James Lay
Yuba City,CA
Summary
Forward-thinking IT executive with a passion for transforming business operations through innovative technology solutions. Experienced in designing and executing enterprise-wide IT strategies that enhance agility, drive digital transformation, and optimize operational efficiencies. Adept at leading high-performing teams, managing large-scale budgets, and harnessing emerging technologies to create a competitive edge. Committed to fostering collaboration between IT and business units to achieve strategic objectives and maximize ROI. Skilled in leading IT governance, risk management, regulatory compliance (SOX, FDA, ISO, HIPAA, GDPR, NIST).
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
12
12
Certificate
Work History
Vice President, Information Technology
Vaxart, Inc.
04.2022 - Current
- Directed enterprise-wide IT strategy, roadmap and digital transformation, aligning technology investments with business objectives.
- Lead enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives using cloud-first strategy that enhanced scalability and reduced costs by 38%
- Strengthened enterprise cybersecurity posture by implementating best-in-class risk management frameworks, reducing vulnerabilities by 22%.
- Partner with C-suite executives to drive IT-enabled business transformation, leading to enhanced customer experiences and operational efficiencies.
- Established IT governance framework and compliance with SOX and HHS audits.
- Renovated the IT infrastructure to improve network operability, redundancy, scalability and availability from mod 90's to 99.99%.
- Designed and implemented seamless laboratory and manufacturing equipment networks for improved reliability and accessibility from R&D through Mfg.
Senior Director, Information Technology
Notable Labs
11.2020 - 04.2022
- Led IT strategy, implementing cybersecurity framework, cloud architecture, and business automation.
- Optimized AWS infrastructure, improving stability, scalability, and compliance.
- Reduced IT servicedesk dependency by 75% through process automation and empowered end-user experience.
- Led IT elements of FDA and SOX compliance, as well as alignment of CLIA compliance.
- Acquired, improved, and managed the property, facilities and physical security functions.
Senior Director, Information Technology
ImperativeCare
11.2019 - 11.2020
- Designed IT strategy for commercialization and IPO readiness, ensuring SOX and FDA compliance.
- Implemented enterprise-wide cybersecurity initiatives, mitigating risks and strengthening IT resilience.
- Standardized IT infrastructure, migrating from consumer-grade to enterprise-class solutions.
Senior Director, Information Technology
Beckman-Coulter/Labcyte
08.2015 - 10.2019
- Partnered with C-suite executives to develop an IT roadmap that supports and enables 20% year-over-year growth.
- Achieved 99.995% from low 90's network uptime through transformation of multiple data centers through high-availability architecture, migration of several services to cloud and cybersecurity management.
- Led consolidation of multiple on-premise and cloud-based storage systems to a single, well-structured and classified system reducing costs by 75%.
- Centralized IT service management increasing user satisfaction from 24% to 95% within 12 months.
Senior Director, Information Technology
TeraRecon
04.2014 - 08.2015
- Led IT strategy for rapid digital transformation of all enterprise systems under new CEO
- Digital transformation of ERP and CRM system within 9 month timeline on-time and on-budget with all deliverables.
- Transformation of collaboration systems from several non-integrated suppliers to a single cloud-based system (MS365) in 6 month timeline.
- Designed transformation for CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) systems for highly complex instrument business providing hardware and modularized software products in Med Device segment.
Senior Director, Information Technology
Solta Medical
10.2010 - 01.2014
- Spearheaded IT Strategy and Roadmap, aligning IT with business drivers and achieving regulatory compliance.
- Led large-scale transformation of on-premises server farm/data center to a (private cloud) virtualized, co-located high-availability site reducing recurring data center costs by greater than 75%.
- Reduced Disaster Recovery time-to-recovery from 8 weeks to 8 hours.
Senior Director, Information Technology
Abbott Labs/Thoratec
06.2001 - 03.2009
- Headed the IT Strategy from pre-IPO to public including several acquisitions/integrations.
- Managed the strategy and operations of four subsidiary company IT departments with data centers across the U.S. and Europe.
- Designed and led the digital transformation of ERP, DMS/PLM, MES and BI capabilities including real-time shop floor data collection providing an estimated 30% improvement to process efficiency due to early identification of production problems.
- Established global quality assurance processes compliant with FDA and ISO regulations.
- Led first generation of compliance to SOX and ITGC framework.
