Skip to main content

Innova Solutions

9 years, 9 months

Jan 2022 to present​

Senior Practice Manager: 3 years, 4 months

Jul 2015 to Dec 2021​

Consultant to IBM Cloud: 6 years, 6 months

Overview​

Innova Solutions is a $3B global consulting and solutions provider.

I was hire number three in the Cloud Practice. Brought on to build the technology practice with our client IBM Cloud.

Hire number two recruited me. I worked for him in my previous job at Quantum.

My first two hires (hires 4 and 5) were co-workers from other companies. They are still with me.

I build strong teams because I invest in relationships that have compound returns.

Small, consistent investments turn into large returns.

As a principal in the firm I've hired more than 200 consultants in 9+ years.

Jan 2022 to present​

Senior Practice Manager​

Day-to-day responsibilities for growing and managing the Cloud Practice.

In 2022 I transitioned from a Principal Software Engineer at IBM Cloud (in a consulting role) to managing the Cloud Practice at Innova Solutions.

I made the transition because felt I could have a larger impact managing 60+ senior and principal software engineers.

My consulting tenure of 6 1/2 years at IBM Cloud was one of the longest consulting engagements in a division of 1,000+ people.

As the Senior Practice Manager, my experience and knowledge is leveraged across the organization, which results in exponential returns. Benefitting individual contributors, clients, and the organization.

Overview​

Manage 60+ software engineers. From hiring and onboarding to career development and mentoring.

Work with clients on new and existing projects, revenue models, requirements, and building long-term relationships that enhance both businesses.

Lead corporate-wide initiatives at Innova Solutions that have C-level sponsorship and visibility within the organization.

Challenges​

The practice previously operated as a staffing model. Each consultant was the responsibility of the client.

Transition the organization to a consulting model. The primary relationship is with Innova Solutions. We operate as a team, not as individuals.

Build and grow a consulting practice, organize teams of consultants, and manage 60+ software engineers through their life cycles.

Activities​

Brought back a former co-worker (hire number two in the Cloud Practice) to help manage the consultants. I ramped up hiring once I settled in as the Senior Practice Manager.

Lead corporate-wide initiatives that have C-level sponsorship and visibility.

Overhaul old processes and establish new ones, such as hiring, onboarding, career development, internal and client communication, mentoring, and performance management.

Work with clients on strategic planning, project requirements, and deliverables.

Work with individuals to strengthen their organizational and technical skills in the following areas:

  • Architecture, design, and pattern recognition
  • Client communication and relationships
  • Planning for resource constraints and compromises
  • Software engineering principles
  • System and problem decomposition
  • Team building

Wrote hundreds-of-pages of organizational and operational documents.

Formalize regular meetings:

  • Weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports
  • Monthly 1-on-1s and all-hands meetings
  • Annual reviews

Results​

70+ developers synchronized and operating as a high-performing team.

Changed people's perception of their role from staffing (you are the client's responsibility) to consulting (you are my responsibility).

As a result, the Cloud Practice is more responsive, and consultants feel they have a greater purpose beyond their client engagements.

Added 35 new hires in my first 9 months due to improved organizational and operational processes.

Client engagements​

This is a partial list of clients and projects I've managed.

AARP​

AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) is the largest nonprofit organization in the United States, serving 37 million members.

Innova provides DevOps, infrastructure, and security capabilities to AARP.

  • In DevOps, we provide CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and configuration management.

  • Infrastructure examples are on-premises to cloud migrations, identity management, and implementing Azure MFA (multi-factor authentication) for 3,000 users.

    Our team also manages 200+ vendors and their integration with AARP's systems and infrastructure, such as SSO (Single Sign-On) for applications and users.

  • Security examples are penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, and remediation.

IBM Cloud​

IBM Cloud is a division of IBM, offering cloud computing services to the Fortune 500, across 60+ global data centers.

Innova provides software engineering, architecture, and project management to IBM Cloud.

Government Clients​

Government clients are federal and state agencies.

Innova is a GSA Schedule 70 contractor, providing software engineering services.

  • Federal client migrated 50 years of Landsat satellite data and image processing from on-premises to a public cloud.

  • State client shared a data center with another agency. The client needed to migrate their on-premises workloads to AWS as soon as possible.

Mayo Clinic​

Mayo Clinic is the largest integrated, not-for-profit medical group practice in the world. They provide clinical practice, education, and research. The Mayo Clinic has more number one rankings than any other hospital in the United States.

  • Manage 60+ software developers across 8 projects.

  • Interface between Mayo Clinic and Innova regarding every aspect of the business - personnel, projects, architecture, deliverables, financial, planning, etc. (while continuing as the Senior Practice Manager).