Richard Willis Email & Phone Number

Huntersville, Nc, Us

Charlotte, North Carolina, Us

Responsible for strategy and implementation of all corporate systems. Focusing on security, reliability and automation, we continually improve the tools our business depends upon, reducing technology friction and improving employee effectiveness. Partnering tightly with business stakeholders to ensure consistent delivery of business systems. Delivering positive impact by enhancing the systems needed for strategic growth and business continuity.* Led IT teams through 4 acquisitions and a divestiture settling Technical Service Agreements to drive cost savings and add value, while delivering positive customer experience.* Built and implemented multi-cloud strategy and guided application migrations to public cloud.* Drove over $4.5M in annual technology savings post-merger in consolidating systems.* Modernized IT internal operations by implementing ServiceNow as product owner for IT Service Management, IT Operations Management and CMDB.* Directed a greenfield domain migration, adopting a new domain using zero-trust architecture, migrating over 1000 systems and applications.* Managed call center implementation of first production instance of Google Contact Center AI. * Developed and instituted technology policies, including Document Retention and Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use Standards. Piloted AI tools in the business to derive standards.* Ensured 24/7 operation of OSS, BSS, ERP and back office tools, while overseeing IT Support organization providing user support to North American and off-shore teams.* Negotiated enterprise agreements with Microsoft, Palo Alto, Oracle, VMWare and Cisco recognizing over $2.1M in contract saving while expanding utilization.* Served in Sr. Leadership of Employee Resource Group "Supporting Women's Advancement & Empowerment."

Charlotte, North Carolina, Us

• Developed and implemented a cloud-first approach, enabling secure access from anywhere for employees, resulting in a seamless pandemic response. • Modernized outdated infrastructure with core technologies such as public cloud, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), Cisco application centric infrastructure (ACI), and cloud-aware backup and recovery. • Rebuilt and integrated infrastructure teams into a unified, high-performing team. • Managed 24/7 operations and service support for internal systems, supporting North American and off-shore teams.

High Point, Nc, Us

Responsible for strategy and implementation of all corporate infrastructure. Focusing on simplification, standardization and automation, we continually improve the tools our business depends upon, reducing technology friction and improving employee effectiveness. Delivering positive impact by enhancing the systems needed for strategic growth and business continuity.• Developed a cloud-first approach that prioritized secure access anywhere for our employees, resulting in a seamless pandemic response.• Led Northstate technology transition team through merger, and continued leading Segra’s infrastructure integration post-acquisition.• Built public cloud IaaS/PaaS strategy and guided the development teams to shifting applications to cloud.• Drove over $1.4M in annual technology savings post-merger in consolidating systems.• Modernized outdated infrastructure with the adoption of core technologies driving flexibility and availability: Public cloud, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), Cisco application centric infrastructure (ACI), and cloud-aware backup and recovery.• Rebuilt infrastructure team upon joining Northstate, and post-acquisition, re-organized and integrated the tech teams into a unified, high-performing team.• Managed 24/7 operations and service support for internal systems, supporting North American and off-shore teams.

High Point, Nc, Us

Rebuilt the order-to-cash process to enable more efficient revenue recognition, by aligning processes to ITIL standards, automating engineering activity, and driving PMI-compliant project methodology. Lead a team of 35 to manage all customer change activity, throughout the customer life cycle. Work closely with software and platform teams to ensure our tools meet the needs of the business and our customers. Interfacing with Sales and Product development has cultivated deep domain knowledge of cloud, data center and managed service products and positioning. Manage purchasing/delivery relations with 3rd party providers.• Oversaw the “Lights Out Manufacturing Initiative” which automated 80% of common deployment activities, resulting in 57% labor reduction in engineering.• Reduced new revenue recognition cycle to 31 days from over 100. • Reduced implementation backlog from 2.5X monthly sales to .9X.• Developed REST API driven infrastructure automation on the ServiceNow platform.• During company-wide ServiceNow rollout, led the Request Fulfillment, Automation, and Project/Portfolio Management functions. Entire enterprise adopted ITIL practices and moved to ITIL-aligned ServiceNow in 18 months.• As ServiceNow Process Owner, translated business needs into functional requirements. Created stories, planned sprints and defined minimum product.• Introduced PMI-compliant project management methods and standards to the Implementation team, resulting in 42% becoming PMP certified.• Enabled Finance, Sales and Executive teams with reporting on Implementation.• Identified metrics and KPIs needed to proactively monitor team performance.• 2017 “Circle of Excellence Award” recipient.

Charlotte, North Carolina, Us

Delivering cloud technology to customers – responsible for migrating customers into Flexential’s cloud and co-location environments. Rebuilt the order-to-cash process to enable more efficient revenue recognition, by aligning processes to ITIL standards, automating engineering activity, and driving PMI-compliant project methodology. Lead a team of 35 to manage all customer change activity, throughout the customer life cycle. Work closely with software and platform teams to ensure our tools meet the needs of the business and our customers. Interfacing with Sales and Product development has cultivated deep domain knowledge of cloud, data center and managed service products and positioning. Manage purchasing/delivery relations with 3rd party providers.• Led Customer Implementation through $1.67B merger.• Oversaw the “Lights Out Manufacturing Initiative” which automated 80% of common deployment activities, resulting in 57% labor reduction in engineering.• Reduced new revenue recognition cycle to 31 days from over 100. • Reduced implementation backlog from 2.5X monthly sales to .9X.• Developed REST API driven infrastructure automation on the ServiceNow platform.• During company-wide ServiceNow rollout, led the Request Fulfillment, Automation, and Project/Portfolio Management functions. Entire enterprise adopted ITIL practices and moved to ITIL-aligned ServiceNow in 18 months.• As ServiceNow Process Owner, translated business needs into functional requirements. Created stories, planned sprints and defined minimum product.• Introduced PMI-compliant project management methods and standards to the Implementation team, resulting in 42% becoming PMP certified.• Enabled Finance, Sales and Executive teams with reporting on Implementation.• Identified metrics and KPIs needed to proactively monitor team performance.• 2017 “Circle of Excellence Award” recipient.

