Alton, Illinois, United States
I am a dedicated professional who sees my employer and my workplace as more than just a job - I have always brought more to the table that just an excellent work ethic, valuable experience, and a depth of technical and management skills. My goal has always been to fully integrate - both personally and professionally - into whatever work environment I'm part of. I always claimed that I spent more time at the office and with my co-workers than with my wife and kids and, if that was the case, I was going to have fun doing it - and I believe I accomplished that goal in EVERY stop along my career path. At this point I'm nearing retirement and I'm not looking for any additional ladders to climb - God has been good to me and allowed me to realize professional growth and responsibility from that of a COBOL programmer up to a Chief Operating Officer and Vice President. I believe that is largely because people know I care - about the company, about my work product, about relationships, about excellence, and about my co-workers! My IT journey has been challenging, fun, frustrating, and rewarding all in one - sometimes long hours, many "after hours" calls for support, knowing that the minute you implement a solution you have to start planning for its replacement, having that pager/phone nearby 24 hours a day "just in case", and now, more than ever, knowing that your team and the systems you build, support, and maintain are about the ONLY ones that can bring the entire company to a screeching halt! I added a lot of bullets to my professional holster - programmer, configuration manager, database administrator, solutions developer, systems administrator, network administrator, systems security engineer, network security engineer, network security sales engineer, Manager of IT Infrastructure, IT Manager, IT Director, Chief Operating Officer, and Vice President. Each and every one of those jobs were key in my professional career, one building on the one before it and making me a more complete IT professional who was specially equipped to guide IT personnel, teams, and departments. It's been a fun and rewarding ride - and I have few regrets (if any). I've worked with people who have become lifelong friends, I've traveled and played golf courses ONLY available because they were "business trips", I've enjoyed MANY successes working alongside great people to implement numerous IT solutions, and I was still able to do all of that while keeping my family as my first and most important priority - I may retire from this career, but I'll never retire from my family!
I finally told Jane I couldn't devote my time to IT/HR/Training while also managing Sales/Marketing and that we needed someone 100% dedicated to Sales - so we hired a VP of Sales in 2013, and I was re-titled as VP of Administration with responsibility for IT/HR/Training/Safety. I dove back into IT, and we addressed some major projects: implemented EDI with AX, upgraded WAN to 100Mb circuits, upgraded old phone system to Cisco VoIP, converted mobile program to "bring your own device/carrier" to realize better overall coverage in the field, implemented server virtualization using VMWare and Hyper-V, implemented PCI-DSS and NIST 800-170 security requirements, and started planning for our migration to the cloud. During this time, we brought James Turnbaugh onboard as our Systems Administrator and Sandy Freeman as our EDI Systems Analyst. In 2018 I laid out a 5-year plan to have "the computer room empty (except for the core switch) and have everything migrated to the cloud." We began by moving Exchange to the cloud and followed that up with moving all of our files to Sharepoint/Onedrive. All of this was in preparation for migrating Dynamics AX from on-prem to Dynamics D365 in the cloud. This would house our most critical business applications and data in the Microsoft cloud increasing our availability and redundancy while greatly reducing our risk. We were planning on a Teams launch during 2020 when Covid appeared and forced us to move that way immediately. We quadrupled our Remote Desktop Services servers to support the sudden increase in remote access and rolled Teams so that everyone could communicate remotely. Luckily, we already had all of our data in the cloud and our systems available via RDS, so the transition was quick and effective. We went live on D365 in May 2022 and completed the last step of our cloud migration. We are holding the 20th Annual Cope Plastics Charity Golf Tournament in October 2026. I'm retiring at the end of the year!
2009 was a tough year for just about everyone and we had lost our VP of Sales so I was asked to fill a new Chief Operating Officer position that would oversee Sales, IT, HR, Training, and Centralization. Sales was supposed to be "interim", but I ended up managing Sales for almost 3 1/2 years. We grew revenues from $69 million to $86 million during that time while improving net profit from a $2.4 million LOSS to a $1.7 million gain! I also created a new Marketing department that would focus on branding, search engine optimization, and web-based marketing campaigns. Centralization existed to manage the "make or buy" decision for fabricated parts and we were successful in transitioning our business from a mix of 55% distribution/45% fabrication to almost 60% fabrication/40% distribution with fabrication offering much higher profit margins. I hired Teri Higgins as our HR Director and worked with her and HR to implement a new HRIS/payroll system while developing new methods for performing annual appraisals tied to personal, departmental, and company goals and objectives. I hired Tina Mouser as the new Training Manager and worked to update Cope U and CopeTech training content and delivery. I worked with a St. Louis based marketing firm to build and launch a new Cope Plastics website going from a legacy site of 8 static pages to a dynamic, materials-focused site of over 300 pages. This allowed us to transfer most of the information from the previously printed Cope PAG (Plastics Application Guide) to an online alternative that could provide the same valuable information in an electronic format. I regionalized our Sales structure for better communication and management, consolidated the KC/Topeka branches, and promoted a lot of managers-in-training to the position of Branch Manager. And while all this was going on I was working with the IT team to plan and implement the new Dynamics AX ERP system. This was a crazy but beneficial time in my Cope journey!
