NICHOLAS E. SMITH
McCordsville,IN
Summary
Seasoned Operations Manager and talented leader with 15 years of experience applying exceptional planning and problem-solving abilities toward enhancing business plans and day-to-day activities. Results-driven and resilient in developing teams while improving processes and increasing productivity. Bringing solid understanding of industry trends, excellent communication skills, and talent for spotting areas in need of improvement and implementing changes with a strategic approach.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
CYBER OPERATIONS MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
Indianapolis, IN
04.2020 - Current
- Responsible for growth of $10M/year cyber training development plan that supports cyber-physical training, exercise support, and cyber-related research.
- Defines strategic roadmap for 3-year sustainment and operation cycles while developing future capabilities in line with agency requirements and technology trends
- Manages team of 95 personnel ensuring program work is aligned with customer requirements and within constraints of time, budget, and scope
- Performs technical analysis to determine where to reduce or increase technology requirements and services to meet customer constraints relating to cost, schedule, or performance
- Supervised operations staff and kept employees compliant with company policies and procedures.
- Developed systems and procedures to improve operational quality and team efficiency
- Managed inventory and supply chain operations to achieve timely and accurate delivery of goods and services
- Led hiring, onboarding and training of new hires to fulfill business requirements
- Supervised operations staff and kept employees compliant with company policies and procedures
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
Indianapolis, IN
05.2017 - 04.2020
- Identified training to execute within 1-year funding cycle, and mapped out a 4-year training pipeline
- Managed a yearly portfolio of over 5 new projects, while conducting technical benefits and ROI analysis to realign emerging efforts, resulting in $100K/year in deprecated technology savings
- Coordinated day-to-day operations of integration projects ensuring technical requirements were constrained within scope, increasing on-time and in-scope closure rates by 50%
- Managed highly specialized workforces to included engineers, developers, and architects, over 4 programs; increased strategic development resulting in customer satisfaction levels of 84%
- Researched process improvements efficiencies and recommended solutions for implementation that increased delivery, while lowering costs; achieved a first pass yield of 80
SENIOR INTELLIGENCE MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
Terre Haute, IN
09.2014 - 05.2017
- Oversaw a team responsible for transporting sensitive items, maintaining operational efficiencies, and controlling the flow of internal and external resources across Indiana and surrounding states
- Planned departmental projects and completed over 150 continuous improvement activities, utilizing tools such as root cause analysis, process flow mapping, and ground control station software
- Conducted analysis using descriptive and diagnostic modeling techniques on surveillance data to advise executive leadership, resulting in reduction of security incidents by 30% over a 2year timeframe
- Developed new policies to intake data sources and recommended solutions to prevent incidents and downtime; maintaining yearly operational uptime of 95% for UAS flight data collection
SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
Indianapolis, IN
03.2013 - 05.2014
- Developed a team of 6 employees to identify, troubleshoot, and resolve administrative and pay issues; increasing customer satisfaction by 50%
- Forecasted and recommended personnel strength numbers per department increasing organizational efficiencies by 20% through consolidation of work efforts within high functioning departments
- Coordinated administrative planning actions for 320 personnel when payroll and retirement planning conversions shifted to a blended retirement plan with no loss to employee entitlements
- Troubleshot over 250 entitlement issues with employees, retirees, regional HR representatives, HR consultants, and benefit plan administrators
- Helped department leaders devise ways to fairly assess employee performance and develop improvement plans
- Created programs to reduce turnover and improve employee engagement in daily business process
- Designed employee surveys to evaluate employee satisfaction
- Structured compensation and benefits according to market conditions and budget demands
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
Indianapolis, IN
01.2009 - 03.2013
- Planned, executed, and controlled multiple million-dollar projects coordinating with external customers, private companies, foreign countries, state departments, and other federal agencies
- Oversaw 23 multi-year projects utilizing work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, network diagrams, resource histograms, risk registers, forecasting, etc.
- To maintain on-time delivery of at least 95%
- Utilized effective management framework to identify and analyze risks while developing mitigation measures to reduce incidents by up to 90% during operations
- Manage sustainability of over $50M worth of technology and equipment to include lifecycle and decommissioning plans.
- Supervised operations staff and kept employees compliant with company policies and procedures
- Developed systems and procedures to improve operational quality and team efficiency
- Managed inventory and supply chain operations to achieve timely and accurate delivery of goods and services
- Led hiring, onboarding and training of new hires to fulfill business requirements
- Established positive and effective communication among unit staff and organization leadership, reducing miscommunications, and missed deadlines
- Developed and maintained relationships with external vendors and suppliers
- Analyzed and reported on key performance metrics to senior management
- Developed and implemented strategies to maximize customer satisfaction
- Identified and resolved unauthorized, unsafe, or ineffective practices
- Introduced new methods, practices, and systems to reduce turnaround time
- Implemented process improvement to shape organizational culture, optimize procedures for higher efficiency and help company evolve and grow
Education
BS - CYBERSECURITY
Purdue University
December 2023
Skills
- Cyber Program Management and Maintenance
- Leadership and Team Development
- Strategic Portfolio Planning and Alignment
- Agile/Waterfall Project Methodologies
- Operations and Logistics Management
- Written and Oral Communication
- Risk Analysis and Mitigation Strategies
- Cybersecurity Planning and Operations
- Nicholas Smith
Affiliations
- Top Secret with SCI/DTA
- Professional Scrum Master (PSM)
- Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO)
- CompTIA Security+
- Lean Six Sigma
- Master Unmanned Aircraft Systems Trainer
Timeline
CYBER OPERATIONS MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
04.2020 - Current
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
05.2017 - 04.2020
SENIOR INTELLIGENCE MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
09.2014 - 05.2017
SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
03.2013 - 05.2014
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Indiana National Guard
01.2009 - 03.2013
BS - CYBERSECURITY
Purdue University
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