Arash Jahangir

IT Strategy Consultant & Enterprise Architect

arash.jahangir.01@gmail.com

 

An accomplished certified professional consultant with a track record of helping companies achieve their business vision through innovative technology solutions.  Capable of transforming IT from a mere data processing tool to a competitive business advantage.  Extensive experience in all stages of IT optimization and operating cost reduction programs from analysis and business case development through architecture design, implementation and final hand off.  Adept at quickly assessing functional uses of new technologies and mapping clients’ vision to IT strategy.  A track record of winning executive sponsorship by communicating technical designs from business value point of view.  Ability to quickly establish rapport with stakeholders by appreciating their concerns. Broad technical knowledge and hands on experience in program management, consulting, enterprise architecture, engineering, emerging technology and vendor assessment.  Practical knowledge of architectural, operational, and governance frameworks (ITIL, COBIT, Change Management, etc.)  Genuine respect for all stakeholders’ needs and a holistic view of the enterprise (people, processes, technologies) has led to success in numerous high impact initiatives ranging from Social Media and Private Cloud, to application rationalization, infrastructure optimization, and technology migration planning.  Frequently raising team motivation through mentoring.

¨     People and Communication Skills: Excellent listener and able to present complex technical information in business terms to executives in support of RFP and business development or proposal and sales support activities.

¨     Change Agent and an Able Strategist: Ability to earn trust and cooperation across the organizational matrix and influence the decisions. Integrating pragmatic “big picture” and detail oriented analytical thinking to insightfully connect the dots.  Successfully has led project teams through all stages of world-class IT enablement lifecycle.

¨     Proven large-scale IT management skills: Seeing past ambiguous requirements to identify core problems and set clear direction based on competencies and opportunities.  Resourceful and strategically focused, thus able to anticipate and overcome challenges. Successful delivery of IT strategy engagements for clients in diverse sectors.

Select Achievements

 

·               [CIBC] Highly improved Technology Infrastructure’s business processes and service delivery to development teams.

·               [CIBC] 3x the performance of average architect based on multiyear thoroughness and risk management metrics.

·               [CIBC] Prepared and presented a well-received report to the VP of IT Engineering on improving employee satisfaction and effectiveness.  The results were reflected in the following year’s improved KPI metrics.

·               [Chase] Consulted on and led many decisions that shaped the post-merger technology infrastructure and integration.

·               [NYSE] Emerging technology and vendor evaluation and executive presentation of its operational impact.

·               [Vije] ~30% operating expense reduction as a result of recommending a transformative high impact program.

·               [Netwell] Significantly raised business visibility and marketing prowess at zero costs – Recognition from the CEO.

·               [CIBC] $4MM estimated savings over 3 years by instigating a new service offering for data security audits.

·               [CIBC] 30% Capital expenditure reduction by rightsizing of the new Oracle shared farm.

·               [Chase] Highly improved the business processes for software development of derivatives risk management.

 

CORE COMPETENCIES

 

¨  IT Transformation, and Breakthroughs thinking	¨ Infrastructure Cost Reduction Strategies
¨  Negotiation and Relationship Management	¨ Thorough, Persistent, and Agile Adaptation

Qualifications

¨   Strong IT background in transformative initiatives and aligning Technology Infrastructure with Business Strategy.

¨   The ability to recognize and assess situations quickly and confidently making and communicating the decisions.

¨   At ease in leading large cross-functional teams and influencing senior level management and key stakeholders.

¨   Experience with all core IT components: TCP/IP, VM, Cloud, Web Services, Systems Design, BI, ETL, Databases…

Academic Distinctions

·            Master of Science in Management of Technology (GPA 3.8) – NYU Polytechnic University of Brooklyn

·            Master of Science, Computer Science (GPA 4.0) – City University of New York.

·            Masters Certificate in Project Management – York University - Schulich School of Business.

·            Certificate in Enterprise Analysis & Consulting Skills – York University - Schulich School of Business.

·            TOGAF Certification – with an understanding of Zachman Framework, DoDAF, and DNDAF.

·            Certified SOA Architect – Enterprise Architect – Arcitura Education Inc.

·            Certified Cloud Architect – Infrastructure Architect – Arcitura Education Inc. (Expected in fall 2015).

·            Additional courses in: Managing innovation, Team building, Presentation Skills, and entrepreneurial management.

Work History

Yasna, Toronto, ON, Sr. Consultant – Cloud Transformation and Transition Architect   (03/2015 – Present)

Engage clients to transform their business challenges into IT strategy.  Articulating the overall end to end architectural solution, including the strategy, technology selection, design decisions, and tradeoffs to the executives.  Leading and facilitating the necessary stakeholder discussion to identify the business change and drive the necessary consensus to adopt a manageable change strategy.  Risk assessment, planning, and high level architecture for migrating existing applications and infrastructure to a cloud based environment – including: Data Center-Cloud integration, evaluation of cloud service providers, and assessment of the cloud delivery model (private, public, or hybrid cloud).  Integrating the overall technical solution across towers. Weekly meetings with PMs and LOBs to track and address issues. Raising cloud migration awareness. Working with client teams on the selection and deployment architecture. Opportunistically prioritizing projects for cloud migration. Creation of Integrated Solution Design document to show: Requirements Mapping, Security, Architectural Decisions, Design Points, Tools Deployment Plan, Risks, Technology Strategy, and Operational Models. Working with application architects to highlight necessary application changes for cloud migration. Working with client teams to ensure skill gaps, operational readiness, and governance frameworks are addressed.  Consulting on cloud migration tools and ensuring proposed tools interoperate to deliver the desired functionality at the planned cost.

