Michael Oates

Professional Experience

Director of Data Center and Hosting Operations - Suvoda, LLC (Oct 2022 – Present)

Lead the Cloud and Infrastructure Operations team, including infrastructure and database administrators, with a growing focus on cloud-native technologies and services.
Oversaw the day-to-day operations of hybrid infrastructure, ensuring availability, performance, and scalability across both on-prem and cloud environments.
Drove cloud adoption and optimization initiatives, managing network configurations, system patching, monitoring, and incident response within AWS.
Partnered with product and engineering teams to lead infrastructure capacity planning, ensuring cloud resources are provisioned efficiently to meet current and future demand.
Designed and improved automated operational processes for cloud infrastructure, including self-healing capabilities, infrastructure-as-code deployment, and 24/7/365 monitoring and alert response resulting in a 99.99% uptime across all environments.
Owned business continuity and disaster recovery strategy for cloud-hosted services, ensuring compliance with RTO/RPO objectives and SLA targets.
Monitored and managed cloud infrastructure costs, tracked usage trends, and implemented cost optimization strategies across environments.
Tracked software license usage and ensured compliance across all infrastructure-related tooling and platforms.
Mentored, and lead a high-performing infrastructure operations team, including performance management and career development planning.
Tracked and managed support team workloads and performance metrics using Jira, improving task visibility, accountability, and resolution times across Level 1 and Level 2 teams.
Collaborated cross-functionally to ensure operational compliance with security, privacy, and regulatory standards (e.g., GxP, GDPR, HIPAA).
Served as the primary liaison with cloud service providers and third-party infrastructure vendors, managing relationships and driving service quality improvements.

IT Operations Manager - IBM (Nov 2016 – Oct 2022)

Directed the Systems Operations Center and Service Desk teams supporting a federal contract program serving over 1,000 end users, ensuring high-quality service delivery and operational efficiency.
Oversaw daily operations of more than five on-premises and cloud-based federal applications, managing SLAs, handling service requests, and reviewing deliverable reports for compliance and performance.
Identified, documented, and managed operational risks, including those related to audits and security, ensuring timely mitigation and adherence to federal compliance standards.
Led change management efforts within the ITIL Change Control framework, coordinating with vendors to investigate, communicate, and resolve issues stemming from failed change implementations, minimizing service disruption.
Served as the primary client liaison, ensuring stakeholder satisfaction, delivering strategic recommendations for operational improvements, and maintaining service delivery within budgetary constraints.
Acted as HR Coach for a team of five+ IBM employees, focusing on professional development, mentorship, and performance management to support career advancement within the organization.
Demonstrated success managing and developing talent in a matrixed environment, contributing to cross-functional process improvement initiatives to streamline operations and increase effectiveness.
Managed end-to-end IT asset tracking processes, maintaining accurate inventory of hardware, software, and licenses to support lifecycle management, compliance, and cost optimization.
Authored detailed and customized procurement documentation including Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Quotes (RFQs), Invitations for Bids (IFBs), and Requests for Information (RFIs), tailored to specific federal acquisition requirements.

Infrastructure Specialist - IBM (Mar 2015 – Nov 2016)

Administered and maintained a large-scale VMware environment with dozens of physical hosts across multiple data centers, supporting over 200 Windows and Linux virtual machines.
Oversaw the network infrastructure for a federal contracts program, managing 50+ physical and virtual security appliances, including firewalls, IDS/IPS systems, load balancers, and switches.
Led system patching and vulnerability remediation efforts, ensuring all infrastructure remained secure and compliant with federal standards, while proactively identifying areas for performance improvement.
Continuously monitored system performance, capacity, and resource utilization, delivering actionable recommendations to enhance stability, efficiency, and scalability.
Directed complex infrastructure upgrade and migration projects focused on IT resiliency, virtualization (desktop/application), and consolidation of colocation data centers, improving operational efficiency and reducing overhead.