Mooresville, Nc, Us

Managed ecommerce systems across cloud, collocation and on-premise data centers for Lowes Digital systems enabling B2B and B2C ecommerce, utilizing IBM Websphere Commerce and Adobe Experience Manager. Gathered requirements from business partners and engineered systems to meet performance and functionality needs. Oversaw managed service partners, renegotiating contracts for proper SLA oversight and 18% cost savings.• Managed build-out of $13M disaster recovery project for Top-20 consumer ecommerce website, ensuring 30-minute recovery and minimal data loss on Websphere Commerce.• Drove enhancements in database management and utilization that eliminated 60 hours downtime each year, saving $11M in sales and allowing us to reach 99.9% uptime.• Shifted business-critical systems from Amazon cloud to internal data centers while moving dev/test workloads to secured public cloud - boosting security and control while saving $3.2M annually in managed service cost.• Responsible for all ecommerce and mobility infrastructure for Lowes Digital systems enabling B2B and B2C ecommerce, across owned, managed-hosting and cloud data centers.• Leadership of multiple teams of full-time, contract and managed service resources, including recruiting, hiring and development of technical and leadership staff.• Management of capital and expense budgets; forecasting and long-range planning; engaging enterprise procurement for selection, negotiation and purchasing.• Drive roadmap and strategy for Infrastructure, consulting with business partners, using technology to increase business value.• Manage project teams delivering new technologies and upgrades including server build automation, disaster recovery, data center consolidation, high-availability and monitoring solutions.• Contract management and vendor governance of managed service partners; managing relationships for sales and delivery with technology partners.• EMC, Cisco, HP, VMWare, Red Hat, IBM, Oracle, F5, Verizon.

Huntersville, Nc, Us

Managed enterprise compute and storage from data center to desktops, including remote distribution center buildouts, through an aggressive growth period. Modernized compute and storage platforms to enable B2C ecommerce growth and to provide nimble development platforms. Ensured that critical infrastructure met business needs and enabled business goals. Managed contracts and controlled spend for all infrastructure vendors. Extensive support of Microsoft SQL, Business Intelligence and SharePoint.• Responsible for all computing for a $4B multi-national enterprise from data center to mobile devices, enabling business solutions for B2B and B2C ecommerce.• Innovated in the data center; driving virtualization and automation across technology stacks.• Leadership for a varied portfolio of technology implementation projects; ownership of full hardware lifecycle. Responsible for $15M CapEx/OpEx budget.• Developed and implemented disaster recovery and continuity strategies for infrastructure.• Tactical management of three teams of technologists. Motivated, developed and evaluated staff; mentored and coached individual contributors and peers.• Developed long-term technology strategies and roadmaps, aligning IT to business objectives. • Developed and managed vendor relationships across technology platforms; managed off-shoring relationships; ownership of managed-service relationships. • Consulted with business units to determine technology needs; coordinated with development teams to deliver solutions; coached implementation teams to ensure consistent delivery. • Drove the 100% virtualization strategy; deploying virtual Oracle RAC into production;• Led adoption of multiple EMC Symmetrix, VNX and Isilon platforms;• Directed multiple teams through repeated successful Disaster Recovery tests;• Built a relationship and an ELA with VMWare that is used as a model for their commercial customers;• Moved secondary data center in 45 hours with zero business disruption.

Huntersville, Nc, Us

• Project management and financial analysis role with the nation’s largest independent tire wholesaler, reviewing contracts and developing Project Management Office.• Managing technology implementation projects. Developing project estimating and costing expertise in the business. • Managing payables and expenditure for $20M budget area. Negotiating terms and settlements with vendors.

Compliance, financial review, budgeting, conflict resolution and similar activities for an active homeowner's association.

London, United Kingdom , Gb

• Long-term service-delivery consulting role in a $70 billion, Fortune 20 consumer products manufacturer, representing a $1 billion global technology services firm.• Led support team in all aspects of maintaining and improving Windows-based control systems in a large-scale manufacturing facility.• Managed implementation projects in the production environment.• Implemented change-control and security processes. • Participated in annual contract review and negotiations; prepared bid packages.

• Long-term service-delivery consulting role in a $70 billion, Fortune 20 consumer products manufacturer, representing a $1 billion global technology services firm.• Led support team in all aspects of maintaining and improving Windows-based control systems in a large-scale manufacturing facility.• Managed implementation projects in the production environment.• Implemented change-control and security processes. • Participated in annual contract review and negotiations; prepared bid packages.

• Network and application management in local facility of a $2 billion carton manufacturer.• Managed daily operation of Cisco LAN/WAN and AT&T / Lucent voice platforms. • Multiple roles in pilot implementation of comprehensive ERP system; led process improvement team to overcome software issues post-implementation. • Supported end-users with all software and hardware issues. Trained end users; wrote user and procedural documentation.• Directed vendors and contractors to implement technology needs, ensuring adherence to established contracts.

Pre-sale and post-sale support for a Win-NT based retail Point of sale system.

Bs, Management

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Business Administration, Management And Operations