Taveres Harris
Atlanta,GA
Summary
- IT Operations & Infrastructure leader with 16+ years of experience designing, stabilizing, and scaling IT environments across healthcare, banking, and managed services organizations supporting multi-site operations.
- Recognized for transforming reactive, under-documented environments into structured, process-driven IT operations by implementing standardized patching, monitoring, documentation, and maintenance frameworks that reduced incident volume by approximately 50% while significantly improving system uptime, reliability, and service delivery consistency.
- Combines deep technical expertise across infrastructure, networking, cloud, and security with strong operational leadership, partnering with executive stakeholders on budgeting, vendor strategy, and long-term planning while maintaining hands-on involvement in complex environments.
- Known for building accountable teams, improving operational discipline, and delivering infrastructure and security improvements that reduce risk and support business continuity.
Overview
2027
2027
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Head of System Administration
Network Innovations (MSP)
2021 - Current
- Lead infrastructure, networking, security, and cloud operations across 30+ client environments supporting 250+ users, 50+ servers, and 30+ sites across healthcare, legal, retail, and other regulated industries.
- Designed and implemented a standardized proactive maintenance framework including patching, firewall backups, MFA validation, endpoint health checks, monitoring, and alerting, reducing ticket volume by approximately 50% and improving system reliability.
- Established documentation standards, system baselines, and configuration consistency across environments, reducing troubleshooting time and improving operational predictability.
- Administer and support infrastructure including Windows Server environments, Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V).
- Configure and manage firewalls (WatchGuard, SonicWall, Juniper), including VPN tunnels (SSL, IPSec, BOVPN), network segmentation, and access control policies.
- Lead cloud and messaging migrations including Microsoft 365 tenant builds, Exchange Online migrations, and Google Workspace transitions, ensuring minimal disruption to client operations.
- Implement and manage endpoint security, EDR/XDR, MFA, encryption, and backup/disaster recovery systems aligned with HIPAA and PCI requirements.
- Serve as senior escalation resource for complex infrastructure, networking, and cloud issues, resolving high-impact incidents across multiple client environments.
- Lead and mentor two System Administrators, improving troubleshooting capability, reducing escalations, and ensuring consistent service delivery.
- Partner with client leadership to plan infrastructure upgrades, lifecycle management, and security improvements aligned with business needs.
IT Manager
Atlanta Women’s Healthcare Specialists, LLC
2020 - 2021
- Managed IT operations for a multi-site healthcare organization supporting 100+ users across four medical practices, overseeing infrastructure, clinical systems, vendors, and regulatory compliance.
- Took ownership of a partially outdated and poorly documented environment and implemented standardized patching, monitoring, and maintenance processes across servers, endpoints, and network infrastructure.
- Administered and supported healthcare applications including EMR/EHR systems, PACS, imaging systems, and HL7 integrations while ensuring HIPAA compliance and data protection.
- Led infrastructure modernization initiatives including server upgrades, SAN storage expansion, virtualization improvements, and operating system upgrades.
- Managed firewall upgrades, endpoint protection platforms, backup systems, and disaster recovery planning to improve system security and resiliency.
- Reduced reliance on external MSP support by bringing infrastructure and support functions in-house, improving response time and reducing operational costs.
- Served as primary technical advisor to leadership, providing recommendations on budgeting, vendor selection, and long-term IT planning.
- Supervised and developed two IT staff members, improving team accountability, technical capability, and service consistency.
- Scheduled and executed upgrades outside of clinical hours to maintain system availability and avoid disruption to patient care.
IT Infrastructure & Operations Manager
SouthCrest Bank
2010 - 2019
- Led infrastructure and IT operations for a regional banking organization with 25+ branch and corporate locations in a regulated financial environment.
- Managed hardware lifecycle and procurement processes, standardizing equipment, forecasting replacements, and coordinating vendor relationships across all locations.
- Managed infrastructure including Active Directory, Group Policy, VPN/MPLS connectivity, server environments, and endpoint management systems.
- Participated in audit and compliance initiatives including access control reviews, MFA deployment, encryption, patch management, and endpoint hardening aligned with FDIC requirements.
- Led workstation deployments, Windows operating system upgrades, and hardware refresh cycles across multiple branch locations.
- Assisted with infrastructure projects including SAN deployments, server upgrades, and data center transitions.
- Served as a key technical resource for branch deployments, troubleshooting, and high-priority support issues.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Information Technology - Networking & Administration
Middle Georgia State University
01-2016
Associate of Science - Business Administration
Gordon State College
01-2013
Skills
- IT Operations Leadership
- Infrastructure Engineering
- Process Standardization
- Patch & Monitoring Strategy
- Vendor & Cost Management
- Cybersecurity & Compliance
- Cloud & Hybrid Environments
- Multi-Site Operations
- Healthcare & Financial Systems
- Disaster Recovery Planning
Accomplishments
- Designed and implemented a proactive maintenance and monitoring framework across MSP client environments, standardizing patching, firewall backups, MFA validation, endpoint health checks, and alerting, reducing ticket volume by ~50% and improving system uptime.
- Led infrastructure and EMR modernization for a multi-site healthcare organization, including server upgrades, SAN expansion, virtualization improvements, and clinical system optimization while maintaining high availability in a patient-care environment.
- Managed enterprise hardware lifecycle and procurement across 25+ banking locations, improving standardization, reducing vendor costs, and increasing deployment consistency.
- Delivered enterprise infrastructure and cloud initiatives including Microsoft 365 migrations, firewall implementations, server and SAN upgrades, and multi-site network deployments across regulated environments.
Certification
- CompTIA Security+ – Active through 2027
- WatchGuard Network Security Essentials – Active through 2027
- WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi – Active through 2027
Timeline
Associate of Science - Business Administration
Gordon State College
Head of System Administration
Network Innovations (MSP)
2021 - Current
IT Manager
Atlanta Women’s Healthcare Specialists, LLC
2020 - 2021
IT Infrastructure & Operations Manager
SouthCrest Bank
2010 - 2019
Bachelor of Science - Information Technology - Networking & Administration
Middle Georgia State University