Senior Systems Administrator - Orbital ATK (Nov 2012 – Mar 2015)

Maintained and administered a VMware infrastructure comprising 30+ physical hosts and hundreds of virtual machines, leveraging tools such as vCenter, ESXi, vSphere Update Manager (vUM), vMA, vShield, and vRealize Operations (vCOPS) to ensure optimal performance and availability.
Performed performance tuning, health monitoring, and patch management to maintain a secure and efficient vSphere environment and ensure compliance with security policies.
Led the successful replacement of an aging classified infrastructure for the Orbital ATK Engineering team by gathering technical requirements, designing a VMware/SAN-based solution, budgeting, and deploying an environment that significantly improved speed and reliability for 20 engineering workstations.
Designed and implemented a streamlined system imaging process for corporate systems, reducing workstation setup time and improving provisioning consistency.
Researched, proposed, and deployed a load balancer solution to support plant-wide production applications, increasing system stability and minimizing unplanned downtime.
Managed and supported computer systems across manufacturing environments, ensuring high availability, system integrity, and minimal downtime to maintain uninterrupted production operations.

Senior Systems and Network Manager - The Active Networks (Nov 2004 – Nov 2012)

Directed a team of Systems Administrators in the support and maintenance of three enterprise-scale data centers housing over 500 physical and virtual servers, ensuring uptime, security, and performance.
Led a team of Desktop Administrators providing comprehensive support for 1,000+ local and remote workstations, driving end-user satisfaction and maintaining high support SLAs.
Leveraged ServiceNow to track team performance and service metrics, designing automated workflows and escalation paths that significantly improved ticket resolution times and operational efficiency.
Architected and deployed multiple secure, highly available network environments, aligning with industry best practices for reliability, performance, and security.
Collaborated cross-functionally with Client Relations, Operations, and Sales teams to deliver strategic IT recommendations that enhanced existing services and enabled successful onboarding of new client initiatives.
Partnered with Development and DBA teams to deliver a secure, resilient server and network infrastructure supporting 10+ custom web applications across production environments.
Managed complex, large-scale data center migration projects encompassing business continuity planning, disaster recovery design, data replication, and virtualization initiatives.
Maintained and optimized Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) systems, enabling efficient call routing, real-time analytics, and improved support team responsiveness in a high-volume service environment.

Special Projects

Migrated multiple legacy on-premises systems, including application servers, databases, and storage, to AWS cloud. Leveraged EC2, RDS, and S3 to modernize infrastructure, implemented automated scaling and backups, and decommissioned outdated hardware. This initiative improved system reliability, enhanced disaster recovery capabilities, and reduced overall infrastructure costs by 35%.
Designed and implemented an automated ITIL-based change approval workflow leveraging PowerShell and ServiceNow integration. This automation streamlined the end-to-end change management process, reducing approval time by 60%, improving visibility for stakeholders, and ensuring consistent compliance with corporate change control policies.
Led multiple successful HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance initiatives across hybrid cloud environments, coordinating cross-functional teams to implement strict security controls, document evidence for auditors, and remediate gaps. These efforts strengthened regulatory compliance, minimized risk exposure, and reinforced customer trust in the organization’s data security practices.
Consolidated multiple geographically dispersed data centers into a single, resilient hybrid cloud architecture. This initiative involved migrating workloads to both cloud and virtualized environments, optimizing storage and network configurations, and implementing robust disaster recovery protocols. The consolidation improved operational efficiency, enhanced system uptime, reduced maintenance overhead, and provided scalable infrastructure to support future growth.
Led a cross-functional initiative to successfully achieve PCI DSS certification, implementing rigorous security controls across cloud and on-premises environments. Coordinated with internal teams and external auditors to ensure compliance with all PCI requirements, improving data protection and enhancing customer trust.

Summary

Professional Experience

Director of Data Center and Hosting Operations - Suvoda, LLC (Oct 2022 – Present)

IT Operations Manager - IBM (Nov 2016 – Oct 2022)

Infrastructure Specialist - IBM (Mar 2015 – Nov 2016)

Senior Systems Administrator - Orbital ATK (Nov 2012 – Mar 2015)

Senior Systems and Network Manager - The Active Networks (Nov 2004 – Nov 2012)

Special Projects

Core Skills & Competencies

Education