Head of Information Technology (CIO role) reporting to the CEO.  Accountable for the overall management of, strategic planning for, and implementation of all of Numeris' information technology, and all governance over that technology. This includes

• technology infrastructure (servers, virtualisation, storage, networking, technical facilities, etc.);
• technology acquisition and IT vendor management;
• end-user computing and IT service desk;
• COTS / turnkey application implementation and support;
• information security;
• information architecture;
• in-house and third-party-developed application development; and
• project management, PMO, and project portfolio management.

Senior-level consulting to a variety of clients in technology solutions, management, and leadership, including:

CTO, Exposure Assessment Inc., Toronto, Ontario.  2016

Developed a cyber security offering, including supporting technology to assist in vulnerability assessments.

CIO, Koprash Inc., Burlington, Ontario.  2013 – 2016

Accountabilities included:

• Aligning IT strategy with business direction.
• Advising on and creating strategy for information management and effective collaboration, information security, DRP and BCP, and acting as a trusted advisor to the executive team.
• Day-to-day monitoring and management of IT infrastructure.
• Managing outsourced service providers.

Interim CIO, Acting Head of Finance, Administration, and HR, The Leslie Group Ltd., Toronto, Ontario. 2014-2015

Brought on board to remediate compromised IT systems.  Continued in a leadership role accountable for finance and accounting, general administration, HR, and IT for eight months.  Accomplishments include:

• Remediation of IT issues, including
  • implementation of a new server with data migrated from old, damaged server,
  • implementation of high-speed (fiber) internet connection, replacing outdated DSL,
  • in-house Exchange eMail moved to cloud (Microsoft Exchange 365),
  • UPSs in place for all in-house network equipment,
  • obsolete equipment upgraded,
  • all Windows XP machines moved to Windows 7,
  • robust backup with on-site and cloud-based destinations,
  • implemented mobile device information security policy,
  and numerous other improvements to the technology infrastructure, with minimal interruption of business operations.
• Backfill of a senior executives who required an emergency leave of absence, taking over Finance and Accounting, HR, and General Administration, as well as continuing to act as Chief Information Officer, reporting directly to the president.  Managed
  • accounting and payroll functions,
  • group benefits management and various other HR functions, and
  • general office management,
  while continuing to make IT improvements and providing IT support to the business.
• Designed and implemented a new reporting system for a business-critical function that vastly increased not only the speed of reporting, but provided more information for business monitoring and decision-making, accessible virtually instantaneously, that would have taken days or even weeks of effort with the old method.

Other activities as an independent include:

• Digital Asset Library design and delivery for an international consumer and commercial goods manufacturer.
• Website consolidation project leadership for an international consumer and commercial goods manufacturer.
• Technical due diligence of web technology company for a Cayman-based venture capital fund.
• Senior-level consulting in management, objectives setting, technology strategy, performance management, and organisational structure.
• Recruitment of technology staff, both full-time and contract.
• Design and delivery of external, public-facing websites to a variety of businesses, including implementation of business process automations.

• Implemented a time tracking and metrics reporting system that brought focus to project profitability, utilisation, and billability.
• Transformed the delivery process to emphasise project change management, quality of process, process standardisation, repeatability and reuse, and transparent status reporting, resulting in better project control and higher margins.
• Initiated standardised role descriptions with accountabilities, and scorecards for performance management.
• Lead infrastructure assessment and upgrade activities, including server renewal, DRP and BCP, security assessment and upgrades, IT asset tracking, and Information Security policy.
• Transformed product development activities to adopt a release approach and feature generalisation, allowing for commercialisation of software products.

Projects overseen include business process automation (funding letter administration) at one of the Local Health Integration Networks, records management system for a municipality, risk management system for a global mining company, supply-chain business process automations for a major utility, and KPI monitoring for a department of a municipality.

• Initiated work to improve software quality, metrics gathering and reporting, and improvement in release scheduling and management, to achieve better final-time-to-market, lower overall cost, and improved customer satisfaction.
• Mentored direct reports on organisational structure for their areas, and change management to ensure successful transitions to new structure.

Consulted to clients in strategy and leadership, including:

• Led work for a large, global financial institution providing a strategy and overall roadmap for re-engineering its software delivery process, the implementation of which would result in potential cost savings of $30 million annually after three years, or roughly 23% of the software delivery budget for the targeted division.  Strategy included process design incorporating leading practices, organisation design, and organisational change management / transformation.
• Directed the infrastructure architecture work for the implementation of a web-technology-based enterprise level claims management systems at a leading Canadian insurance provider.  Coached client’s team on strategic software licensing and services contract negotiations with third-party vendor.

