Andrew West

10189 Baron Blvd.

Dimondale, MI 48821

(517) 528-4284

meurdrac@gmail.com

 

IT INFRASTRUCTURE ARCHITECT:

Demonstrate excellence as an IT infrastructure architect by providing timely, detailed, collaborative solutions which suit the business and technology requirements and fulfill long-term objectives of the organization; enhancing value through increased reliability, accurate quantification and control of involved risk and effort, and utilization of efficiencies in physical and financial resources.

Core Competencies:

• Systems / Solution Architecture and Design2011 – Present

• Data Center Architecture, Design, and Management2009 – Present

• IT Policy Design and Compliance Auditing & Remediation2009 – Present

• Virtualization Architecture, Design, and Management2005 – Present

• Monitoring and Performance Tuning Analysis2000 – Present

• Security Standards Compliance / Security Management2009 – Present

• Server Administration2005 – Present

• Team Leadership / Management1995 – Present

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Contract Employee - State of Michigan, DTMB1/2015 – Present

NGDI Cloud Pre-sales Architect

 

• Assist the Next Generation Digital Infrastructure (NGDI) project leader in working with Technology Specialists and Security Agency Architects and non-State government architects, business analysts and project leaders to plan, coordinate and facilitate the implementation of necessary application infrastructure into the NGDI cloud

• Serve as a member of the Enterprise Architecture’s Solution Design Team (SDT); reviewing, advising and modifying application and infrastructure solutions for participating organizations

• Assist in the planning and delivery of new process efficiencies and automation tools to increase the success rate and speed of project implementations within the NGDI cloud

• Work with project requesters to quantify and develop requirements and technological standards for solutions delivery within the State of Michigan’s Next Generation Digital Infrastructure (NGDI) cloud environment

• Detail existing infrastructure design and document current solutions, advise on technological configurations, develop and recommend patterns and standards for implementation which suit the aggressive implementation goals within the State’s NGDI cloud initiative

• Participate in architecture process review and authored the white paper for the modification of roles within Technical Services to ensure better skill leveraging throughout the implementation process

• Assist in the configuration of BMC’s ADDM software to identify communications for the purpose of understanding interactions, dependencies and shared risk in solution designs

• Collaborate with business stakeholders, support teams, subject matter experts, security specialists, project managers and 3rd party vendors to provide specific analysis of existing project hardware, software and network components, and work to deliver highly detailed architecture design solutions, project estimates, reports, white papers and architecture standards for the State of Michigan’s NGDI cloud initiative

• Facilitate communications regarding security oversight in order to ensure the efficient request, review and approval of network placement of application and network resources and implementation of specific firewall rules

• Work to centralize and streamline existing infrastructure implementation forms to create a cohesive, efficient means for requesting, modifying and delivering detailed architecture documentation for evaluation and review by responsible internal agencies

 

Key responsibilities:

• Research, design, and document project solutions

• Capture comprehensive business and technical project requirements

• Create detailed documentation of existing solutions

• Present solution proposals and reports

• Provide troubleshooting and recommendations regarding network and solution performance issues

• Identify and recommend opportunities to achieve cost savings through consolidation of resources

• Serve as an member on the Solution Design Team (SDT)

• Manage complex projects with multiple objectives

 

Key achievements:

• Contributed to the redesign of State of Michigan architecture and implementation processes to centralize and facilitate information gathering and improve architectural integrity and oversight to achieve an aggressive implementation and project success rate goals

Contract Employee - TD Auto Finance9/2013 – 10/2014

Infrastructure Architect

 

• Worked directly with project requesters to develop requirements and technological standards for solutions delivery in a highly virtualized, open source heavy, compute environment

• Designed and documented solutions, developed patterns and standards which suit TDAF’s technical and business requirements, security and technology needs

• Perform extensive independent research and testing technologies which complement and further enhance the benefits of TDAF’s highly virtualized, open source infrastructure and fulfill enterprise security, technology, and business needs

• Collaborate with business stakeholders, support teams, subject matter experts, security specialists, project managers and 3rd party vendors to provide specific analysis of hardware and software, deliver highly detailed architecture design solutions, project estimates, reports, white papers and architecture standards for TDAF in keeping with TD and TDAF architecture and security policies

• Worked with TDAF call center subject matter experts and support team personnel to facilitate a transition of TDAF call center technologies hosted at a 3rd party vendor to a new, Aspect ASP hosted solution