 

CIBC, Toronto, ON, Sr. Enterprise Solution Design Architect     (01/2012 – 02/2015)

Responsible for the successful implementation of the enterprise-wide IT initiatives including architectural design, operational frameworks, business continuity, security, and people skill gaps.  Consulting on the current and future business needs to identify value creation opportunities and the best return on capital through leveraging existing strengths and technology trends.  Providing leadership and guidance to specialized architects and engineers and aligning architecture with 3-year business goals. Advocating new services and bridging cross-functional communication gaps. Consulting to enterprise architecture review panel and platform/service owners for a balanced view between architectural rigor and project realities. Contributing to evolution of architecture and operational practices and raising awareness of technology trends (SDN, Cloud, Big Data). Building stakeholder consensus and mitigating risks. Collaborating to clarify service gaps, roadmaps, capacity needs, and ensuring the right technology, training, and governance frameworks are in place to support operational needs. Utilizing a wide network of internal and external contacts to uncover hidden obstacles to success.  Managing competing needs of the portfolio and influencing the necessary 'service' flows across participating domains. 

·               Consulting on various technology platforms, vendors, and delivery models including evaluation of various cloud vendors and technologies and their integration into operating model and analysis of risk tradeoffs and risk mitigations.

·               End-to-end leadership of 90+ infrastructure designs and updates per year with a budget of up to $12MM each.  Designs include: VM and virtualization efforts, Cloud Computing, Shared Application Services, Social Media, datacenter migration and infrastructure overhaul.  Hands on support of the project team and final arbiter of disputes.

·               For each project within the portfolio, assessed and addressed:  Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, Capacity Planning and Scalability, Time and Budget estimation, high level execution plan and Risk Mitigation.

·               Evaluation of emerging technologies: SDN, grid and cloud computing, IaaS, PaaS, and their impacts on business capabilities

·               Engaging and leading vendor teams and vetting their suggestions against business requirements and standards.

 

MEDIT Group, Toronto, ON, Technical Architect – Consultant (part-time via Agreger Corp.)    (01/2013 – 05/2013)

Gathered and analyzed business requirements to architect a Healthcare Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system.  Considerations included the business drivers, regulatory constraints, the choice of cloud service providers: AWS, Azure, Google Compute Engine, the service models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, MBaaS – and cloud delivery models: Public, Private, Hybrid Cloud.  The final decision was for a Private-Public Cloud Infrastructure utilizing Apache Camel HL7. 

 

CIBC, Toronto, ON, Capacity, Currency, and Refresh Consulting Architect     (04/2010 – 12/2011)

Consulting on establishing an enterprise-wide program to provide clear technology roadmaps and balance currency and platform stability.  Creation of shared infrastructure services and platforms.  Facilitating the necessary stakeholder discussions and collaborating to create the right architecture and operational model for the shared services.  Weekly CIO meetings to track and proactively address project issues. Planning, architecting, and implementation support of the project teams for legacy systems migration to the new shared infrastructure. Advocating new services and bridging communication gaps. Optimizing projects’ execution and costs by leveraging strengths and cross-dependencies within the portfolio.

·               Designed nearly all shared infrastructure services/farms, including: Sharepoint, Linux and Solaris virtualized server farms, Middleware farms (MQ, IIS, Weblogic), BI (Cognos, Informatica, SQL BI), and Oracle DB and SQL DB farms.

·               Substantially improved reliability, scalability, and operating costs through negotiations with several LOB's and building consensus for incorporating the best practices architecture and the necessary platform changes.

 

CIBC, Toronto, ON, Enterprise Infrastructure Optimization – Consultant    (10/2007 – 03/2010)

Sr. technology consultant to an enterprise-wide program aimed at optimizing the people-process-technology components to realize the benefits of centralized & standardized infrastructure.  Participated in creating and offering a framework for a centrally managed infrastructure. Provided consulting services and material support to a team of 4 business analysts, 11 PM’s, and 18 engineering divisions to clarify the requirements, and to develop, deliver, and gain approval of the solutions.  Determined and evaluated the appropriate technology strategy to align business objectives with information technology strategies, placing high importance on the overall cost of ownership and investment for the future.  Proposed alternative solutions and scope changes to optimize project execution.  Captured the current "As Is" state of the Enterprise Architecture and developed the "To Be" state while working closely with all stakeholders.  Assisted in developing roadmaps for infrastructure and operational models and engaged Engineering teams in support of LOB’s.