My good friend from high school, Jane Saale, called me in November 2006 and asked if I could get together for lunch to discuss a job opportunity - and naturally I said "Sure!" Jane and I were good friends, and we socialized for many years - she was 3rd generation ownership of a plastics distributor/fabricator, and I always told her, "Whenever Cope grows big enough to need an IT manager call me!" This was that call! I was offered the job, accepted immediately, and had a bittersweet departure from Thompson Coburn. This was finally my chance to run my own IT department! I had a team of four and an infrastructure hungry for upgrades - so we got busy! Debbie Brenner, Dana Tebbe, Chuck Parks, and Tina Bell were the original team members. Chuck was handling all the infrastructure, and my plans were going to overwhelm him, so I created a Network Engineer role and hired Wylie Purcell from our machine programming team to fill the role. I was anxious to start the upgrades and began with migrating the old frame relay WAN connections to AT&T MPLS aVPN 10Mb meshed fiber. I negotiated an Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft for all Windows and Office products. We implemented an intranet (CopeNet) utilizing Sharepoint and created a remote access solution using Citrix Secure Gateway. We implemented wireless email with Blackberry devices and deployed Dell Vostro laptops for our mobile users. We implemented network security solutions using Check Point/RSA/McAfee and put wireless LAN in all locations. We implemented a Network Appliance SAN along with robust backup/mirroring solutions and off-site recovery. We upgraded all servers to Dell PowerEdge devices and our switching infrastructure to a HP core switch and Cisco routers/switches in all locations. All of this was in preparation for moving from ASW ERP and GlobalShop MRP to a Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP/MRP/CRM solution. I also started the Cope Plastics Charity Golf Tournament and the Cope Plastics Golf League.
I had just begun calling on Thompson Coburn while I was with Fishnet and had established a good relationship with two of their engineers who let me know that a manager position in the IT department was available. I applied and a couple of weeks later was hired as their Manager of Infrastructure Technology - which meant I managed the group in IT that was responsible for all infrastructure - servers, workstations, storage, network security, voice, email, and internet. I had a team of two Network Engineers, three Systems Administrators, and two Security Administrators. I had a GREAT boss - Phil Rightler who was the CIO - and worked with a team of four other great managers - Mike McClaflin, Rick McDannel, Tom Bennett and Mike Choi. My team worked with and implemented leading-edge solutions including MPLS aVPN WAN, Cisco gig switching, Check Point/Websense/RSA/McAfee/BlueCoat/Cymtec network security, Network Appliance SAN, Goodlink/Blackberry/Microsoft mobile messaging, clustered Exchange 2003, Citrix nFuse remote access, Microsoft monitoring and management using MOM and SMS, video conferencing in new firm conference center, and the move to VoIP telephony. After a year at the firm, I recruited Tom Bennett to apply for a new IT management spot which he successfully filled - he took over management of our workstation tech and help desk functions. It was during my time at TC that Mike Choi introduced me to Battlefield and Call of Duty online gaming - we formed our own group called F-Troop - Choi was Ribeye, I was Mirage, and I can't remember McDannel's handle - but we enjoyed HOURS of online gaming to capture the flag or eliminate the enemy. I started the TC fantasy football league which persisted the five years I was there and recruited McClaflin into the RGFFL (with team name of the Hawkeyes, of course). We had a very close-knit IT management team as well as a close-knit department and it was tough to leave, but in November 2006 I got the call I was waiting for!
Fishnet Security in Kansas City was the biggest Check Point partner in the Midwest - and they had just opened a St. Louis office in Westport Plaza. I was hired as the Sales Engineer for the St. Louis market and hit the ground running with my Inside Salesman Randy Windsor. I was responsible for meeting sales goals and developing the St. Louis market for reception of FishNet products, services, support and training. I designed, tested, consulted, and installed network security infrastructure solutions alongside client accounts. I sold and operated products from Check Point, NetScreen, Nokia, CacheFlow, ISS Intrusion Detection, RSA SecureID, WebSense, Trend Micro, and WebTrends. I was responsible for product marketing and sales strategies in the St. Louis market. I was also the first line of support for clients who purchased support contracts through Fishnet. We had a training room in our facility at Westport where we conducted many technical presentations and learning sessions for both customers and potential customers - and even one fantasy football draft! We hired Boris Kusmanoff as a Sales Engineer as our clients and the need for onsite engineering services grew. The branch grew to $3 million in sales, then $5 million, and to almost $6 million by year 3. Unfortunately, I didn't get to stick around long enough to see that benchmark realized. I attended training for our new Salesforce CRM software at HQ in Kansas City and got into a "disagreement" with our CFO during training. She started telling us about the cost of the system, demanding we get our money's worth out of it, cursing in front of the employees, laying down all sorts of demands, and generally belittling everyone in the class - which I didn't take too well. So, I spoke up, said her language/tone was offensive, and that the employees in that class deserved better. A couple weeks later she showed up at the St. Louis office and fired me - and what a blessing! I had a better job the next month!
I took a job as a Sales Engineer in the Global Accounts sales division of Check Point Software Technologies. My responsibilities were to provide pre-and-post sales engineering support to my assigned client accounts. Global Accounts was split into five regions, and I was assigned to the Southeast region - my customers included Fortune-100 companies Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, JCPenney, First Union Bank, EDS, Enron, Exxon/Mobil, Halliburton, FedEx, Columbia HCA and SunTrust Bank. I was primarily concerned with firewall and VPN installations, remote client VPN pilots and propagation of other Check Point software products. I did a lot of technical presentations and training at client accounts. Check Point was based in Redwood, CA so I worked from my "basement lab" when I wasn't traveling...and that traveling was my undoing. When I interviewed, I was told I would travel 2-3 days per week at most, but once I got on board my Sales Rep was scheduling meetings almost 5 days a week - so I would fly to Bentonville Monday morning, meet at WalMart, fly that afternoon to Dallas, spend the night, meet with JCPenney or EDS on Tuesday, fly to Houston, spend the night, meet with Shell or Enron on Wednesday, spend the night, fly to Atlanta, meet with Coke or Home Depot on Thursday, spend the night, fly to Charolotte, meet with Bank of America and then get back home that night. Needless to say, that travel schedule got old really quick - I went from never flying on TWA to becoming a Gold Aviator in just over 5 months! I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up that pace with two kids at home, Kim working, me wanting to coach, and just the overall wear and tear of the travel...so I talked to my boss and asked if he had any ideas how we could address it - he said that's what the job required but that maybe there would be a job with a Check Point partner based in St. Louis...and, lo and behold, there was! Fishnet Security just opened a new office in Westport Plaza!!!
I took a job at Edward Jones as a Network Security Engineer - based almost entirely on my experience with Sun Solaris. I worked with Simon Chan, and we were responsible for firewalls, proxy servers, and multi-factor authentication. My main focus was the Check Point Firewall-1 firewalls that ran on the Sun Solaris platform - I knew nothing about firewalls, but their main requirement was familiarity with Solaris - bingo! Additionally, I managed the web proxies and the Blue Coat caching engines. I also assisted with management of the RSA multi-factor authentication tokens and the RSA server. Jones was interesting because they stayed away from Microsoft Outlook/Exchange and Office products because they were too "mainstream." They used a satellite solution to connect all of their branch offices and were very apprehensive of moving to a VPN solution - we brought the Check Point remote VPN solution to the table but couldn't convince management to make the move. We did set up a site-to-site VPN between our St. Louis and London offices. We had a HUGE focus on Y2K - we actually built an entire replica of our network/server production systems and referred to it as the "Clone" - we tested that thing almost daily until we got to December 31st - then we ALL came into the office that New Year's Eve and waited...I brought in a portable TV and my Nintendo64 and we played NBA Jam until 11:59pm...and then we all held our breath as all the clocks changed to the year 2000 aaannnddd - nothing happened! I loved my team at Jones and actually recruited Hugh Spaulding to come over from McDonnell Douglas to join me - and at last check he is still there! Won the 1999 Edward Jones golf scramble with Hugh, Dan Schulte and our general partner...but on to greener pastures! I really got deep into Check Point Firewall-1 and became friends with our rep who informed me of a potential opening with Check Point - so I went on an interview and was offered the job starting in January 2000.