THOMAS CHARLES BULANDA
Frederick,MD
Summary
Dynamic IT leader from Digital Global Systems, adept in cloud migration and cross-functional collaboration, drove significant product innovations and network security enhancements. Leveraging expertise in Microsoft Azure and team leadership, achieved a remarkable 99% uptime and compliance milestones, setting new standards in IT infrastructure management and cybersecurity.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Director of Information Technology and Cyber Security
Digital Global Systems
McLean, VA
06.2023 - Current
- Leads product management teams to envision, define and develop new products
- Leads highly complex or strategic initiatives typically requiring confidentiality and enterprise-level visibility
- Defines and analyzes markets
- Evaluates technologies
- Guides team in development of detailed product features and requirements and develops implementation plans
- Gathers input to define product concepts
- Justifies expenditures for products
- Prioritizes and oversees product backlog and releases
- Assists Leadership to facilitate product definition sessions
- Works closely with teams and resources to achieve milestones within established timeframes
- Continuously leverages expert data-driven problem-solving techniques and analytical rigor to understand, establish and report on key performance indicators
- Generates meaningful insights to inform experience improvements
- Actively manages ambiguity, brings in ‘big picture’ thinking, and consistently seeks to drive clarity amongst team, partners and key stakeholders
- Guides collaboration sessions with cross-functional teams to finalize operational plans and project list
- Consults with business partners to understand current and future complex /strategic business needs requiring multi-platform solutions
- Leads presentation of highly complex concepts to cross-functional teams and senior leadership
- Collaborates with marketing and other stakeholders to drive effective strategies for achieving key technical and business goals
- Accountable for the application of industry best practices and trends to increase effectiveness
- Acquires, maintains and applies expect knowledge of the business, its products and processes, and an expert understanding of Product Management
- Leads cross-functional, matrixed teams to solve highly complex and high value business problems
- Serves as a major resource to team members
- Mentors less experienced members of the team
DEVOPS Team Lead
Digital Global Systems
McLean, VA
09.2023 - 05.2024
- I initiate and lead team discussions about Configuration Management, build and release architecture
- I am designing load balancing and clustering solutions according to architecture standards
- I work on complex, major or highly visible tasks in support of multiple projects that require multiple areas of expertise
- I architect, develop, plan for, maintain and manage our internal infrastructure and Configuration Management system for our Secure Ops Test environment
- I develop scripts to automate building the infrastructure and software, create release and build numbers, tag and branch code branches in the configuration management system, notify engineers of build problems, and collect build metrics
- I maintain solution release notes and other collateral related to solution releases
- I gather, track, and supply all the tools that are required to develop and build a particular piece of software to reliably reproduce or maintain solution after initial customer release
- I develop automated software installers for various platforms in our solution
- I interact with key stakeholders to prepare Test Plan Automation
- I understand the Secure Ops Solution and its environment to develop automation approach
Senior Network Engineer
Delcor Technology Services
Silver Spring, MD
09.2022 - 06.2023
- Lead in assessments of the current network and network security standing for the client and identifying areas of improvements, planning, and executing approved strategies for network and network security improvements
- Lead for installation, administration, and troubleshooting for: Servers, Firewalls, Switches, SANs, Wireless Access Points, Remote Access, Email Services (Office 365/Hybrid), VMWare vSphere, VMWare Horizon, Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Azure Active Directory and Okta
- On-Premises servers – manage resource allocations and load
- I am currently leading a migration from on-premises services, servers, and applications to Microsoft Azure
- I am currently working with the client senior security officer to identify, plan, organize and manage security operations for the clients’ network
- I provide local Server Administration and troubleshooting including the creation and administration of Printer objects, file shares, and permissions
- Administer and troubleshoot remote access to servers
- Adheres to and maintains high levels of expertise in all networks, applications, hardware, support processes, procedures, and expectations to meet the highest level of customer care
- I manage security incidents and provide appropriate reporting to team members
- I collaborate with clients and internal teams to identify gaps in coverage and recommend solutions
- Proactively communicates in detail to leadership and team members
- I serve as a technical escalation point for other team members
- Review, analyze, and evaluate IT equipment, recommending technical direction with a focus on improved utilization
- I collaborate with third-party vendors on behalf of our clients to meet project deliverables
- I manage, improve, and maintain existing documentation; create new documentation as necessary
- Currently operating as the Delcor to client Project Manager
- Ensuring that all tasks are staffed after conducting manpower, and level of effort surveys
- Currently operating as the Engineering Team lead to the client, with four (4) engineers assigned to the team
- I am responsible for mentoring and training members of the engineering, consultants, and Help desk technicians
- I am responsible for managing IT staff by recruiting, training, and coaching employees, communicating job expectations, and appraising their performance
Director of Information Technology
Technology Advancement Group
Ashburn, VA
04.2021 - 06.2022
- As the Director of Information Technology at TAG it was my responsibility to recommend and implement network upgrades for all corporate servers and supporting Government customers while at the same time growing the network to meet and exceed internal and customer expectations as well as promoting corporate growth
- I was responsible for guiding the corporate and project network towards CMMC Level 3 compliance
- NIST and CMMC Level 3 compliance was met June 2022
- I implemented network changes to improve NIST 800-171 standing, recovering over 85 NIST assessment points
- While also improving Network reliability and Network Security
- Design, develop and maintain automation of VMWARE infrastructure management
- Design installation, management, and routine upgrades of VMWARE infrastructure
