Chad Smith
Chicago,IL
Summary
Motivated IT professional with concentration in data protection, file, object, and block storage. Experience includes IT infrastructure migration and consolidation, vendor management, and delivery support. Industry exposure in municipal government, telecommunications, retail, insurance, and technology. A combined business and technology background has enhanced my abilities to work within the confines of any organization to accomplish corporate objectives and financial goals.
Overview
31
31
years of professional experience
Work History
Systems Engineer
AHEAD
Chicago, IL
05.2021 - Current
- Maintained and managed data storage area network solutions for various industries including healthcare, insurance, financial services, entertainment, and public sectors.
- Provided system support for various platforms such as NetApp, PURE, Dell PowerScale | Isilon, Unity, PowerMax, Brocade, and Cisco MDS fiber-channel switches.
- Delivered status reporting on capacity utilization, performance, and root cause analysis. Interacted with clients during quarterly business reviews utilizing environment assessments.
- Acting as a liaison between the client, account team, and storage vendors, I am accountable for facilitating the resolution of issues.
Senior Storage Engineer
Ascend Technologies
Chicago, Illinois
09.2018 - 05.2021
- Part of storage and data protection team committed to offering top-notch IT managed services, enhancing client experiences through strategic projects and proactive endeavors
- Sustained operational support and collaboration with peer team engineers led to successful resolution of client technical initiative issues
- Managed and administered various data protection products including CommVault, Veeam, Carbonite, Evault, LiveVault, and Backup Exec.
- Increased efficiency in managing backbends for clients by integrating with EMC Data Domain, NetApp, Synology, and QNAP storage devices
- Provided enterprise storage support for various infrastructure components including VMAX, VNX, Brocade, Cisco MDS and RecoverPoint (fiber channel) in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry.
- Supported Financial Services Client with HPE Nimble, VNXe, and DDN Tegile arrays utilizing iSCSI protocol
Storage Engineer - City of Anaheim
Perspecta
Chicago, Illinois
04.2016 - 08.2018
- Responsible for overseeing and optimizing the storage hosting environment for the City of Anaheim.
- Ensured accountability for the entire perimeter of the municipal domain's storage infrastructure
- Contributed to the development and implementation of enhanced surveillance capabilities on EMC's Isilon platform
- Generated solution adoption resulting in subsequent implementation of Isilon for surveillance systems at City Hall, Main Campus, and the Police Department.
- Successfully installed Unity300F and SAN, utilizing Brocade based switches for Anaheim Police Department
- Accountable for the administration, maintenance, and compliance of storage arrays, replication gateways, and fiber channel switches.
- Analyzed consumption trends for both short and long-term capacities, providing actionable forecasts for the City of Anaheim's enterprise storage platforms.
- Delivered informative customer presentations on the advantages of implementing hyper-converged infrastructure, vSAN, and traditional storage models.
Storage Delivery Lead (Americas Region)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Naperville, Illinois
12.2009 - 03.2016
- Designated AMS Delivery Lead for Nokia account (acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent)
- Oversaw the stability, administration, and performance of storage infrastructure
- Ensured compliance with operational standards for Data Centers spanning across North and South America
- Successfully managed the infrastructure of multiple petabytes hosted across enterprise and midrange storage systems.
- Managed and enhanced a SAN environment with over one hundred Brocade (McData) fiber channel switches, connecting block capacity and fiber channel tape resources.
- Collaborated with Architecture and Engineering to strategize storage solutions.
- Aided OS (Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, and Windows) System Administrators in troubleshooting issues and resolving problems.
- Provided mentoring and oversight for best shore resources, enhancing their performance.
SAN Operations
Alcatel-Lucent (Lucent)
Naperville, Illinois
04.2005 - 11.2009
- Effectively administered SAN infrastructure for EMC Symmetrix, CX, AX-series Clariion, HDS Thunder and Lightning series arrays across various global sites
- Implemented and migrated SAN infrastructures in domestic and international facilities for the account
Team Operational Lead - SAN Administrator
Computer Science Corporation (CSC)
Chicago, Illinois
06.2004 - 03.2005
- Managed and directed storage and tape backup engineers as the assigned Team Lead, ensuring successful delivery of high-end computing infrastructure support and solutions to meet the needs of a newly outsourced organization from Sears.
- Successfully outsourced SAN resources to CSC hosting facilities, resulting in improved efficiency and cost savings
- Consolidated and transferred disparate storage systems to a centralized hosting environment
SAN Administrator / Sears Internal Data Center (SIDC) Manager
Sears, Roebuck and Company
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
03.2001 - 06.2004
- Accountability for enterprise SAN's daily operational tasks achieved.
