I support 42 Chicagoland clients as a Level 2 and 3 Management Service Provider (MSP) Projects Engineer with responsibilities in systems architecture, management and network documentation. My duties include to design and deploy servers in on-premise and cloud environments using VMWare, Microsoft Server 2012/2016/2019/2022 and Microsoft Azure, migrate clients from on-premise servers to Azure, configuring the VPN Gateway and install Azure AD Connect, implement Azure cloud security policies, on-board new clients to Office 365 and Azure AD, participate as security team member responsible for CIS (Center for Internet Security) version 8, create yearly client business reviews consisting of budgetary equipment considerations and security status, upgrade client vCenter and vSphere ESXi hosts, serve as the top tier escalation of complex desktop, server and network issues, and mentor/support support technicians through technology leadership, best practices and documentation.

I was relied on to be the Subject Matter Expert for building and configuring all new Windows Server OS's for Ensono clients, using Ansible for Ensono Cloud automation, VM Templates for VMWare, PowerShell scripting, and Altiris. Major projects consisted of client server migrations from End-of-Support Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2019, and building PowerShell scripts and using automation to reduce the OS build time from two days down to one. I documented all configurations and used them to mentor the eight other System Engineers on the server build process to decrease delivery times and help meet the client's Service Level Agreement.

I was a member of the Intel team supporting 3000+ Windows servers 24 x 7. Monthly maintenance windows consisted of disaster recovery testing of production SQL servers to DR SQL servers and OS patching. I built 1000+ Windows 2012, 2008 and 2003 servers using Altiris and VM Templates for VMWare, specializing in SQL Active/Passive Clusters and Veritas Storage Foundation. I specialized in the creation of 30+ Microsoft SQL Active/Passive clusters to increase high availability of critical client databases and built 20+ off-site Disaster Recovery SQL servers to test on a monthly basis the business continuity of critical production database servers. A major project was to support datacenter consolidations by converting 300+ physical Windows servers to virtual servers using PlateSpin, RoboCopy and VMWare vCenter.

I acted as the primary technical contact for 30 e-commerce web sites, in charge of setup, configuration and maintenance of an off-site production web-hosting environment consisting of Dell PowerEdge and HP ProLiant servers running MS Windows Server OS, IIS, Vignette Content Management apps and Microsoft SQL Server. I specialized in redundancy and high-availability of servers by installing/maintaining load-balanced web servers and MS SQL Active/Passive clustered servers. LAN security required the administration and maintenance of two Checkpoint Firewalls. Daily administrative duties included supporting domain services such as Windows Active Directory, DNS, WINS and DHCP. A major project during this time consisted of being the Team Lead for two datacenter server migrations resulting in $50K savings in monthly datacenter costs.

During my junior year of high school, I decided to join the Army Reserves. Being an Iowa farmboy, I wanted to experience new challenges, travel and build some tuition money for college. Along the way I learned such skills as Infantryman (Heavy Anti-Armor TOW Gunner) in high school, being a Patient Administrator and Medic in college, to finish my military career being a Supply Sergeant, Finance Auditor, Management Analyst (MTOE), Drill Sergeant and Administration Specialist. I am currently in the Retired, US Army Reserves.

Full-time supervisor of the 85th Division (Exercise) IT department consisting of the seven full-time military and civilian personnel. The $700K yearly budget consisted of the acquisition of the division's computer and telecommunication equipment. Yearly leasing contracts for copiers, fax machines and mail processing equipment were sent out for three bids to supply the 18 units under my care.