Stuart Blake Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Manage a team of infrastructure engineers responsible for planning, implementation and support of the infrastructure supporting over 425 shops. In addition, manage the IT helpdesk for first and second level support.• Negotiated and deployed SD-WAN solution to over 325 shops. This reduced network costs while significantly increasing bandwidth and providing high availability by utilizing multiple network connections.• Presented SD-WAN and UCaaS solutions to senior leadership to gain approval and budget. Highlighted business benefit, cost savings and benefits of leveraging cloud-based solutions.• Spearheaded the negotiations and implementation of broadband services for 75 high volume shops.• Negotiated and deployed UCaaS cloud-based solution to all shops replacing a premise based VOIP platform.• Negotiated and upgraded data center infrastructure within a private cloud data center. Migrated nearly 100 VM’s to a VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure. Included 2nd datacenter to establish DR services.• Responsible for providing evidence for PCI compliance for infrastructure services resulting in receiving Report on Compliance (ROC)• Responsible for operational support of shop and headquarters networks and systems. Serve as escalation point for high priority issues. • Responsible for planning, implementing and supporting build-out and opening of 12 new shops.• Present key infrastructure operational metrics and progress on strategic projects to senior leadership team during quarterly business reviews.

Bolingbrook, Il

Manage a team of engineers responsible for the design, implementation and support of storage, database, server platforms and network (voice and data).• Negotiated telecom contract reducing cost by $2.7MM over 3 years.• Led team in design and implementation of infrastructure at Azure to support the rollout of cloud-based mobile app and company portal.• Negotiated and implemented monitoring and alerting solution with 3rd party vendor for core database, server and network systems.• Managed the IT resources responsible for new clinic openings. Outsourced equipment build and configuration reducing cycle time to open a new clinic.• Senior leader on team migrating email, file shares and unified communications to O365.• Managed IT team in building infrastructure to support new call center building. Implemented 2nd data center to support telecom resources and position company to leverage Azure Express Route.

Oak Brook, Il

Manage 7 engineers responsible for the design, implementation and support of LAN/WAN and network security infrastructures for DeVry Education Group campuses, call centers and corporate offices. • Negotiated contract to implement broadband technology to supplement campus bandwidth to support video connected classrooms and telepresence conference rooms.• Key leadership member of team that moved secondary data center to primary site reducing co-location expense of over $600K annually.• Managing project for network team to upgrade infrastructure at 20 Carrington College sites, a DeVry Education Group institution, to support Cisco VOIP solution leveraging the MPLS network.• Managed network security team in implementing network access control (NAC) and firewall management tool Tufin to automate firewall policy push and enforcement.

Chicago Area

Manage 18 associates supporting key infrastructure services: Network Security, Network LAN/WAN and Voice Engineering while accountable for a budget of $8MM+ with additional oversight for $7MM telecom and maintenance expenses.• Spearheaded transition of network support to outsourcing vendor seamlessly, maintaining operational support.• Designed, implemented and supported Avaya call center technology extended to Canadian operation resulting in cost avoidance to Canadian operation implementing own call center technology.• Led network teams in initial design and implementation for secured connectivity to Office Depot which supported merger activities.• Negotiated and implemented contingent labor plan to backfill for resource depletion to maintain operational support during merger while managing network teams through aggressive transition activities.• Provided management oversight for network and firewall remediation for annual PCI and SOX audit contributing to acceptance of Report on Compliance (ROC).• Established formal budget standard for technology lifecycle management resulting in higher probability of annual budget approval and reducing technology obsolescence within network.• Member of IT leadership team chartered with establishing and maintaining technology strategies, standards and best practices for organization.

Managed 15 associates on Network Security, Network Operations and Network LAN/WAN Teams and accountable for a budget of $6MM+ with additional oversight for $6MM telecom and maintenance expenses.• Led network team in design, implementation and support of a second data center which established active/active DR solution. Negotiated additional discounts on network hardware and services reducing overall cost of project.• Directed network team in design, implementation and migration of systems to new PCI segments which met PCI compliance requirements.• Led the Network Operations Center Team meeting or exceeding SLA's resulting in excellent customer service.• Developed justification and gained approval for refresh of the Call Center network infrastructure delivering added functionality and maintaining vendor support. Negotiated additional discounts for telecom services and Cisco hardware keeping costs in line with approved project budget.• Worked closely with business leaders to gather requirements for an OfficeMax store initiative, Control Center (PC repair). Architected network infrastructure and negotiated telecom contract to deliver cost effective solution.• Initiated effort to upgrade IT infrastructure at OfficeMax distribution centers. Prepared the justification and presented to senior management leading to the approval of over $3MM in capital. This improved warehouse worker productivity by providing a more stable and reliable infrastructure for critical warehouse picking activities. • Key member of team that orchestrated the IT integration of OfficeMax and Boise Cascade. Designed and built out the new OfficeMax data center in Itasca to support the merged company. Leveraged network equipment from the Shaker Heights data center from the acquisition, avoiding over $2MM investment in network hardware.• Negotiated telecom contract and led project to implement broadband in all OfficeMax stores resulting in annual savings of over $1.5MM.