Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Timeline
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Don Peterson

Summary

Strong leader and problem-solver dedicated to streamlining operations to decrease costs and promote organizational efficiency. Uses independent decision-making skills and sound judgment to positively impact company success. Dynamic and results-driven hybrid cloud architect with demonstrated abilities in technical troubleshooting, mentoring, leadership, management, and team development. Proven track record of effectively managing crisis situations and collaborating with vendors to implement strategic solutions aligned with business objectives. Industry expertise spans across Technical, Financial, Banking, Manufacturing, Sales/Marketing, and Consulting sectors.

Overview

45
45
years of professional experience

Work History

Senior Manager - Cloud Architect

Teradata
06.2018 - 11.2023
  • Saw the need for VMware Center of Excellence in company and worked with senior management to budget it with internal lab environment (compute, network, storage) and people saving millions of dollars in man hours saved internally and for customers.
  • Recruited and trained global team perform pre-sales and detailed deployment related information, later to build out system in lab or onsite in customer environment
  • Instrumental contributor to winning multiple million dollar Request for Proposal demos and transition of same to production systems, partnering with Dell in Asia (tens of millions ARR)
  • Developed a customer driven solution for Teradata on VMware Marketplace
  • Users can select compute, storage and performance requirements for a personalized system
  • Deployed with VMware Aria to meet DevOps, customer, and internal use requests
  • Global support Teradata on VMware deployments, working with Global Support Organization
  • Deployed Teradata on VMware in Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute, IBM Cloud, AliCloud(Alibaba cloud), Oracle, and Rackspace
  • Deployed High Performance Computing system deployment in customer datacenters globally to include USA, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Liberia, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Serbia, Poland, Russia, China, Belarus (before sanctions), Saudi Arabia, Israel, Pakistan, India, Ivory Coast, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and others
  • Presales work with State, Provincial, Federal governments agencies domestic and foreign
  • Special skillset for Department of Defense, defense contractors, tax/revenue departments/agencies to deploy Teradata systems into “air gapped” data centers
  • Presales work on all customer proof of concept systems developing customer centric solutions to increase customer ARR and reduce customer attrition
  • Trained, mentored and technical architect for team members globally
  • Worked with Dell & Dell partners to develop first complete systems hardware/software appliances
  • Rack and stack, cable up, power up, install and configure VMware systems, connect to private VPN (factory to Teradata), trouble shoot all issues, meet RFP deadlines and successfully turn over process for future systems – in current use
  • Significant contributor / leader in Teradata utilizing VMware features and capabilities to meet customer high availability, maintenance, BAR (Backup and Recovery) requirements
  • Technical writer, editor of Teradata on VMware documentation, knowledge base articles etc
  • Instrumental role in the launch of Teradata Dell Partnership
  • Partner with customers security team in scanning and remediation of systems using Rapid 7, Qualys software
  • Architected hybrid cloud systems for international customers.

Subject Matter Expert

CVS Health
01.2016 - 07.2018
  • Led the VMware upgrade project, managing an environment that concurrently ran ESX 3.5, 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x, with the goal of upgrading to VMware 7.x
  • Crisis management in support of all VMware environments
  • Personally managed vendor support for VMware, Cisco, and storage vendors (primarily EMC) during incident calls
  • I determined possible root causes of incidents by implementing a process of elimination to identify the root cause(s)
  • Additionally, I documented root cause analyses and shared the results within the support organization
  • Collaborated with architects from cloud, VMware, BAR, Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco teams to optimize processes and improve design across enterprise
  • Qualys certification to manage the Microsoft Virtualized machine organizationally for security scanning and subsequent remediation
  • Performed remediation work via SCCM and other tools
  • Advised Network team on Cisco device security remediation (routers, switches and UCS).