·            Achieved 54% reduction in server footprint through 76% server replacement and 38% application reduction.

·               For projects within the portfolio, negotiated the right scope and priority, assessed and decided on the right platforms, standards, and sometimes business processes.  Addressed risks, capacity planning, business continuity, capacity planning, and resolved disputes and contentions between technical staff regarding which path best answers the requirements.

 

NYSE Group, New York, NY, Enterprise Architecture Consultant and Project Manager                (6/2006 – 9/2007)

Bid, won, and successfully delivered a complex and highly sensitive project on fixed cost basis.  Evaluated an emerging strategic technology and created the technology position assessment report from financial, technical, and operational perspectives  Managed all stages of the consultation project from building the business case through team building, the design of the technology lab and development of test applications, to execution and final presentation to the upper management.  Developed strong relationships with competing client divisions and competing vendors.

·            Created business-technology Need Assessment Maps and converted them to technical/operational specs.

·            Vendor Management – Managed competing vendor teams and noted their pros and cons should they be selected.

·            Validated the suitability, feasibility, and acceptability of the technology to meet strategic business needs.

 

Vijè Corporation, Toronto, ON,  C-Level Consultant and Program Manager                   (12/2001 – 12/2005)

Managed a team of local and offshore engineers to lead a transformative organizational program. Set new policies and procedures and built the right team for the new organization.  Worked closely with the executives on medium term strategic planning in broad IT areas: outsourcing strategy, business cases, capacity planning, technology roadmaps, and redesign of operational processes to comply with ITIL and CMMI.  Coached staff as part of the succession plan.

·            Transforming the strategic intent to short term plans with high level project initiation and oversight.

·            Converted business requirements into technical specifications and communicated it with developers.

·            Improved operational cost structure by advising on outsourcing strategy and better platforms and architecture.

·            Managed a team of project managers, engineers, and developers in Canada and offshore QA and developers in India.

 

TIAA CREF Investments, New York, NY,  Sr. System Consultant                       (14 months in 2000 - 2001)

Analyzed IT service gaps and led development of SLAs. Rrequirement specification supervision of vendor project teams.

 

Volume-dot-Com (HBO), New York, NY,  Infrastructure Architecture Consultant              (6 months in 2000)

Collaborated with the CTO for design and implementation of the business critical social media and multimedia web infrastructure.  Assisted with aligning IT capabilities to business goals, team building, and consulted on technologies.

Netwell Communications, Toronto, ON, Network Architect Consultant                   (5 months in ‘95)

Highly increased the marketing prowess and visibility of the company at a critical juncture in its life while reducing operating expenses.  Solely built the ISP’s backbone infrastructure. Was offered partnership.

 

Citibank, Toronto, ON and NY, Systems Consultant                   (2 contracts totaling 17 months in ’95 - 97)

Contracts focused on automating the derivatives application (CDS) global rollout and developing a framework and scripts to upgrade trading floor servers and improving network performance, manageability, and security. 

·                  Assisted the Corporate Audit team with system audits on the Global Derivatives computer network.

 

I know a fair bit about the following keywords.  Ask me about my experience with them: Database, DBA, middleware, SOA, Unix Solaris Linux; AI/X Systems Architecture, Data Center, infrastructure architecture, Network Architecture, Business Architecture, Security Architecture and Disaster Recovery as well as Program Management, PMO, Project management; Governance and Standards; Requirement gathering, Vendor Management, Technology and Service Gap Analysis, and Negotiation. Infrastructure build, Infrastructure technology, Architecture design, Infrastructure solutions, Lead architect, Application portfolio, Governance model, Technology planning, Solution architectures, Technology planning, Solution architectures, Governance Process, integration architecture, enterprise wide, legacy systems, current state, future state, technology roadmaps, technology evaluations, business capabilities, technology vision, business architecture, application architecture teams, scalable, large scale infrastructure, lead architect, Infrastructure technology, Architecture design, Lead architect, Application portfolio, Solution designs, Migration plans, Technology requirements, Service management, Infrastructure technology, Architecture design, Solution architectures, Migration plans, Technology requirements, Vendor teams, Infrastructure design, Dependencies, Constraints, Risk Mitigation, Migration plans, Delivery teams, Technical integration, Improve delivery, Weblogic, WebSphere, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, Private Cloud, Grid, team building, RFC, RFP, PowerPoint, Office, executive support and presentation, MBA, Business Architect, cloud computing, data center, enterprise architecture, communication skills, technical architecture, cloud solutions, collaborated with subject matter experts, business process, technical solutions, project management, web services, application services, business requirements, excellent written communication, business strategy, cloud application services, cloud architect, hybrid cloud, problem solving, technical leadership, architecture team, business architecture, cloud infrastructure, emerging technologies, future state, subject matter expert, excellent verbal, experience designing, managed services, network architecture, non-technical audiences, presentation skills, capacity management, consulting experience, enterprise infrastructure, operations management, senior management, solution architect, systems design, tcp ip,