• Served as overall project lead architect for a range of associated changes, including migration to a new dialer, re-writing existing applications and processes to facilitate migration specific mainframe hosted database elements to midrange hosting, changing payment processing vendors, and migrating to a new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) provider

• Facilitated the evaluation and made appropriate recommendations and changes to associated project VPN connectivity, including changes in existing technologies and using alternate means of secure connectivity where possible

• Created extensive architecture standards documentation, and project architecture documentation, as well as reports and presentations to leadership, corporate security oversight and peer review meetings to facilitate the required rapid project execution tempo and deliver the solution on schedule to capture additional savings opportunities for TDAF 

• Worked with implementation project managers and leadership stakeholders to redesign the formal architectural design process

• Consulted with all implementation stakeholders and team members to create a dramatically abbreviated process flow compared to the existing documented process

• Published new Architecture processes which simplified and streamlined existing formal approval processes and created a new, more communicative, collaborative process which facilitated more efficient project delivery from the architecture team and which facilitated a higher success rate for the implementation team

 

Key responsibilities:

• Research, design, and document project solutions

• Capture comprehensive business and technical project requirements

• Document existing undocumented solutions

• Test and evaluate new technologies

• Present solution proposals and reports

• Provided troubleshooting and recommendations regarding network and solution performance issues

• Identify and recommend opportunities to achieve cost savings through consolidation of resources

• Managed complex projects with multiple objectives and constraint

 

Key achievements:

• Redesigned the TDAF architecture process to improve communication and project success rate.

• Implemented new payment processing vendor

• Migrated call center technologies to ASP

• Reduced Web Servers by over 40%

• Implemented a laptop backup solution

 

Contract Employee - Delphi Automotive Systems9/2011 – 8/2013

IT Solutions Architect

 

• Worked directly with the Delphi customer, project managers, and participating vendors worldwide to quantify and clarify project requirements

• Established clear understanding of objectives, requirements, and works with all involved organizational to clearly define customer needs and expectations

• Evaluated requirements and designs solutions to fit the needs of the environment and the customer’s specifications

• Performed extensive independent research and investigation into technical specifications across multiple hardware and software platforms

• Collaborated with engineering, support personnel leadership, subject matter experts, project managers, and vendors to provide specific analysis, and deliver highly detailed estimates, timetables, and architecture design documentation for Delphi manufacturing worldwide

 

Key responsibilities:

• Research, design, and document project solutions

• Capture comprehensive business and technical project requirements

• Identify and recommend opportunities to achieve cost savings through consolidation of resources

• Provide troubleshooting analysis

• Worked with stakeholders and international team members across 5 continents and multiple languages

• Managed complex projects with multiple objectives and constraint

• Delivered on time through a series of consistently extremely tight project deadlines

 

Key achievements:

• Implemented new VMware ESX hosting infrastructure in both Beijing and Shanghai, China, working with Delphi’s Third Party software developers to migrate legacy production systems, upgrade applications, and consolidate resources to provide a high-availability hosting environment at a reduced cost for Delphi

• Selected as the architect to study, plan, and implement the first Solaris Zones Virtualized Hosting Environment as part of a high level Delphi initiative to reduce hardware maintenance costs.  Planned and implemented the first Oracle SPARC T4-2 server within an extremely aggressive project time line as per customer requirements

• Served as subject matter expert on Oracle virtualization technology, providing assistance to other architects and engineers throughout HP regarding this technology

• Implemented new Data Center facilities in 8 different European countries

• Leveraged troubleshooting analysis to dramatically lower cost solutions to fit specific site needs at low cost

• Successfully led initiatives with teams, vendors, and support teams in 31 different countries across 5 continents

 

 

Brian Unlimited Distribution Company (Budco)4/2009 – 10/2011

UNIX/Linux Systems Engineer

 

• Spearheaded the project to successfully earn Budco its PCI DSS Level 3 certification

• Worked to assist Budco in achieving SSAE16 (formerly SAS70) certification by reviewing and modifying system and network configurations, reviewing, updating, and creating forms and documentation of processes and procedures in line with certification requirements

• Provide system support, solutions planning, and engineering support for Web Application development in a multifaceted Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Solaris based JBoss, iPlanet, and WebSphere web application hosting environment

• As a member of the Unix/Linux Support team, supported over 250 applications across Budco’s testing, development, QA, staging and production environments for Budco’s internal and external customers

