Director of IT
Qatar National Library
Total years of experience :26 years, 6 Months
Brought in to run the IT department for QNL after the sudden departure of the previous director.
Responsible for the Library Management System Team, Application Development Team, Website Team, Digitization Team, Security Team, and the IT Infrastructure Team. Tasked with fixing a number of issues that were present and getting the correct infrastructure, personnel, processes and guidelines in place to optimise the IT functions in accordance with the business requirements.
Current proposed handover to a Qatari national for this role is 1st August 2019
IT Consultant for various customers
• Responsible for the internal IT services for the Mercator group of companies. This includes the provision of computers, all domain services/servers, Internet connectivity, VPN connectivity to customers and the Emirates Group and management of them, all telephony, the implementation of Office 365 and SharePoint, as well as the administration, configuration and management of SharePoint, NetSuite (HR and Finance ERP / CRM), Open Air (Timesheets), and Service Now (Help Desk tool for ITSRs).
• Responsible for all vendors and service supplier management for the IT services for the group
• Successfully negotiated a 30% price reduction for our internet costs in the UAE
• Assisted the IT Operations Manager in the technical aspects of the role
• Successfully managed the migration of all Internal IT from Emirates group to our own Office 365 solution.
• Managed and technically assisted in the reconfiguration of the network infrastructure and all VPN tunnels
• Managed the porting of all company mobile phones from Emirates under Etisalat to Mercator under Du.
• Responsible for the integration of Catapult (US Company based in Kansas and Cebu) into the Mercator Domain
IT Director for the whole HAE group covering 20+ businesses in over 35 worldwide locations covering mainly UK, Ireland, UAE, USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Thailand.
Saved over 20% on the company’s e-mail costs
Fixed major issues with Active Directory, Backups, DFS, and Video Conferencing
Implemented a new corporate website, and a Microsoft Azure solution for the company’s main bespoke software so that it could be better accessed worldwide.
Successfully implemented a document management solution using Inforouter for the Group’s invoices
Added functionality to the company’s freight booking and planning software
Installed infrastructure for two new offices in Chihuahua and Bangkok
Coded their new rebranded website (www.haegroup.com)
Created a group IT strategy
Companies I've been contracted to as Head of IT
Neutral Fuels LLC
IT and Operations Planning Manager reporting to the CEO
• Managed the implementation of a Carbon Footprint Assessment database and website currently being used by McDonald’s Distribution Centres.
• Managed the development and testing of an iPhone and Android app for Driver Behaviour
• Assisted with the initial setup of the company in 2010 including assisting with the business plan and the financial forecasting. Taken on full time to manage the rollout of Biodiesel micro-refineries for McDonald’s
• Spent time in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Australia and Malaysia planning locations and rollout strategy for McDonald’s Used Cooking Oil (UCO) to Biodiesel project.
Arabesque Asset Management
IT Consultant reporting to the COO
• Advised the COO regarding the company’s IT infrastructure setup
Global Commodity Finance Ltd.
Head of IT reporting to the COO
• Set up a data centre in the Dubai International Finance Centre
• Selected IT suppliers and established supplier relationships (vendor management).
• Responsibility for purchasing all servers, network equipment, laptops, and desktops
• Full IT budget responsibility
• Migrated the company from the UK domain to the Dubai domain and then shut down the UK site
• Setup a UK based Disaster Recovery site.
Start-up Head of IT Services reporting to the COO
• Set up all the IT and telephony for the two offices in Dubai, one in the UK and one in Hong Kong
• Managed the IT, Telephony and User support teams in all the countries, and the Data Centre team in the UK
• Responsible for managing and implementing the on-site and online security measures
• Full responsibility for the IT budget for the start-up of the company and complete vendor management.
• Responsible for creating and implementing the BCP and Disaster recovery process
• Was also responsible for overseeing the office fit-out for the two offices in Dubai
Contracts and Projects I have worked on include:-
• Shell Oil - Technical Infrastructure Project Manager
• Siemens - Enterprise Services Technical Support Engineer (300+Servers, 4, 000+ Users)
• DiverseyLever (Part of Unilever) / JohnsonDiversey - Global NT Server Support, Lotus Notes and Messaging Specialist (200+ servers, 12, 000+ Users, 15+ Countries)
• Research Machines Plc - VMWare Consultant
• GMAC-RFC - European Infrastructure Team Leader
• Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and Anglian Water - server build / software testing / support