SYED RIZVI
Oakbrook Terrace,Illinois
Summary
Strategic Business Continuity & Operational Resilience Executive with over 20 years of experience developing and implementing enterprise-wide BCDR frameworks in global environments. Expertise includes Business Impact Analysis, Risk Assessments, and governance alignment with Corporate Risk Appetite Statements. Certified via DRI International (CBCP), ensuring regulatory compliance and effective disaster recovery during significant disruptions.
Overview
2
2
Languages
1
1
Certification
22
22
years of professional experience
Work History
Principal, Systems and Infrastructure Engineer - BCDR
WALMART
Bentonville, Arkansas
01.2019 - 01.2026
- Provided strategic technical input to steering committees, establishing governance policies for enterprise-level BCDR programs.
- Standardized disaster recovery processes with international business units, enhancing cohesive risk management across sectors.
- Managed end-to-end risk frameworks across critical sectors, implementing corrective controls to enhance system robustness.
- Led a specialized team of analysts in periodic reviews of response plans, advancing communication strategies and drill procedures.
- Programmed automated ServiceNow records to self-populate BCDR data, ensuring stringent control testing parameters.
- Developed workflow logic for testing exercises in central repository tools, improving QA verification capabilities.
- Visualized testing timelines through interactive Tableau dashboards, delivering actionable metrics to leadership and auditing groups.
- Automated communication scripts in messaging channels to brief stakeholders on testing schedules, streamlining information dissemination.
Senior Disaster Recovery Lead
SUPERVALU INC. (UNFI)
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
01.2016 - 01.2019
- Deployed disaster mitigation software suites, achieving tighter RPO and RTO bounds during simulation exercises.
- Governed high-capacity replication channels to ensure consistent data synchronization between primary and secondary environments.
- Audited infrastructure health across four regional data center clusters, deploying vulnerability scans to isolate failure points.
- Mapped application dependencies to identify critical components, ensuring uninterrupted business functionality.
- Evaluated recovery runbooks for distributed servers and databases to confirm rapid recovery of business systems.
- Developed project lifecycle framework to define testing boundaries, track success milestones, and ensure data authenticity.
- Facilitated planning sessions with enterprise architects to align tech initiatives with corporate risk limits.
- Managed vendor contract pricing strategies for supplemental storage and compute resources in critical systems, optimizing resource allocation.
Continuity Services Manager (CSM)
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION
Lilburn, Georgia
01.2010 - 01.2016
- Developed and validated customized disaster recovery strategies for high-regulation corporate clients in financial, healthcare, and transport sectors across North America, enhancing resilience against disruptions.
- Coordinated with technical infrastructure teams to establish formal recovery guidelines and led major live testing events, confirming operational readiness and compliance.
- Provided senior advisory support to clients in developing risk data architectures and mapping processes, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements.
Business Continuity Services Lead, India
CSC INDIA PVT. LTD
Hyderabad, India
01.2008 - 01.2010
- Stabilized central corporate processes against external disruption incidents through active monitoring, lowering recovery times by 150% and improving test metrics.
- Developed strategic execution blueprints for regional information systems and continuity operations, enhancing pandemic readiness.
- Coordinated local deployment of LDRPS software tools, overseeing master simulation calendars and creating unified management tracking reports.
Data Center Supervisor / Disaster Recovery Coordinator
CIBA VISION
Duluth, Georgia
01.2004 - 01.2008
- Streamlined personnel and process management to enhance system integrity through disaster recovery protocols. Supervised documentation of communication and corrective actions to resolve system processing issues. Coordinated documentation of system processing, infrastructure, and security results to ensure compliance and operational clarity. Managed change control migrations using Autosys/Control-M schedulers to ensure seamless transitions. Optimized support systems' efficiency across functions via effective project management.
- Supervised daily operations of data center staff and resources.
- Coordinated maintenance schedules for critical data center equipment.
- Implemented safety protocols to ensure employee and equipment protection.
Education
Coursework - Computer Information Systems, Technical Studies
DeVry Institute
Addison, Illinois01-1992
General Studies - Pre-Engineering Coursework
College of DuPage
Glen Ellyn, Illinois01-1991
Skills
- Business Continuity Management (BCM)
- Disaster Recovery (DR) E2E Testing
- Business Impact Assessment (BIA)
- Operational Resilience Frameworks
- First Line of Defense Risk Management
- Regulatory Compliance & Audit Remediation
- Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Tools
- ServiceNow & ITSM Process Automation
- Quality Assurance (QA) Architecture Reviews
- Cross-Functional Executive Communication
Certification
- Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), DRI International, 02/03/13
Languages
Spanish
Limited
Hindi
Professional
Timeline
Principal, Systems and Infrastructure Engineer - BCDR
WALMART
01.2019 - 01.2026
Senior Disaster Recovery Lead
SUPERVALU INC. (UNFI)
01.2016 - 01.2019
Continuity Services Manager (CSM)
COMPUTER SCIENCES CORPORATION
01.2010 - 01.2016
Business Continuity Services Lead, India
CSC INDIA PVT. LTD
01.2008 - 01.2010
Data Center Supervisor / Disaster Recovery Coordinator
CIBA VISION
01.2004 - 01.2008
Coursework - Computer Information Systems, Technical Studies
DeVry Institute
General Studies - Pre-Engineering Coursework
College of DuPage