• Managed the strategic core-technology-change replacing the sun-setting development languages used for Unitrax®.  Included situation analysis, overall organisational planning, options analysis, product evaluation, prototyping, final selection, price and contract negotiation, liaison with and education and situation management of all affected areas of the firm and its clients, planning the entire programme ($9 million), directing development teams and integrating new components into the code base through the normal release cycle.  Lead significant re-architectural work that resulted in a savings of over 20 effort-years or $1.8 million of the overall cost of the initiative.
• Directed service-oriented architecture initiative, providing key services to transfer agency clients, generating additional revenues of $250,000 initially, with anticipated additional annual revenues of at least $1 million.  Also provided critical technology foundation for strategic architectural direction of Unitrax®.
• Achieved highest scores amongst all departments in the division on employee satisfaction survey in all key areas.
• Led significant turn-around work in the Unitrax® development team to improve quality of developed software.  Defect levels dropped to lowest ever, with increase in Citigroup-over-client-captured defects by 33% in less than one year.
• Prepared critical information and was key respondent on Unisen’s side in due-diligence process for the Citigroup acquisition of Unisen from AGF, a $124 million purchase.
• Performed due-diligence review of underlying technology, software development processes, and other business area reviews as part of the $65 million Jewelstone acquisition.
• Managed the complex conversion within three months of Global Strategy’s Transfer Agency systems into AGF’s, in the wake of AGF’s Global Strategy acquisition.  Converted current and historical data for $6 billion in assets in 400,000 accounts, implemented grandfathered functionality, ensured compliance with all regulations and prospectuses, and co-ordinated with outside entities including the Ontario Securities Commission, the dealer-broker network, and FundSERV.  The project (largest in AGF’s history) was delivered on time, under budget, and with full functionality in place for all key dates.  Delivery permitted Global Strategy unit holders to switch without penalty into AGF funds, retaining $1 million in annual revenues for AGF.
• Re-engineered two large departmental organisations, both of which involved job function redesign, relocation of responsibility for five major systems, and a physical relocation. Achieved zero staff attrition, increased employee morale and effectiveness, and the change process led to significant improvements in project and service delivery.
• Co-led the project to replace the server-side hardware for the Transfer Agency system, re-engineering the technology infrastructure from Siemens to Sun platforms, significantly increasing capacity and performance (speed and stability).
• Directed successful Y2K software migration project for the AGF Transfer Agency and other systems, on time and without error.
• Designed and implemented software engineering approaches and solid project management for the AGF Transfer Agency System team, decreasing overall delivery time and dramatically increasing software quality and end-user satisfaction.  Changes lead to 100% of all started projects being completed and the resulting systems used in production.

Additional achievements include: directed additional systems implementations and enhancements to the Transfer Agency System such as household mailing ability, saving $500,000 annually, and implemented the Registered Education Savings Programme product, generating annual revenues in excess of $5 million; re-engineered automated processes such as the quarterly statement runs reducing run time by 60%;  implemented the Harmony brand of products with all its unique features into the AGF transfer agency system eliminating two third-party systems and the associated annual costs; and guided formation of new product offerings as a member of the New Product Development Committee at AGF.

• Directed the North America rollout of the Stock Locator System (see below) to the remaining eight sites.  Included modifications for Advance Ship Notices and integration into major ERP systems.  Achieved continued annual savings in excess of $100,000 per plant, and increased efficiencies and customer service.
• Initiated Y2K project, including generation of internal awareness of the impending problem, preparation of RFP, co-ordination of corporate steering committee, selection of service providers, and hand-off to the project director. 
• Managed the development and implementation of a North American sales reporting system (data-mart) with a high level of information granularity (eg., customer, SKU, ship-to point), reporting daily key volumes to management.  Enabled management to significantly improve control of consolidated sales, and determine sales performance day-to-day, allowing timely focus of sales forces to meet targets.
• Led the setting of and gained consensus on definitions and standards for corporate-level Key Performance Indicators for manufacturing operations in co-operation with a team of senior operations management.  Implemented definitions in North-American-wide Production Reporting System, permitting senior- and executive-level management to uniformly compare results of manufacturing activities across 10 plants, and determine and resolve inefficiencies.
• Directed the redesign and implementation of the corporate Intranet site providing key information to employees world-wide, and access to Web-based reporting from decision-support databases. 

Led over 30 Strategic Information Services staff over one year in the absence of a CIO (position was vacant), reporting directly to one of two of the Chief Operating Officers, setting direction and strategy for IT during this interim period.

• Managed two implementations of a third-party real-time Stock Locator System for North American company-owned warehousing and distribution operations.  Implementation cost of $300,000 per plant, with 10 sites.  Realised annual dumpage savings in excess of $100,000 per site, and improved pick-and-pack efficiencies and customer service.
• Led the design, development, and implementation of a financial modelling and reporting system for regional budgeting and reporting ($500,000 initiative) across North American.