formed the basis for customer acceptance and subsequent Production deployment. I also deployed the Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) design in Production. I was also the 'No 2' resource assigned to manage the Quest Migration Manager for Exchange aspect of the migration. Multiple source email servers were collapsed into an Exchange 2010 target environment. Although i had previous QMM experience, i attended a one-week course on QMMAD and QMMEX in the UK to become part-qualified on the tool.The migration was in very early Production at my time of departure from Compugen.

Long View Systems hired me directly from the UK on a full time Systems engineer role. During my 4 years at LVS, I was a member of a small Microsoft Professional Services team. My specialization was in Exchange Server and Directory Services, acting as Technical Lead on engagements from initial pre-sales through to design and actual onsite implementation. I implemented dozens of projects for Local Government, Healthcare, Education, Banking and Private Sector Enterprise clients. I worked always with a Project Manager on each engagement. My remit gradually extended to that of a Senior Consultant/Architect where I worked closely with the Account Managers and Sales team to help drive opportunities in the Microsoft space, directly engaging clients on pre-sales discussions as the technical subject matter expert and writing Statements of Work, RFP proposals etc. Within the LVS team, I did monthly “Lunch&Learn” sessions, providing updates to staff on the latest Microsoft technology; mentored/trained junior colleagues and assisted in shaping the overall ethos of the Business Unit. I established and nurtured relationships with vendors such as Quest Software and KEMP and other business partners to help expand the team’s flexibility when delivering solutions.

Senior resource for GroupWise > Exchange 2007 migration using Quest tools. Led migration architecture/Active Directory design with Group Policy/NDS and GW object migration for 5000 users in multi-site environment.

Living in Kuwait 🇰🇼 City I assisted with re-architecture of Active Directory Sites and Services for India, Pakistan, Qatar and Kuwaiti business hubs. Led a team of 11 resources to roll out and support new AD infrastructure.

Responsible for Active Directory Domain for 5000 users. Senior Exchange Engineer. Technical lead on migrations/projects throughout the ICT remit. Led a team of 3 resources to provide senior escalation triage for all server infrastructure.

Started on the helpdesk, gradually attained senoirity within the team. Assisted with all aspects of the IT function, from Active Directory management to Project tasks. Senior escalation point for all help-desk triage. Led the desktop contractor team for a 300 user desktop XP roll-out.

Travelling around UK and Europe, playing in various types of bands, also honing my craft as a jazz pianist where I could find work.