Brian Benz

Email brianbenz@brianbenz.com
Office                +1702.953.0613        
Cell                +1702.306.7529        
Skype brianabenz

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My Resume/CV 

Downloads:  |  MS Word  |  PDF  |  OpenDocument(.odt)  |  OpenOffice(.sxw)

Summary of Qualifications:

 

-More than 20 years experience with Information Technology
-Owned and operated an IT Service and Training Business/IBM Business Partnership for 10 years
-Estimated, sold, managed, delivered and supported dozens of mission-critical IT solutions
-Experienced with multicultural and multilingual environments and long-term overseas assignments
-3 years at IBM selling and delivering Master Data Management (MDM) and Entity Analytic (EAS) solutions
-15 years selling and delivering Lotus Notes, Domino and related solutions, recognized subject-matter expert.
-Author of the XML Programming Bible (John Wiley & Sons, Sept 2003)
-Co-Author of the Notes and Domino 6 Programming Bible (John Wiley & Sons, Apr 2003)
-Co-Author of the IBM Redbook “XML: Powered by Domino” (IBM, Nov 2000)
-Author of dozens of articles in IT industry publications
-Developed and delivered IT training and seminars for IBM, Advisor Media, The View, and others at worldwide events
-Thousands of IT professionals have used my published techniques and advice in mission-critical solutions
-Certified IBM Instructor, IBM e-business solutions architect and solutions advisor
-Certified IBM Lotus Notes and Domino principal developer (PCLP), and an administrator (CLP)
-Author of the IT industry Weblog Software Soapbox

 

Skills Matrix (In alphabetical Order)

IT and Leadership Skills

Experience

Technical Skills

Experience

Application & Project Audits  

16 years

.NET

5 years

Application Integration/EAI/ETL

11 years

Altova XMLSpy

4 years

Application Migration

11 years

Documentum eRoom

3 years

Budget Planning and Control  

12 years

ETL Tools

13 years

Building Teams

13 years

IBM DB2

18 years

Change Control and Management

12 years

IBM DB2 XML Extender

4 years

CMM/SCM

4 years

IBM Entity Analytic Solutions (EAS)

3 years

Content Management

16 years

IBM Info Server/DataStage/QualityStage (IS)

3 years

CRM

16 years

IBM Lotus Notes and Domino

16 years

Defining Goals and Assumptions

21 years

IBM MDM Server

1 year

Encryption and PKIs

12 years

IBM WebSphere

6 years

Entity Analytic Solutions

16 years

Java/J2EE

8 years

ERP and Financials

21 years

JavaScript, VBScript, ASP

8 years

Investment Justification  

21 years

MS Exchange

5 years

IT Infrastructure Analysis

21 years

MS FoxPro

18 years

IT Security Analysis

16 years

MS IIS

8 years

Knowledge Management

15 Years

MS Office

18 years

Leading Teams and Meetings

21 years

MS Project

16 years

Management Presentations

16 years

MS SQL Server

8 years

Master Data Management (MDM)

3 years

MS Visio

13 years

Messaging Migration

16 years

MS Visual Basic

8 years

Project Management

16 Years

MS Visual Studio.NET

5 years

Project Tracking and Reporting

16 years

Oracle

10 years

Requirements Development  

21 years

Oracle XDK

3 years

Sales/Solution Selling/SSM

11 years

SQL

16 years

SOA

5 years

SQLXML

4 years

Social Software

16 years

Web Portals. Wikis, and related Applications

8 years

Solution Delivery Estimation

16 years

Web Service and SOA tools

7 years

Systems Analysis

21 years

Windows Server

16 years

Systems Architecture

21 years

XML, XSL, XSD, DTD

8 years

 

 

Experience:

 

Worldwide Principal Consultant

IBM Corporation                   9/2007 to Present

Accomplishments: Delivered threat and fraud intelligence (TFI) solutions to governments and organizations worldwide using IBM’s Entity Analytic Solutions (EAS) and Master Data Management (MDM) offerings.  Principal consultants work with customers, business partners, IBM sales, project managers, and legal and implementation teams to manage relationships and ensure customer satisfaction during IBM product and service engagements.   Responsibilities include estimating solution budgets and resources, drafting and negotiating contracts, managing solution delivery and customer expectations during implementation, and cultivating customer references.  Developed tools for estimation and planning, and contract templates.

Benefits:  The implemented systems have delivered benefits ranging from preventing terrorism and saving lives to discovering money laundering schemes and avoiding mortgage fraud.  The estimation tools have reduced the cost of producing a solution services estimate by 70-80% while improving estimate accuracy and reducing sales cycles.   The contract templates have reduced misunderstandings by clearly defining common implementation issues and their related assumptions.

