MARK GILLIS

798 Redmond Court • Conway, SC 29526 • [843] 333-5187 • gilkisson@me.com

 

 

PROFILE

 

Originating as a mainframe computer operator, I have progressed to Director of Technology, holding various positions of expertise. Network/Systems/Windows/Unix/Database Administrator, Programmer, Business Analyst, Security Specialist, and Data Center Manager along the way. Any tool, any technology, old school or cutting edge, whatever it takes to do the job, on time, and within budget.

 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

 

Server AdministrationNetworkingDisaster Recovery

Database AdministrationLAN/WAN AdminData Center Operations

Wireless DesignActive DirectoryHyper-V / VMWare

Mobile CommunicationsWeb HostingLAMP

Project ManagementSecurityEmail Admin

Linux/UNIX/AIX/OS XSocial Web-presenceApplication/Systems Coding

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

 

Myrtle Beach Seaside Resorts, Myrtle Beach, SC (2006 – Present)

Director of Technology

Lead the technology efforts during a growth phase during which the Company grew from 2 properties to 7 full resort and condo management properties. Implement wired and wireless networks covering 1,500 guest rooms.  Install Windows Active Directory Domain. Establish connectivity between all resort properties via managed fiber WAN. Performed Physical to Virtual (P2V) conversion to VMWare and Hyper-V, to increase availability and reduce costs.  Install and manage Exchange and Postfix email servers, improve communications and battle spam.

Designed / Implemented Disaster Recovery system with remote hot sync. Led SEO efforts all corporate and property domains and web sites. Created custom ASP/SQL web apps to provide specific as-of-now reporting. Designed and created HTML/ASP/SQL interfaces for live golf-booking engine. Maintained PCI compliance at all times, all external interfaces. Directed various platform installs, from Windows to Linux to Apple OS X.

Selected Achievements

·                        Installed and managed long-haul secure wireless WAN segments, linking properties over >1 mile.  This avoided ISP recurring costs and improved reliability, saving $25K/year per wireless segment.

 

·                        Designed and installed VMWare and Hyper-V servers, virtualizing 20 physical servers into two virtualized environments.  This drastically reduced backup/restore times, improved efficiency, and saved $10K/year maintenance and environment costs.

 

·                        Wrote and implemented custom work-order/invoice tracking software to track and recover billable hours and supplies.  This project continues to return over $100K/year to the Company.

 

 

Unitrends, Myrtle Beach, SC (2005 – 2006)

Support Engineer

Pre and post sales engineer, supporting installations of Data Protection Unit (DPU) devices and software. Designed and configured client disaster recovery plans, as well as normal backup processes and routines.

Selected Achievements

·                         Performed actual disaster recovery operation using bare-metal restore and full data restoration, bringing the customer back online within a day to full operation.

·                        Travelled to many customer sites to evaluate best practices and recommend disaster recovery / data backup implementations.

·                        Worked with management and developers to fine-tune the products to actual customer needs and experiences.

 

 

Builders FirstSource/Pelican Companies, Conway, SC (1999 – 2005)

IT Manager

Systems and Network Administrator, PCs and RS/6000 IBM Unix servers, responsible for all aspects of data operations. During Hurricane Floyd, successfully enacted disaster recovery plan and brought company back into business at remote site in Colorado. When floods receded, brought data back and restored operations. Designed and implemented Frame/Relay network to 48 locations throughout Southeast. Designed and wrote custom programs.

Selected Achievements

·                        Before Hurricane Floyd flooded the HQ building, I travelled to IBM Recover Center Boulder CO and brought the main systems online with latest databases, and connected emergency Frame/Relay circuits to all operating store locations.  When the storm was over, I brought the data back and restored normal operations, without downtime.

·                        Developed custom bash-script-based email interface system, allowing workers in retail locations and warehouses to communicate instantly via their dumb terminals, thin clients, and/or PCs.  This allowed a tremendous reduction in long-distance calls, saving the Company $30K/year in fees. 

 

Circle K Stores, Phoenix, AZ (1989 – 1999)

Business Analyst

Developed custom 3GL and 4GL application programs to customer specifications. Designed and developed client/server system to print employee paychecks in each store, on money order machines, thereby saving $10,000 per week in delivery costs. Liaison between development staff and end-users during implementation of company-wide back-office automation project, to ensure actual business needs were effectively implemented in production code.

Selected Achievements

·                        Implemented a system to distribute encrypted per-person payroll data to each store each week, where a PC program de-crypted the data and printed paychecks on the in-store money order machine. Saved the company $9K per week in overnight delivery fees.

 

Ramstein Air Base, Germany (1985 – 1989)

Data Base Manager

Lead systems administrator at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Responsible for mainframe data center, data integrity, backup and recovery, contingency (war-time) mobility planning, classified (through Top Secret) processing. Implemented earliest stages of ARPANet, linking to other bases for secure and rapid data exchange.

Selected Achievement

·                        Part of the team to install new mainframe and convert existing data. Connected that system to a new network system called ARPANet/DDN, beginning of the Internet.

 

FREELANCE EXPERIENCE

 

Efriendly Inc, Conway, SC (2006 – 2009)

IT Consultant/Analyst

Designed PC and server hardware builds.  Assembled and installed hardware with client/server operating systems and applications.  Implemented custom network solutions for small businesses.  Maintained server health and performance via remote access.  Created and wrote custom database/store-front application suites.

 

 

Pro-Bono Activities

 

I have built a small practice of receiving used, broken bicycles, and restore them to safe working order. These bicycles then are donated to charitable organizations or individuals who need a bicycle but cannot afford one. Cycling is my way of paying it forward.

 

EDUCATION

 

University of Maryland, European Division

Night School while deployed overseas

100+ hours completed, including all core courses for Information Systems