Christopher Gantz
Elizabethtown,PA
Summary
Dynamic leader with extensive experience in engineering, operations technology, information technology, and collaborative IT/OT dual roles. Experience leading teams and organizations in both engineering and information technology disciplines. Known for using strong leadership and communications skills to facilitate collaboration while driving transformational change.
Overview
35
35
years of professional experience
Work History
Sr. Manager Digital Manufacturing
The Hershey Company
03.2022 - Current
- Provided leadership to team focused on the development and delivery of manufacturing digital systems.
- Developed and executed a strategy for Digitally Integrated Manufacturing which drove the integration and convergence of IT and OT digital systems.
- Led cross-functional project teams consisting of Engineering and IT professionals.
- Led the selection and deployment of Manufacturing Execution Systems throughout the supply chain network.
- Established standards for factory floor data through the development and deployment of a Unified Namespace Data Hub.
Staff Engineer Operations Technology Systems
The Hershey Company
05.2019 - 03.2022
- Utilized skillsets from previous engineering and IT roles to serve as a liason between corporate engineering and IT teams.
- Established standards for Operational Technology Systems enabling integrations with corporate IT systems.
- Developed strategy for converged physical infrastructure for all plant locations including network, servers, virtualization, and security systems. Transformed infrastructure from separate, disparate systems to converged environments separated by software security.
- Established standards for Manufacturing Execution Systems and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems based on Inductive Automation Ignition product.
Plant Electrical Engineering Manager
The Hershey Company
05.2017 - 05.2019
- Led electrical and controls engineering and IT teams within manufacturing facility.
- Established new standard for plant process networks based on modern network equipment, virtualization services within a plant data center, and modern security hardware and software driving improved production systems capabilities and reliability.
- Managed upgrade of all plant SCADA Systems utilizing new infrastructure capabilities including virtualization of all systems and use of thin-client computing for plant floor systems.
Staff Infrastructure Engineer
The Hershey Company
05.2012 - 05.2017
- Managed a $500k project to provide a corporate video content management and delivery system. System utilized by C-Level executives to reach users across the globe and provides access to corporate news and training content on mobile devices.
- Led a major infrastructure project to build out compute resources for a new production plant in Malaysia. Project included implementation of Cisco UCS hardware/software.
- · Key contributor to the design and implementation of a new data center in Singapore for the support of compute initiatives in Asia Pacific region.
- Led $2 Million initiative to replace over 500 aging servers across the globe with a consolidated data center approach. Project included upgrading the corporation’s Active Directory domain and was highly visible. Project completed on-time and within budget and demonstrated surgical precision in execution.
- Key contributor in an improvement initiative to foster corporate collaboration by transferring services to Microsoft Office 365 Cloud; included moving email services, and implementation of Microsoft Sharepoint for business collaboration tools.
- Implemented a major project to mitigate Microsoft Server 2003 vulnerability; project included consolidation of servers to a central data center, implementation of consolidated storage, and upgrade of remote virtualization environments.
Director of Information Technology
Manheim Central School District
02.2004 - 05.2012
- Developed and implemented three strategic plans for the district in compliance with the Pennsylvania State Department of Education.
- Led a $10M+ investment to design and install all educational and business management infrastructure and systems over a four-year period of time.
- Defined project management methodology to optimize technology resources and applications. Evaluated existing technologies and defined capacity planning requirements for the future. Managed yearly IT budget of $5MM.
- Engineered, designed, and implemented the installation of a $2M investment for technology systems during the construction of a new middle school. Project included building a data center, triple-play services on the network (data, voice, and video), and classroom technology implementation.
- Designed, engineered, and installed first-of-its-kind video distribution system for educational institution including live and on-demand streaming for mobile devices.
- Installed a lecture capture and streaming management system for a major college allowing for delivery of video lecture content to mobile devices over the Internet.
Staff Engineer Electrical and Controls
Armstrong World Industries, Inc
01.1990 - 03.2004
- Served in a variety of plant and corporate engineering positions over a 14-year period.
- Specialized in motion control systems, robotic systems, vision inspection systems, vision-guided motion controls.
- Worked as Network Engineer with Cisco Certified Network Professional certification. Built process control ethernet networks throughout all plants in the supply chain network.
- Supervised a team of five electrical / controls engineers.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering / Computer Engineering
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PASkills
- Strategic planning
- Cross-functional team leadership and coordination
- Information Technology Management
- Operational Technology Management
- Engineering Management
- Driving systemic change through strategic application of technology systems
Timeline
Sr. Manager Digital Manufacturing
The Hershey Company
03.2022 - Current
Staff Engineer Operations Technology Systems
The Hershey Company
05.2019 - 03.2022
Plant Electrical Engineering Manager
The Hershey Company
05.2017 - 05.2019
Staff Infrastructure Engineer
The Hershey Company
05.2012 - 05.2017
Director of Information Technology
Manheim Central School District
02.2004 - 05.2012
Staff Engineer Electrical and Controls
Armstrong World Industries, Inc
01.1990 - 03.2004
Bachelor of Science - Electrical Engineering / Computer Engineering
Pennsylvania State University
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