 

Senior Consultant

IBM Corporation                   3/2006 to 9/2007

Accomplishments: Provided services to clients of the IBM Entity Analytic Solutions (EAS) Group.   Delivered threat and fraud intelligence (TFI) solutions to foreign and domestic government and corporate clients.  Solutions included border security for foreign governments, money laundering detection for banks, and fraud detection for foreign and domestic stock exchanges.  Created several XML-based ETL tools.    Advised and supported EAS product engineering and QA.  Assisted in the development of MDM and EAS implementation processes.  Produced extensive documentation on EAS products.

Benefits:  Every solution implementation exceeded expectations, resulting in benefits such as safer international borders and less bank and stock fraud.  The XML-based ETL tools and processes helped deliver projects on time and on budget, as well as enhancing solution offerings and implementation processes. 

 

Systems Architect

Bechtel SAIC Corporation                  3/2004 to 3/2006

Accomplishments: Responsible for an application that archives mail and application data to XML with version tracking for regulatory purposes.  Created project plans and completed multiple projects with tight deadlines and complex deliverables.  Provided training and mentoring to development and admin teams.  Designed, implemented and managed a customized Software Configuration Management (SCM) process.  Planned and managed the migration of 2500 email accounts and related collaborative applications to a new OS platform and application version.

Benefits:  The XML archiving system provided Web search access to hard-to find data and exceeded regulatory requirements for version tracking.  The SCM process has improved the quality and efficiency of software development and assisted in achieving CMM level 2 certification for the IT group. 

 

Owner and CEO

Benz Technologies, Inc.                     9/1994 to 9/2004

Accomplishments:Owned and operated an IT Consulting and Training Business / IBM Business Partnership.  Leveraged more than 20 years of technology industry experience to provide services to various projects to companies worldwide. 

Clients included IBM, Wachovia Bank, Panasonic, Lexis-Nexis, John Wiley and Sons, NEC, BellSouth, BellCanada, and Air Liquide.

Solutions included asset tracking, business intelligence, business partner management, CMM, competitive intelligence, content management, corporate budgeting, CRM, custom documentation, custom training materials, enterprise information delivery, group faxing, help desk support,  agreement tracking, Infrastructure migration and upgrades, mailing list management, new business opportunity evaluation, process management, product development, project proposal management, repair (RMA) tracking, resource planning, SCM, system and infrastructure audits, Web applications, Web newsletters, Web portals, Web service development, workflow, and XML content syndication.

Responsibilities included solution budget and resource estimation, sales, project management, consulting, systems and infrastructure architecture, application development, system administration, messaging/application migration/upgrades, and customized user/developer training.  Authored/co-authored three technical books and numerous articles. Presented dozens of IT seminars and lectures at conferences worldwide.

Benefits: Numerous complex IT solutions were delivered on time and on budget.  Thousands of IT professionals have read my books and articles, attended my seminars, and used my advice and techniques to successfully deliver IT solutions. 

 

Project Manager, Systems Development

Air Liquide                             3/1993 to 9/1995

Accomplishments: Managed a staff of seven developers and administrators that implemented a messaging and groupware infrastructure, and migrated messaging systems.  Created applications for sales and lead management, collections tracking, safety information (MSDS) distribution, and help desk support.  Developed the corporate intranet.  Managed an eight-person team to customize a data warehouse and operations system.  Planned, developed and implemented a distributed accounting system for order entry, invoicing, inventory, purchasing, payables and general ledger. 

Benefits: The new systems resulted in a 35% cost reduction by increasing process efficiencies. The implementation of the new messaging and groupware systems reduced travel and administration costs by exploiting new ways of communication and access to information within the company and with customers.

 

Early Career  - Sales, Analyst, Developer, Systems Administrator

Various Companies           3/1983 to 3/1993

Accomplishments: In my early career (1983-1993) I developed my technical, leadership and sales skills while working for several companies, in Canada (Seaboard Life Insurance, Sunny Hills Hospital, MicroAge), the UK (NatWest Bank, County Unit Trusts), and Australia (AMP Society, Agoston Douglas and Partners).

 

Certifications:

IBM certified instructor (CLI)

IBM e-business solutions architect

IBM e-business solutions advisor, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino principal application developer (PCLP)

IBM Lotus Notes/Domino systems administrator(CLP).

 

Citizenships:

USA

Canada

 

Languages:

Fluent English

Basic French

Some Spanish

 

    Buy my Books!


    Brian Benz: XML Programming Bible
    Brian Benz: XML Programming Bible
    (Downloadable PDF Version)

    Brian  Benz: XML Programming Bible
    Brian Benz: XML Programming Bible
    (Print Version)