Chief Information Office and VP, Information Technology
Premier Distributors
08.1995 - 06.2001
- IT Leader/Mentor for 200 member companies in high volume distribution environment
- Responsible for the IT Strategy and product strategy at this purchasing cooperative that was 'managing' $2B in purchases from suppliers
- Digital Transformation of ERP from manual/mixed to integrated ERP system (on AS/400) for enterprise planning/execution and an extensive, integrated 3rd party logistics network.
- Developed an innovative, industry-leading, automated relationship tracking system (MIRS) integrated to 60 companies for reconciling reported purchases between supplier and distributor recovering $3m/year in revenue.
- Won the IFDA Diamond award for best web site in the show from over 500 competing companies.
Education
Master of Science - Management and Leadership
Western Governors University
Salt Lake City, UTBachelor of Science - Information Technology
Western Governors University
Salt Lake City, UTBS Studies - Chemical Engineering
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KSSkills
- IT Strategy & Governance
- Digital Transformation
- Enterprise Architecture
- Cybersecurity and Risk Management
- Cloud Computing & Infrastructure
- Data Analytics & Business Intelligence
- Budgeting & Cost Optimization
- Vender & Stakeholder Management
- Portfolio and Project Management
- Mergers & Acquisitions (Diligence & Integration)
- ERP, MES, CRM, PLM, QMS, HRIS, CLM, IP
- Regulatory (SOX, FDA, HIPAA, PCI)
- Standards (ISO, NIST, COBIT, ITIL, SOC)
- M&A Diligence and IT Integration
Certification
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Azure Artificial Intelligence Foundry - Building AI Apps
- Generative AI for Business Leaders
- Integrating Generative AI into Business Strategy
- Certified Internet Webmaster Series, CIW Certified
- Linux Professional Institute, Linux OS Administrator
Timeline
Vice President, Information Technology
Vaxart, Inc.
04.2022 - Current
Senior Director, Information Technology
Notable Labs
11.2020 - 04.2022
Senior Director, Information Technology
ImperativeCare
11.2019 - 11.2020
Senior Director, Information Technology
Beckman-Coulter/Labcyte
08.2015 - 10.2019
Senior Director, Information Technology
TeraRecon
04.2014 - 08.2015
Senior Director, Information Technology
Solta Medical
10.2010 - 01.2014
Senior Director, Information Technology
Abbott Labs/Thoratec
06.2001 - 03.2009
Chief Information Office and VP, Information Technology
Premier Distributors
08.1995 - 06.2001
Master of Science - Management and Leadership
Western Governors University
Bachelor of Science - Information Technology
Western Governors University
BS Studies - Chemical Engineering
Kansas State University
Technical Skills
Enterprise Systems
ERP Oracle OBS, JD Edwards, NetSuite, IFS ERP, Microsoft Dynamics D365 ERP, Infor, QAD, Sage MAS90, MAS200, ExpandableERP
PLM Agile, Omnify, Veeva, Propel
CPQ SteelBrick, ExperLogix, BigMachines, Mulesoft
Integrations Boomi, Informatica, Cast Iron, XML, API
HRIS/Payroll ADP, Paychex, Paylocity, Rippling, SuccessFactors, Workday
Board of Directors/Data Room NASDAQ Boardvantage, OnBoard Meetings
BI/Analytics Tableau, SAP BPC, many desktop SPCs
Legal/CLM Docusign, AdobeSign, Taktika, LinkSquares, Triangle IP
Applications
Teleconferencing - Zoom, Teams, Webex, Zoom Room, Crestron, MeetingRoom365
Collaboration - Microsoft 365, Google Suite
Website - Wordpress, CMS, Visual Studio
Cloud Platforms - SaaS, IaaS, PaaS... AWS, Azure, Private Co-Lo Clouds
Standards/Frameworks - Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), ITIL, ISO27000, NIST, COBIT, SOC 2 (AICPA), HIPAA, GDPR, 21 CFR Part 11, 21 CFR Part 820
IT Technologies
Identity/Security - Barracuda, Sophos, Microsoft Active Directory/Azure, Proofpoint, Okta, SSO, IAM, SIEM, Zero Trust
Database - Oracle, IBM DB2, SQL, MySQL
Server - IBM AS/400, Active Directory, Windows Server, Linux, Unix, VMWare/vSAN, Hyper-V
Network - Cisco, Meraki, Fortinet, Juniper, Sonicwall, Ubiquiti, Broadcom
Storage - EMC, Synology, NetApp
Clients - Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS (iphone), Android
MDM/RMM - Microsoft Intune, NinjaOne, TeamViewer, ManageEngine
ServiceDesk - Remedy, Zendesk, Freshservice, JIRA
Development - Visual Studio, C, CLI, various scripting, 3GLs
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