• Managed Budco’s NetBackup infrastructure and planning, supporting existing NetBackup server, performing day-to-day , and perform patching and upgrades from version 6.5 to 6.5.6 to the current version 7.1

• Implemented and managed Budco’s web-based file transfer solution servers, and worked with project management personnel and customers to administer this access

• Delivered immediate around-the-clock support for all reported Solaris and Linux server support issues, performing 24/7 on-call responsibilities involving issue diagnosis and troubleshooting, direct contact with customers in order to swiftly resolve issues across the various production and non-production environments

• Worked collaboratively with other teams to facilitate swift problem resolution in a complex engineering environment

• Assisted in system planning, new server build implementations, job scheduling, documentation, and implementation of application and regular system change activities involving Solaris or Red Hat Enterprise Linux standalone, virtual, and clustered servers

• Performed system patching, and building and configuration of regular and special purpose Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers to meet operational goals

 

Key responsibilities:

• Design, build and maintain complex virtual and physical solutions

• Provide around-the-clock Linux and UNIX system hardware and software support, troubleshooting, and maintenance

• Provide support and troubleshooting for application development change activities

• Initiated and built the infrastructure, documentation, automation processes for the Budco Security Manager Office

• Manage enterprise backup environment

• Managed and supported SAN / Storage environment

• Designed and Documented Disaster Recovery Plan

 

Key achievements:

• Established Budco Security Office

• Created and maintained documentation for processes, systems and procedures and automated verification methodologies

• Led PCI DSS Level 3 Certification Initiative, saving Budco over $2 million in bank processing costs

• Led SSAE16 Certification Initiative

• Documented and redesigned Budco’s newly acquired New Jersey site Data Center

• Planned and coordinated Solaris Container virtualization initiative

• Managed backup environment

• Managed and supported EMC SAN / Storage environment

• Designed and Documented Enterprise Disaster Recovery Plan

 

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Computer Science Corporation – Chrysler Solaris Support Team6/2008 – 4/2009

UNIX System Administrator / ITM UNIX Project Lead

Electronic Data Systems11/2006 – 6/2008

UNIX System Administrator

Contract Service Firm – Electronic Data Systems (Chrysler)6/2004 - 10/2006

UNIX System Administrator

Site Support Team9/2005 – 10/2006

UNIX Remote Storage Team7/2005 – 9/2005

Chrysler (DCX) Migration Team12/2004 – 6/2005

Unix Remote System Management6/2004 – 11/2004

 

MILITARY:

United States Navy9/1991 – 9/1997

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)

Data Processing Petty Officer Second Class / ADP Operations Supervisor

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM)1997

 

Iowa Army National Guard8/1990 – 9/1991

34th Infantry Div. (Red Bull Division) – 204th Medical Bn.

Combat Field Medical Specialist (91A)

 

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCIES SUMMARY:

Operating Systems/Hosting Platforms

Linux (Debian, Red Hat, Ubuntu), Unix (Solaris, HP-UX, AIX), Windows Server (NT 4.0 – Windows Server 2012), VMware (ESX, ESXi)

Applications

Apache Web Server, BMC Discovery, Interactive Intelligence Latitude Agency Manager, Solarwinds, HP Openview, HP SiteScope, JBoss Application Server, Microsoft IIS, Microsoft Visio, Tivoli NetBackup, Tivoli Netview, Aspect Unified IP (UIP), Aspect Advanced List Management (ALM), Aspect Quality Management (AQM), Aspect Workforce Management (eWFM), Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2 Database, IBM WebSphere Application Server, Oracle Database

Security Risk Analysis, Quantification, Mitigation and Reporting

SSAE16 Certification, PCI Level 3 Certification, FedRAMP Certification, F5 BIG IP, Checkpoint Firewalls, Cisco ASA Firewalls, Blue Coat Proxy Servers, Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS), VoIP (SIP), MPLS planning and coordination, VPN planning and coordination (SSL, IPSEC)

Programming Languages

C / C++, HTML, Java, Perl, PHP

EDUCATION:

York College, York, NE

Associate of Arts Degree6/1994

 

US Navy Data Processing “A” School, San Diego, CA9/1995

 

PROFESSIONAL AND PHILANTHROPIC ASSOCIATIONS:

 

Veterans of Foreign Wars2002

Information Systems Security Association (ISSA)2016

InfraGard2016

 

PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST