Mark L. Strickland, CISSP, C|EH

341 Meadow Lane, Frankfort, KY  40601
(502) 550-7979 (mobile)
mark@strickland.net

PROFILE

Information technology professional with broad expertise in business at strategic and tactical levels.  Experienced at many levels from small single location companies to large multi-location matrix management international organizations.  Comprehensive project management experience and in-depth technical skills including various ERP systems, Mobile Software Development, Web and desktop software development, and information systems security operations and governance.

Security

IT Security Focused - CISSP, Security+, C|EH (Certified Ethical Hacker) certified and hands on experience.  Experience with HIPAA and FERPA regulations and governance.
LAN / WAN / Wireless Networking - Firewalls, routers, intrusion detection/prevention, PEN testing.
BackTrack - Experience with the open source security tool set BackTrack for security testing and analysis.
Policy Development and Audits - Developed security policies and audited business processes.

Software Development
Software Development Skills - Windows API level experience, Web development, iPhone and Android development using iPhone XCODE SDK, iPhone/Android Corona SDK.  Experience with PowerBASIC, VB.Net, XOJO/RealBASIC, and other SDK tool sets.
Expert level SQL skills - In depth experience with various SQL servers and expert level SQL query experience.
Pragmatic Agile Software Development - Created a custom “brand” of Agile Software Development that employed “Office Hours” programming where the “customer” could have some software enhancements “instantly”.
Custom ERP - Architected a custom ERP to manage customer orders that helped enable the company to handle 40% compounded yearly growth.
Custom Data Warehouse - Architected a custom Data Warehouse application to analyze student behavior in online class for the creation of a retention tool to help predict student drop outs before they happened.
Pharmacy Management System - Built and currently market a prescription filling and tracking system for small independent specialty pharmacies.
Home Automation - Various Z-Wave and Insteon interfaces, custom software for task automation, custom SMS & iPhone push alerts, and many unique sensors including a freezer door ajar alarm.

Systems Administration
Windows Active Directory / UNIX / Linux / Apple OSX / VMWare - Hands on system administration experience.
System & Networking Monitoring with Open Source Tools – Experience with Cacti, NTOP, and others.
SQL Database Experience - In depth understanding of relational database concepts, pragmatic view of normalization, and hands on expert level SQL Query skills.

Business and Technology Management
Business Process Mapping - Extensive and practical experience in business analysis and process mapping using a unique giant wall chart technique to engage stakeholders and find hidden interface issues.
Project Management - Pragmatic view of project management with experience in large and small projects.
Multi-faceted Systems Experience - Broad Information Technology experience including Voice/Data Networking, Manufacturing Operations, Distribution, Engineering, Consulting, and company plant relocation.
Triage Management - The ability to sort out the truly important versus urgent that masquerades as important.

Leadership
Extraordinary Leadership - Coaching, and team building skills with proven ability to motivate staff through ownership of their processes and development of consensus (www.LeadershipFiles.com).
Multifunctional and Cross Functional Team Leadership - Frequently lead teams from different disciplines and different countries with successful projects.
Savvy and Skilled Presenter - The ability to communicate complex concepts and ideas with clarity to a variety of audiences from entry level staff to CEO to Board Room Executives where English was a second language.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

SimplyBASICsoftware.com (July 2013 – present)
Owner and Chief Engineer  Built and currently market a small independent pharmacy prescription filling system.  Various consulting engagements and special custom software development projects.  Built a Web system for a small biomedical company on an NIH.gov grant that helps clinicians track symptoms of bipolar patients.

Midway College (August 2011 – July 2013)
Director of Research and Data Management – Project management for the successful installation of a new Datatel (now Ellucian) Colleague ERP system.  Also supervision of a data analyst team that is the primary group that provides statistical and industry reporting.  Custom built a dining hall Point Of Sale system that integrated with the new ERP and saved $25,000 to avoid an upgrade of the current dining hall system when they college switched from an “all you can eat” plan to full a la carte pricing.  Major downsizing at Midway College eliminated my position and over a dozen others campus wide including six director level positions.

SimplyBASICsoftware.com (October 2010 – August 2011)
Owner and Chief Engineer  iPhone and Android software development with work in both Apple SDK Objective-C and the multi-platform Corona Labs SDK (published several games on the Apple and Android App stores).  Prescription Controlled Substance Reporting to extract data from QuickBooks and transmit to several state Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) systems for specialty clinics.  HL7 Data integration for a dermatopathology lab using the Mirth data integration engine.

TEK Systems / St. Joseph Health System - Lexington, KY / Catholic Health Initiatives (January 2011 – April 2011)
Security Analyst (contractor through TEK Systems)
Assist to re-develop all new security standards for the Catholic Health Initiatives IT organization.  This required technical as well as HIPAA knowledge to help craft a pragmatic solution in the highly regulated healthcare industry.

The Learning House, Louisville, KY (November 2008 – October 2010)
Courseware developer and service provider for on-line classes for small private colleges and universities
Vice President and Manager of Engineering and Information Technology

Recruited by the CEO (formerly with Keller - see below) to manage the complete IT and Learning management Systems (LMS) hosting operations including a staff of six.  Created a strategy and built a complete ERP and Data Warehouse system to manage over 80 client partner colleges and universities.  These systems included order processing and production management systems to build interactive course ware on the Open Source Moodle Learning Management System in less than 12 months.  Also created an extranet for client access with a variety of self service functions.  These systems have provided the ability to scale the business and handle 40% compounded growth over the last 2 years.

Roll Forming Corporation, Shelbyville, KY (March 2007-November 2008)
Metal forming and processing for office furniture components, aircraft parts, and other industries
Manager of Information Technology

Manage the complete IT function for a medium size manufacture of custom metal products with approximately $100mm in revenue with three US locations.  Responsibilities include management of Local and Wide Area Networks, an ERP system (Visual Manufacturing) running on an Oracle Database, Email, Computer Aided Design systems, custom shop floor control systems, and a wide assortment of other applications.

Balfour Beatty Construction Inc, Atlanta, GA (September 2005-November 2006)
Director of Information Technology

Developed a unified Information Technology strategy for all divisions of this USA group of a global bridge and road construction company.  Previously 4 major divisions had fragmented and locally run or outsourced Information Technology operations.  The previous structure created islands of IT infrastructure as well as many security issues.

SimplyBASICsoftware.com (March 2005-September 2005)
Owner and Chief Engineer  Consulting, security audits, and custom programming.  Clients included:
Süd-Chemie Inc - MS-SQL Payroll Server migration, Custom time clock data extraction and export to SAP.
ApotheSoft - Custom TCP/IP SSL client for pharmacy RX insurance processing & rewrite of complete pharmacy package
(Windows SDK level programming).  Various small business security audits, consulting, and programming.

Keller Furniture, Inc, Louisville, KY (January 2004-February 2005) - Company closed
Manufacturer of Solid Wood Furniture
Chief Information Officer

Responsible for all Information Systems strategy and infrastructure at Keller, a wood case goods furniture manufacturer.  Member of the Keller Leadership Team.  Hired to restructure the complete IS strategy as the company changed from a domestic fully integrated manufacturer to an importer and distributor of the same products.  Joined Keller as part of a "turn around team" when the entire senior management team was replaced.  Left when the company closed.

Süd-Chemie Inc (formerly United Catalysts), Louisville, KY - (December 1998-January 2004)
A global chemical manufacturer with $950MM revenue and 70+ worldwide locations (US $200MM).

Held dual responsibilities in Information Management (IM) as:
Global Director IM Architecture (reporting to CIO in Germany) and also IM Relationship Manager for the Americas

Responsible for the architecture of the global Information Management organization.  Local management of the IM Group based in Louisville, KY.  US IT staff of 10, US SAP project team of 7, and management of the global SAP team of 6 (Germany).  Also Relationship Manager for all global IT Teams in North and South America.

Part of the global team to develop an RFP to outsource all IT operations for all 70+ global locations.

Previously local Manager of Information Technology for the same company (3+ years) prior to globalizing the IT function.

Managed all IT functions in Louisville, KY and 6 US manufacturing plants.  This position was a mix of hands on technical skills and management of a 12 person staff and included responsibility for overall architectural design of all IT elements.  Responsible for the support of over 600 desktop computers, 28 servers (Windows, UNIX, VAX), Firewalls, WAN for 6 locations in 4 time zones.

Left the company due to outsourcing the complete IT function to IBM.


TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS

Software:
SAP, Baan / ManManX, Ellucian / Datatel Colleague, ManMan Classic, Ceridian Payroll, ADP Payroll, AutoCAD, UNIX, LINUX, Apple OSX, Novell, MS?SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, Visual BASIC, PowerBASIC, XOJO (formerly RealBASIC), Objective-C, C++, PHP, Apple Xcode, Corona SDK for iPhone and Android, LUA, HL7 data integration using Mirth, Moodle LMS.

Hardware:
Various Windows desktops and servers (hardware and virtual), Apple MAC, HP9000, HP3000, DEC VAX, iPhone, Android, and others
Voice: PBX - AT&T/Lucent/Magix, Nortel
Data: LAN/WAN, frame relay, hubs, switches, bridges, Cisco routers, PIX Firewalls, SonicWall Firewalls

CERTIFICATIONS
CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional - www.isc2.org
Security+ - www.comptia.org
C|EH – Certified Ethical Hacker - www.eccouncil.org

EDUCATION
B. A.  Computer Science, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA (1988)
A.A.S. Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke, VA

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION and MEMBERSHIPS

Past member of the HP World (User Group) Manufacturing and Program Selection Committees
Seminar presenter at the HP World Conference for “Data Warehousing on a Shoestring Budget”
Previous Contributing Editor to DG Review (Later Database Monthly) - Data General Users Group Magazine
Past member of the North American Data General Users Group Executive Board
Coached several Odyssey of the Mind Middle and High school teams.  Two teams competed in the World Finals and one ranked in the top 10 of over 50 teams in their division in the World.
Webmaster for a community service organization in Louisville, KY.