DataCenter Operations Resume

Title
DataCenter Operations

Primary Skills
DataCenter, Operations, TeamBuilding, IT Technology

Location
US-SC-SC (will consider relocating)

Posted
Oct-14-09

Paul Thornton, MBA
Email: paulthornton@earthlink.net
Mobile: +1(612) 229-2016
Website: http://www.businessleaderforhire.com/

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE
U.S. Citizen - U.K. Citizen - willing to discuss opportunities worldwide
Relocation expenses negotiable

Executive Summary

A problem-solver and team-builder with a background in Infrastructure, Operations, Datacenters, Satellite Communications and Workflows. I am a dedicated and self-motivated Information Technology Executive with more than 20 years experience in leading and driving both strategic and tactical implementations. I have extensive experience in gathering, analyzing and interpreting technical and operational requirements to support Enterprise-wide strategic board level decision-making. An innovative leader with a track record of assessing and capitalizing on opportunities to improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability in a variety of operational business roles, my diverse background in deadline-driven, high-availability (Tier-3 datacenter) environments -- both domestic and international -- enables me to manage teams directly whilst working across cultures to motivate others to achieve common goals. Envision the future, then make it happen.

* Strategic Analysis & Planning
* Senior Management
* Datacenter Operations
* Marketing & Business Development
* Project Management
* Tactical Implementation
* Budgeting & Cost Control
* Intermediate Spanish
* Basic French / Portuguese
* Personnel Development
* Vendor Negotiations
* International Business

Professional Experience and Selected Accomplishments

I.T. Consultant 2009 - present
Providing consulting services for an empty-room, Tier-2 datacenter build-out. Setting up all power, environmental, cabling and space requirements, and creating a formal company Business Continuity / Disaster Preparedness plan.

Operations & Internet Marketing
Carts and Grills Inc., Greer, SC 2007 to 2009
Manufacturer and supplier of ice cream carts, barbeque grills and portable sinks for the mobile catering industry.
Design and develop innovative product line for a startup company, including creation of the manufacturing process, implementation of a marketing strategy, initiate sales channels and define logistics. Set up Company server with custom database for direct marketing and tracking sales leads, as well as Company accounting system. Designed a completely unique battery-powered system - first-to-market in the industry - which is currently under consideration for a patent application. Set up all Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Company website to ensure search placement on the first page of results on all major engines.

I.T. Systems Support Manager
Jostens Inc., Burnsville, MN 2003 to 2006
An $850M provider of products, programs and services that help people celebrate important moments, recognise achievements and build affiliations. The Yearbook Printing Division produces over 3 million pages per year on both offset and digital presses.
Reporting to the Director of R&D, a dual-role position that provided leadership and managed the Graphics Systems Support Group (six direct reports) for projects transitioning from an R&D environment to a production environment; team-member in researching new products for release and implementation. The GSS group were the SMEs for the entire Printing Plant, covering all datacenter networking, storage, server administration and production application support across 5 Plants nationwide, and one in Canada. Responsible to the VP Printing for the business direction of all five of the Plant Managers from a tactical and strategic perspective - covering organic growth, capacity planning, business continuity and maintenance/service contract requirements. Managed an annual combined budget of $4.6M.
* Requested to participate in the Operations Strategic Planning session (6 member team) creating a $60M+, 5-year business growth and implementation plan for the Company.
Received the Legend Award in May 2006 (the Company's highest honor) for my contributions on this team.
* Assessed all new infrastructure and production equipment needs, obtained capital and purchased equipment for relocating a business acquisition. Managed and coached staff during installation of the Plant's new production datacenter (empty-room build-out) and achieved the goal of full production within 6 weeks.
* Tasked with reducing cost of the IT service contracts by $200K. Secured a new contract with an equal level of coverage without adding to the business risk. Realised a savings of $259k over the life of the new contract.
* Created a disaster recovery / business continuity plan for all five Plant datacenters around the country.
* Implemented standard workflows to balance Production workloads across the country at peak.
* Worked directly with an on-staff color scientist to develop and implement standard color management for all ICC-compliant devices in all five of the Printing Plants.
* Created an intranet site where all critical documentation could be accessed by stakeholders from anywhere.
* Inherited a dysfunctional team that had major communication problems. Utilizing a personality assessment tool, assessed individual and team issues, then implemented a series of group team-building sessions.
* Collaborated with Marketing and Operations to research, recommend and purchase Digital Presses. Created a structured implementation plan adding new workflows and equipment to support business growth.
* Researched and recommended new proofing devices used as part of the core production workflow. Negotiated pricing ($420k) and implementation. Improved efficiencies by 20% and realised savings of $500K in 2 years.
* As a member of the R&D team, conceptualized and developed an entirely new manufacturing/production workflow using both LEAN and six-sigma principles as a result of several strategic planning sessions.
* Led a team on implementation and migration strategy for the Production workflow system, storage system (over 210Tb on FC and SATA disk) and core server strategy (SGI) as part of a major $5M upgrade to the Company's infrastructure. Realized increased efficiencies by 15% and cost savings of $180K.