- Contributed to optimizing McData fiber channel switch performance through efficient troubleshooting and bug identification
- Supported and collaborated with vendor to maintain environment consisting of Symmetrix (8730, 3430s; DMX800) arrays, mid-range Clariion (FC4500 and FC4700), Celerra, CX600/NS600, and EDM tape backup solution.
- Managed and supervised multiple technical resources in support of Data Center Operations
- Managed coordination of events at the Hoffman Estates campus, overseeing tasks such as SAN, network, and power connectivity.
- Managed the administration of Wintel and IBM OS platforms.
Infrastructure Engineer
Montgomery Ward
Chicago, Illinois
12.2000 - 01.2001
- Technical resource for SMART Service Infrastructure Team
- Liaison between Product Service IT Leadership Team and technology staff and consultants to meet objectives set forth by management
IT Systems Consultant
Computer Generated Solutions
Chicago, Illinois
01.2000 - 11.2000
- Collaborated on the SMART Service Infrastructure Team and supported client Montgomery Ward
- Assigned as a dedicated resource to client Allstate.
- Provided secondary and tertiary support to multiple regional agent sites
Windows Systems Consultant
Northbrook Services Inc. an Allstate Company
Northbrook, Illinois
01.1999 - 01.2000
- Worked closely with the Allstate IT software deployment team to successfully deliver organizational milestones and objectives through the utilization of the System Management Software platform within Allstate Enterprise
- Managed the creation and delivery of software packages to business agent sites in the region.
WWCS Professional Services Consultant
NCR Corporation (AT&T GIS)
Oakbrook, Illinois
04.1993 - 12.1998
- Successfully executed software compliance installs at Savings and Loan sites located in Ohio and Pennsylvania
- Ensured successful deployment of touch screen consoles and back office infrastructure for McDonald's Just in Time initiative, covering South and Western regions.
- Assisted professional and technical services and sales teams with internal infrastructure support in the greater Chicagoland region.
- Contributed to the development of software applications utilizing Micro Focus COBOL with embedded SQL at AT&T GIS corporate HQ.
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Based Information Systems - Computer And Information Systems
Howard University
Washington12.1992
Skills
- NetApp AFF and FAS Platform
- Dell Unity (Clarion, VNX,VNXe)
- PowerMax VMAX, EMC DMX, SYMMETRIX
- PowerScale Isilon
- PURE
- 3PAR 7400 & 10800
- Hitachi XP 24K
- HP-EVA 8400
- MSA P2000
- HDS Thunder & Lightning Series
- SAN FC Switches Brocade & Cisco MDS
- RecoverPoint
- Nimble
- Relationship Building
- Team Collaboration
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Professional Demeanor
- Technical Documentation and Reporting
- IT Infrastructure
Timeline
Systems Engineer
AHEAD
05.2021 - Current
Senior Storage Engineer
Ascend Technologies
09.2018 - 05.2021
Storage Engineer - City of Anaheim
Perspecta
04.2016 - 08.2018
Storage Delivery Lead (Americas Region)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
12.2009 - 03.2016
SAN Operations
Alcatel-Lucent (Lucent)
04.2005 - 11.2009
Team Operational Lead - SAN Administrator
Computer Science Corporation (CSC)
06.2004 - 03.2005
SAN Administrator / Sears Internal Data Center (SIDC) Manager
Sears, Roebuck and Company
03.2001 - 06.2004
Infrastructure Engineer
Montgomery Ward
12.2000 - 01.2001
IT Systems Consultant
Computer Generated Solutions
01.2000 - 11.2000
Windows Systems Consultant
Northbrook Services Inc. an Allstate Company
01.1999 - 01.2000
WWCS Professional Services Consultant
NCR Corporation (AT&T GIS)
04.1993 - 12.1998
Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Based Information Systems - Computer And Information Systems
Howard University
Similar Profiles
Deepti DudduDeepti Duddu
LEAD QA Analyst at AheadLEAD QA Analyst at Ahead
Evan EdwardsEvan Edwards
Application Developer at AheadApplication Developer at Ahead
Kyle WileyKyle Wiley
Director, Specialist Solutions Engineering, Intelligent Ops at AHEADDirector, Specialist Solutions Engineering, Intelligent Ops at AHEAD
Imtiyaz HussainImtiyaz Hussain
Senior Technical Consultant (Office 365, Azure, Active Directory) at AheadSenior Technical Consultant (Office 365, Azure, Active Directory) at Ahead
EDDY GRAFFEEDDY GRAFFE
Digital Strategy Consultant & Marketing Project Lead at Antena Tres Directo (A3D)Digital Strategy Consultant & Marketing Project Lead at Antena Tres Directo (A3D)