Director

AOK Holdings LLC
12.1979 - Current
  • Developed high-performing teams by providing mentorship, guidance, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Enhanced team collaboration through regular communication, goal setting, and performance evaluations.
  • Worked closely with organizational leadership and board of directors to guide operational strategy.
  • Established a culture of continuous improvement by fostering open communication channels and empowering employees to voice their ideas.
  • Strengthened internal controls by reviewing existing policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
  • Diversified into AOK Farms with two divisions Farms (field crops, corn, soy beans, oats) and ranch cow calf operation (Wyoming/Colorado)
  • Capital Investment Trust - commercial real estate, multi tenant, mixed use, development
  • AOK Consulting - Long and Short Term independent contractor placement
  • AOK Networks - data center operations primarily.
  • Proactively identified potential risks and implemented mitigation strategies to minimize negative impacts on projects or business operations.
  • Leveraged professional networks and industry knowledge to strengthen client relationships.
  • Spearheaded innovative approaches to resource allocation and strategic planning.
  • Boosted client satisfaction rates through exceptional relationship management and prompt resolution of issues.
  • Secured key partnerships that contributed to the company''s overall growth strategy and market reach.
  • Negotiated favorable contracts with vendors for reduced costs and improved service quality.
  • Facilitated cross-functional collaboration for improved decision-making processes within the organization.
  • Implemented innovative solutions to solve complex problems, resulting in increased productivity and streamlined operations.
  • Managed daily operations while overseeing multiple locations to foster increased productivity.

Education

Cisco Academy – Programming languages -

Rock Valley College
Rockford, IL

Math & Economics -

Weber State University
Ogden, UT

Arab Israeli Conflict

Hebrew University
Jerusalem, Israel

General Studies -

Saddleback Community College
Mission Viejo, CA

Skills

  • VMware: vCenter, vSphere, NSX, VCF, Aria
  • VMware Certified Professional 6, 5, 4
  • VMware Certified Instructor 6,5,4
  • Backup – Veeam NetBackup Zerto Backup Exec
  • Storage Works Acronis IBM Tivoli
  • Storage Area Networks: EMC/Dell PowerMax 2000, 8000, XtremIO NetApp, Nimble, 3PAR, Powervault ME5012, ME5024, PowerStore 500T, 9200 (X and T) HP SAN, Dell EMC ECS 5000, Hitachi Vantage
  • Blade Server Cisco UCS M3, M4 etc
  • Servers Dell, HP, Cisco Super Micro etc
  • Server Optimization, Planning, troubleshooting
  • Security Appliance Qualys (Certified) Rapid7
  • Cisco: Routing & Switching, Datacenter, Security, Wireless VIRL for testing and pre deployment
  • Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE 2003, 2000, 40, 351)
  • MS Windows Server 2012R2, 2012,2008R2, 2008, 2003, 2000, NT4x, NT 3x
  • Microsoft/Office365
  • CompTIA: A, N, Security
  • LINUX: Red Hat, Ubuntu, CentOS, Kali, Debian, SLES
  • Solar Winds
  • Containers: Kubernetes, Docker
  • Datacenter – compute, storage, network, changes and moves, change management, BAR (Backup and Restore), crisis management
  • Public Cloud – AWS Azure Google IBM AliCloud Rackspace Oracle cloud
  • Hybrid Cloud
  • Private Cloud
  • Cisco, Dell, Juniper, Arista: routers, switches
  • Channel Partners
  • Vendor Management
  • Third-party Vendor Management
  • Project Management
  • Program Management
  • Contract Negotiation
  • Contract Management
  • Technical Recruitment
  • Technical Support
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Strategic Planning
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Team Building
  • Out-of-the-Box thinker
  • Visionary
  • Technical Writing
  • Business Continuity Planning
  • Team Leadership
  • Documentation
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Cross-functional Team Coordination
  • Operations Management
  • Teamwork and Collaboration
  • Crisis Management
  • BAR

Timeline

Senior Manager - Cloud Architect

Teradata
06.2018 - 11.2023

Subject Matter Expert

CVS Health
01.2016 - 07.2018

Director

AOK Holdings LLC
12.1979 - Current

Cisco Academy – Programming languages -

Rock Valley College

Math & Economics -

Weber State University

Arab Israeli Conflict

Hebrew University

General Studies -

Saddleback Community College

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Don Peterson