Technical Operations Manager
Sun Sentinel Newspaper, Deerfield Beach, Fl 1997 to 2003
A newspaper owned by Tribune Publishing with a daily circulation of approximately 260,000 serving South Florida.
Reporting directly to the VPIS/CTO, provided leadership to Technical Operations Department - including the Tier-3 Datacenter (over 220 servers on EMC SAN, Sun, Cisco, IBM, Wintel and Avaya) and support staff of 14 direct reports and 5 indirect. Responsible for the daily Datacenter operations, depot-level repair of monitors, PC's/laptops and printers as well as system administration of both the output management (core workflow) and human resources (personnel records / resume tracking) systems. Managed annual budget of $2M.
* Created a Clarify-based Help Desk by re-training 14 Operations staff from the Datacenter.
* Responsible for the technicians and system administrators supporting the entire newspaper's production output.
* Project Manager tasked with upgrading the voice and data cabling systems in two locations with zero downtime. Led the implementation team of 36 people to deliver to deadline and under budget over 2-year period.

VP International Business Development
Color Technology, Inc., Miramar, Fl 1994 to 1997
Provided consulting services by way of business/workflow analysis and recommendations to customers in Latin America. Import and Export (primarily from Europe to Latin America) electronic Pre-Press Equipment, including provision of parts in a rapid-response environment to minimize customer downtime. Created and built a Company website in 3 languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese); performed all maintenance and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to ensure placement in the top 20 results on all major engines.

EDUCATION & LANGUAGES

* MBA Technology Management, University of Phoenix
* BSc Business Management, University of Phoenix.
* Many continuing education courses specializing in leadership, project management (PMP-certification level) personality assessments, team-building, personnel development, problem-solving and strategic management.
* Numerous technical courses (often OEM-provided) covering Unix administration (Solaris), data transmission protocols and monitoring (LAN/WAN), A+/N+, microwave transmission, document management & workflow, imaging & color management.
* English - mother tongue; intermediate Spanish, basic Portuguese and French.

TECHNICAL

* Network analysis & design (Cisco); Server hardware (Sun, SGI, Dell, HP, Atex)
* Satellite communications training as a member of the Royal Air Force (Skynet) and as part of a military exchange program with the US Army (FSC-78).
* EMC/Dell Storage Area Networks (SAN) with tape backup systems (Storagetek)
* PDF workflows (Creo Prinergy, Autologic OMan, CCI) with color & font management
* Various imagesetters/CTP devices, color (imaging) scanners
* An understanding of telecom/PBX's (Avaya; both 66 and 110-block).
* Software includes Veritas, Tivoli, Openview, OpenManage, Clarify, Magic, Sun/Solaris, SGI/Irix, Windows(2k), Macintosh, Adobe Creative Suite, MS Project, Visio.

References - Available upon request

Paul Thornton
paulthornton@earthlink.net

Certifications
See above


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