
about me
With over 30 years of experience, I am an award-winning designer, platform architect, and manager specializing in technology advocacy and community empowerment. My expertise spans enterprise IT, creative development, marketing, and social impact. I focus on crafting innovative programs and tools by integrating site reliability engineering, design, and cutting-edge solutions to drive growth and deliver impactful results.
Beyond professional projects, I enjoy exploring emerging technologies, composing music, creating digital art, and finding innovative ways to make complex concepts accessible to diverse audiences.
professional experience
University of Minnesota​
Dec 2019 – Present
SRE / IT Engineering for Research and Outreach Enablement
Leading innovative technology initiatives that bridge research computing and community impact through educational programs, digital inclusion efforts, and technical infrastructure development.
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Design and implement community outreach programs that have distributed over 1,200 computers, provided technology education to seniors, and created pathways for students in North Minneapolis
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Develop creative educational tools, including an internationally-used SRE card game distributed in five African countries and interactive learning platforms
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Lead transformative initiatives like the Northside Summer Internship Program, combining technical education, life skills development, and research exposure
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Partner with community organizations, academic departments, and technology providers to create sustainable programs that bridge the digital divide
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Support research computing initiatives while fostering cross-departmental collaboration between IT, community organizations, and academic units
UnitedHealth Group
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Oct 2018 – Dec 2019
Principal IAM Cloud AI Engineer
Leading identity and access management as a service (IAMAAS) for ESSO, Machine Learning (ML)/Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Cloud access management.
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IAM engineering and Product Owner for Azure connectivity supporting Office 365, Optum development and 400K users.
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Leading IAM data science for Natural Language Processing chatbots, database access forecasting and directory service anomaly detection using Machine Learning.
Apex Systems
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Dec 2017 – Sept 2018
Security Analyst/Architect Contractor supporting Optum/UnitedHealth Group
Security Analyst, Cloud Architect for Identity Access Management, Cloud Identity and program management
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Program owner of FIPS compliant network enclave for multiple state agencies. MARS-E, IRS and NIST Compliances.
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Responsible for IAM approach for AWS, Azure and on-premise and hybrid cloud offerings for UnitedHealth Group.
Blue Diesel
Data Science
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Oct 2017 – May 2018
Executive Director & Technologist (Co-Founder)
Office administration, program development, strategic business planning, finance and IT architecture.
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Azure AD, Domain Services, Virtual Network, Azure point-to-site VPN, Exchange Online, Skype for Business VOIP, and O365 admin/engineering.
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Application development and UI design - PHP, C#, CSS and JavaScript.
Suburban Imaging
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Mar 2017 – Oct 2017
IT & IS Director
Director of IT and IS systems for Suburban Imaging, hospital and clinic partnerships with HealthPartners, Fairview and Allina supporting radiology.
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Disaster recovery, architecture planning, network review and project direction/management.
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Network communication and security strategy with multiple RIS and PACS hospital systems.
UnitedHealth Group
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Dec 2010 – Mar 2017
IT Director - Identity & Access Management (May 2016 – March 2017)
Director of Active Directory & corporate identity services supporting 78 domains, 440K groups, 970K users and 217 trusts.
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Change audit, security authorization and log analytics tools/devices.
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Develop continuous improvement strategy and lead project for global domain controller replacement in a 4-month period. (P2V)
Cloud Engineer & Architect – Azure & Azure Pack (Oct 2015 – May 2016)
Architect and Engineer for Optum public, private & hybrid cloud services.
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Developer on internal portal services and hybrid integration supporting .NET, PHP, and Node.js platforms.
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Infrastructure architect and engineering designing (active/active) GEO HA configurations between multiple data centers.​
IT Director – Cloud Platform, Analytics and Reporting Services (Aug 2011 – Oct 2015)
Director of division finance, SQL Server Reporting Services, Web Analytics and Clouds (Azure/Azure Pack) supporting more than 13M users.
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Operational investigation for the construction of business applications to ensure infrastructure availability.
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Developed reviews and partnerships with multiple teams for application development, server infrastructure design and overall system/application response
Project Manager/Project Lead – SharePoint Infrastructure (Dec 2010 – Aug 2011)
Team Lead for private and public Optum SharePoint infrastructure projects.
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Infrastructure product owner of Dev/Ops collaboration of multiple internal and customer projects.
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Designed and continuous integration lifecycle of code review, performance testing, and checkout procedure.
HighJump Software
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Aug 2008 – Dec 2010
Web Systems Manager
Manager and principal architect for internal applications. Responsible for development and technical specifications related to new projects and system documentation.
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Managed and developed multiple external facing websites on SharePoint enabling internal users to administer content as needed.
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Created and led teams to develop internal data management tools for the automation of generated reports. (Crystal Reports /SSRS).
Centari Meta-Group
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Jan 2008 – Oct 2008
Development and Project Management (Founder)
Sales, marketing, support, training and application development on a variety of systems for multiple clients.
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Data migration, configuration and training on Clientele CRM, Siebel, Salesforce and SugarCRM for national sales teams.
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Training and project management for Merrill Corporation. Developer for HighJump Software. Supported multiple HSA/HRA, Brokerage clients.
Merrill Corporation
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Aug 2007 – Dec 2007
Sales Force Automation Project Manager (CRM)
Project Manager for multiple sales automation initiatives and nationwide sales trainer on SugarCRM.
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Led projects for data migration from Salesforce, Siebel, GoldMine, ACT! to SugarCRM.
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Negotiated contracts and software licensing prices to achieve the lowest cost for the highest functionality within budget.
HighJump Software
3M Company
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Spring 2004 – Dec 2007
Web Systems Manager / Developer
Primary developer and designer for highjump.com, extranet.highjumpsoftware.com, logisticstools.com and RFP2007.com.
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Developed, designed and deployed VM based training environment utilizing VMware Lab Manager and MS TS-Gateway.
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Designed and developed tracking applications for weekly email campaigns and lead generation.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK)
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Fall 2000 – Spring 2004
Application Systems Supervisor
Manager of all web related projects and 18 websites for both B2C and B2B. Responsible for UIX for client installed applications and customer websites.
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Created integrated client and web tools for sales to automate partner storefront information world wide. Cutting support calls down by 10%.
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Developer and designer for the RCBS.com e-commerce site generating $80K revenue within the first year. Project length was three months.