- Provide 3rd support of VMWARE infrastructure
- Provide key technical consultation with major migration and transition programs
- Design and develop operation procedures of VMWARE infrastructure for Operations team
- Deliver Global standard installation guidelines for VMWARE environment implementation
- Document the architecture and all procedures; prepare guidelines for other teams working with the platform
- Technical consultancy to DHL ITS customers to support an application on virtual platform
- I was responsible for the tracking of major cloud-based activities
- Ensuring accountability, deliverable dates, socialization of changes, and keeping all involved parties effectively on track; while at the same time reporting to the senior-most management of TAG on the deliverable, risk assessment, cost analysis and manpower assessments
- Administered company-wide SAP and Active Directory servers for an organization of 30,000 employees
- Implemented Active Directory Federation Services ADFS for single-sign-on access to the Office 365 environment
- Implemented Identity Provider (Okta) and integrated with Office 365 and Active Directory
- Set Up and Manage Information Rights Management in Exchange Online
- Assisted in evaluating new products and conducts research on products, services, and standards to remain abreast of developments in the industry
- Worked with asset management team to maintain accurate records of all Exchange/Messaging software
- Was responsible for the planning, design, implementation, organization, and operation of Palo Alto Firewalls based perimeter security network and network security devices including but not limited to 7000, 5000 and 3000 series FW’s
- The job also involves simultaneously working on the successful engineering, testing and deployment of multiple projects
- I was responsible for managing IT staff by recruiting, training, and coaching employees, communicating job expectations, and appraising their performance
Senior Systems Administrator
FINRA
Rockville, MD
02.2018 - 02.2021
- Performed as part of the FINRA DEVOPS continuous delivery operations team while managing technical reporting, accountability to higher level management and supporting cloud-based operations in Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Supported daily operations while driving improvements to operational standards and procedures
- Updated standard operational procedures (SOPs) while advising managers at FINRA on continuous delivery statistics
- Assisted application teams in ensuring that they meet deliverable dates as well as operating inside of the confines of the policy as it applies to internal and external audit
- Coordinated quarterly and weekly reports utilizing SaaS applications and in-house applications and delivering accurate data focused on data/information integrity
- Tracked major cloud-based activities, ensuring accountability, deliverable dates, socialization of changes, and keeping all involved parties effectively on track
Network Manager
ISG Solutions LLC
Rockville, MD
10.2016 - 10.2017
- Reengineered company’s systems setup, establishing automated server generation routines, optimizing system performance, installing upgrades/patches, establishing system monitoring, and maintaining security protocols
- Ensured that all server hardware, operating systems, software, and procedures aligned with organizational standards and strategic business plan
- Revamped NetBackup schedule and upgraded 15 Windows 2012 servers
- Optimized system availability (averaging 99.95% uptime) and equipped company with scalable systems to support business growth
- Made recommendations on existing projects to improve network security
- Monitored network performance and implements performance tuning when necessary
- Local & Wide Area Network and Network Security Support
- Managed firewall/security systems by establishing and enforcing policies; defining and monitoring access
- Worked closely with colleagues to meet team goals and improve processes and practices
- Performed network and security hardware and software maintenance
- Created and maintained detailed network documentation and procedures
Network Manager
Cygnacom Solutions
McLean, VA
11.2015 - 10.2016
- Led a team of 3 System Administrators that maintained 99% uptime for a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) company supporting private and government agencies and oversaw a site migration for 45 users while achieving zero network downtime
- Managed a $1M desktop, server, application, and telecom inventory by tracking employee equipment assignments and purchase, billing, and decommission dates
- Further develop and execute a plan on patch management
- Execute system tuning and Disaster Recovery planning to include recommendations for improvements
- Work with key platform vendors (Microsoft, HP, etc.) for support to resolve issues as well as platform strategy development
- Analyze SCCM log files, provide patch management support and maintenance window operations
Education
Bachelor of Science - Information Systems Management and Cyber Security
University of Maryland Global Campus
College Park, MD01.2015
Skills
- Microsoft Office 365
- SharePoint Server
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- Microsoft Azure
- JIRA
- BMC Remedy
- Cisco Systems Products
- VMware vSphere
- SSL Certificates
- Web hosting
- Confluence
- Amazon Web Services
- NIST Cyber Security
- Critical Security Controls
- Microsoft Windows
- Apple OS
- Linux
- Network security
- Product management
- Cloud migration
- Data analysis
- Infrastructure management
- Configuration management
- Risk assessment
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Performance optimization
- Team leadership
- Regulatory compliance
- Technical documentation
- IT infrastructure management
- Stakeholder engagement
- Project management
- Process improvement
- IT risk management
- IT procurement
- Infrastructure design
- Information security
- Cybersecurity
- IT service management
- IT strategy alignment
Certification
- Cisco Meraki solutions specialist certification, 09/21
- AWS Certified SYSOP Administrator associate, 05/21
- AWS certified DEVOPS Engineer, 05/19
- AWS certified cloud Practitioner, 01/19
- CompTIA Server +, 11/19
- CompTIA Network +, 05/19
- CompTIA Security +, 08/19
- CompTIA A+, 06/18
- Microsoft Azure Developing Microsoft Azure and Web Services, 04/19
- Microsoft Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, 06/19
Timeline
DEVOPS Team Lead
Digital Global Systems
09.2023 - 05.2024
Director of Information Technology and Cyber Security
Digital Global Systems
06.2023 - Current
Senior Network Engineer
Delcor Technology Services
09.2022 - 06.2023
Director of Information Technology
Technology Advancement Group
04.2021 - 06.2022
Senior Systems Administrator
FINRA
02.2018 - 02.2021
Network Manager
ISG Solutions LLC
10.2016 - 10.2017
Network Manager
Cygnacom Solutions
11.2015 - 10.2016
Bachelor of Science - Information Systems Management and Cyber Security
University of Maryland Global Campus
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