Lead Cloud Architect

Orpheus

Creates customized orchestration tools to automate IT assets. 

Solutions for:

• Public & private FEDRAMP clouds
• VMware, Hyper-V, Xen, KVM and OpenStack
• Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac
• Exchange, SharePoint and Lync
• All RDBMS, web servers and language frameworks
• Any software with an API

 Managed services include:

• Solutions Architects On Call 24x7x365
• Free Unlimited Cloud Migration
• Architecture Design
• Remote Backups
• Orchestration Consulting

 Learn more at www.cloudorpheus.com

Senior Architect/Global Architect

Ellucian

Initially hired as a contractor to transition management of virtual infrastructure owned by the Services organization from the Corporate IT department to an internal IT department in Services, Benjamin was converted to a full-time Global Architect after only 3 months of a 6 month contract. He automated 100% of the VMware Lab Manager administration tasks he was assigned within the same timeframe, effectively reducing a job that took 20 man-hours per week to 15 minutes per week. Recognized by management with two “CLEAR Appreciation Awards” for performance and promoted to Senior Architect after 1.5 years.

Key Contributions:

• Administered and supported VMware infrastructure including 250 permanent VMs and hundreds of temporary VMs in VMware Lab Manager
• Served as a technical adviser on a team that planned and implemented vCloud Director Suite and transitioned key business units from Lab Manager to vCloud Automation Center
• Worked with VMware to commission a custom vCenter Orchestrator workflow to automate provisioning of training environments.
• Served as technical lead on Ellucian Live and Technical Training Week conference technical teams
• Created robust PowerShell/PowerCLI script packs for automating time consuming VMware administration tasks dramatically increasing efficiency
• Maintained and enhanced a library of vApp blueprints which are the gold standard for the company
• Designed and deployed custom virtual software environments specced for various business units
• Assisted with Colleague installs and migrations for clients when the installations team was shorthanded

Project Systems Engineer

Ntiva, Inc

Led multiple primarily Windows-based IT infrastructure projects simultaneously through all phases to completion for the firm’s small business clients. Successfully executed complex migration strategies with zero or near-zero downtime per client requirements. Managed field teams during implementation phases with immaculate organization. Consistently closed projects under budget and ahead of schedule.

Project Highlights:

• Migrated a lobbying firm from Windows SBS 2003 to SBS 2011, including Exchange 2003 to 2010 migration of 40+ mailboxes all over a weekend
• Deployed a new Hyper-V host for a half-way house in southeast DC, P2V’ed their existing servers, built a new AD domain, and migrated AD and file sharing roles to the new DC. Led a five man team to hit 100+ desktops across 6 buildings for a controlled cutover within a 2-hour outage window
• Built out a Hyper-V cluster with three Dell R720s and a Dell iSCSI SAN for a naval shipbuilding design firm in Arlington, VA. P2V’ed and V2V’ed existing physical servers and VMware VM's onto the cluster. Built new Exchange 2010 server and migrated 100+ mailboxes from Exchange 2003 with zero downtime. Built new RDS server and configured lockdown policy. Built new Vipre AntiVirus server and DC
• Deployed a similar Hyper-V cluster for a venture capital firm in Ntiva’s private cloud and worked with their IT departments in Europe to convert them from a single site to a 4-site AD topology. Set up DRS file replication and namespaces. Deployed two RSA servers and set up token authentication on a new RDS server to replace VPN

Systems Administrator

Ntiva, Inc

Deployed to an economic consulting firm and a tourism bureau for on-site help-desk duties 3 days per week and functioned as a roving problem solver the other 2 days of the week. Led engineering initiatives for these two clients which were among the firms most important relationships. Received an annual award for “Overall Excellence” in 2011 and was promoted to Project Systems Engineer.

Key Contributions:

• Engaged the SAS Institute to procure SAS BI Server software licensing and deployed the software personally to save the economic consulting firm from having to pay SAS for an implementation engineer
• Led a project to migrate the economic consulting firm’s 70+ mailboxes from one hosted Exchange provider (USA.net) to another (AppRiver) to save them $5k+ per month
• Deployed Dell EqualLogic SAN, PowerVault LTO5 tape library, a variety of Windows 2008 R2 VMs including a new RDS terminal server with RSA authentication, a Sharepoint 2010 farm, and dozens of new laptops based on a Windows 7 clonezilla image

Help Desk Technician

Ntiva, Inc

Answered phones and fielded technical support calls as first line of defense for the on-site administration and engineering teams. Performed regular monthly server maintenance and assisted engineers with weekend projects. Led the company in billable utilization for 8 consecutive months by taking on a large load of server maintenance and completing it after business hours. Received two monthly “Busy and Billable” awards and was promoted to on-site Systems Administrator.

Database Engineer

WMS Partners, LLC

Administered PortfolioCenter, Junxure and WorldOx databases and developed custom interfaces to improve efficiency. Built an MS Access database to replace MS Excel spreadsheets used to track the company’s structured settlement mutual funds.

Northwestern University

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Economics