Nick Montour
Details
Computer Science, CIS - Minor in Management
Illinois Institute of Technology
1998 : 2003
Shortly after, I was promoted to my current role where I am responsible for :
• Leading our Cloud migration strategy
• Deploying new technologies
• Refining security processes and best practices
• Improving and securing our endpoints both in the office and while remote
• Designing security policies and procedures to reduce enterprise risk
To-date I have successfully :
► Sourced equipment for our trading team to ensure a successful transition to WFH (COVID preparedness)
► Transitioned the enterprise to full WFH without any disruption of service or productivity (COVID preparedness)
► Created an Enterprise Vulnerability Management program successfully reducing critical and high severity vulnerabilities by 99%
► Designed an Enterprise Patch Management program which ensured 100% patch compliance on endpoints and infrastructure
► Planned and oversaw the execution of several large infrastructure upgrade projects, reducing cost and adding new capabilities
2019 : Present
Harris Associates
VP - Head of Infrastructure & Security Engineering | Cybersecurity, Cloud, Vendor Risk, Leadership
After my manager was promoted to Director of Infrastructure, I was promoted to the Manager of Infrastructure role as his successor.
My responsibilities included :
• Leading an agile team of highly skilled infrastructure & security engineers
• Creating frameworks to ensure operational excellence
• Coaching and mentoring my team to create an inclusive and collaborative culture
• Formalizing the strategy for a repeatable process that would provide a stable, secure, and highly available infrastructure
In this role, I successfully :
► Providing leadership with information to help make risk-based decisions
► Negotiating 7 figure infrastructure deals to upgrade infrastructure to meet the demand of a growing investment management company
► Building out the initial Vendor Risk Management program
► Establishing a proactive approach to monitoring, detecting, and remediating endpoint and infrastructure performance issues
► Participating in incident response audits, tests, and remediation.
2016 : 2019
Harris Associates
Infrastructure & IT Security Team Manager | Vendor Risk, Team Building, Leadership, Infrastructure
The combination of my prior successes and additional responsibilities led to my promotion as Team Lead, where I was responsible for providing guidance to fellow senior and junior Solutions Architects. Part of that responsibility included making decisions on technological direction, troubleshooting guidance, strategic decisions, helping the team with creating roadmaps, and budgeting.
In this role, I successfully :
► Consolidated purchasing and yearly maintenance renewals to a new vendor
► Collaborated with my team to create future roadmaps
► Relocated company offices and setting up the new office infrastructure
► Moved our infrastructure from our old office into a colocation datacenter
► Advanced network and server infrastructure security utilizing NIST
► Obtained certification in ITIL
► Led significant security enhancement projects to secure office and datacenter infrastructure
2012 : 2016
Harris Associates
Team Lead & Senior Solutions Architect | Coaching, Mentoring, Budgeting, Process Improvement, NIST
After significantly expanding my responsibilities and successfully performing many upgrades, researching & deploying new technologies, and starting to crosstrain people on my team, I was promoted to Sr. Solutions Architect.
During this time, I continued to expand my primary responsibilities and informally became the backup engineer for networking and firewall technologies. I also obtained professional certifications for the technologies I was supporting, including VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft’s MCITP.
In this role, I successfully :
► Spearheaded the migration of from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange for our International Research Team
► Expanded my responsibilities and becoming the primary Engineer for Citrix and other remote access technologies
► Implemented VMWare ESXi and migrating physical server infrastructure
► Negotiated large hardware and software purchases
► Researched and implemented security best practices throughout the infrastructure
► Created a security program that started with implementing best practices in a Windows environment
2010 : 2012
Harris Associates
Senior Solutions Architect | VMWare, Cybersecurity, Negotiation, Enterprise Security, Agile
A recruiter reached out and felt my experience in Network Engineering was a great fit for the role. I then entered the organization to primarily support Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, and other messaging related technologies.
After I successfully upgrading Exchange and Active directory I quickly began to learn and become the primary Engineer on additional technologies. During this time, I was also responsible for updating and testing disaster recovery procedures.
In this role, I successfully :
► Assumed responsibility as primary Engineer of Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, and PGP Universal Server
► Led upgrade projects for the technologies I was responsible for such as Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, and Lotus Notes
► Documented and tested Disaster Recovery procedures
► Expanded my responsibilities by becoming the primary Engineer of Blue Coat, Blackberry, and mobile access
► Researched and implemented new technologies to secure removable media and encrypt laptops
2006 : 2010
Harris Associates
Network Engineer | Exchange, Email, Active Directory, Citrix, Encryption, Disaster Recovery, Mobile
Skills
Active Directory, Asset Management, Blockchain, Budget Management, Cisco Networking, Cisco Technologies, Cloud Computing, Cloud Security, Contract Negotiation, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Cryptocurrency, Cybersecurity, Data Center Operations, Disaster Recovery, Enterprise Desktop Management, Enterprise Security, Firewalls, Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure Security, ITIL, IT Infrastructure Operations, IT Management, IT Operations Management, IT Strategy, Leadership, Linux, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Certified Professional, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Technologies, Network Administration, Network Architecture, Networking, Office 365, Project Management, Red Hat Linux, Servers, System Administration, Team Management, Troubleshooting, Vendor Management, Virtualization, VMware, Vulnerability Management, Windows, DNS, DHCP, VPN, VMware ESX, Microsoft Certified, IIS, Microsoft Exchange, Group Policy, TCP/IP, Switches, RSA, Lotus Notes, Clustering, OWA, ActiveSync, Network Security, Operating Systems, Windows Server 2008, Routers, Documentation, Computer Hardware, WAN, Deployment, Storage, SAN, IDS, IPS
About
From the time I discovered computers at a young age I was fascinated by the technology and intrigued by the possibilities that I could explore.
My technology career started in high school where I quickly learned to build and network PC’s. I helped launch the first networked labs in the Chicago Public School system (200 PC’s) and found it personally rewarding to see fellow students using computers for the first time. Until my high school graduation, I helped maintain the labs & expanded into managing Linux servers.
Although I graduated with a Computer Science degree, interacting with people, not code, was more rewarding so I chose the Infrastructure & Network Admin path. As a result, my career has included designing, building, growing enterprise infrastructure & security programs for fast paced, multibillion $ companies.
I earned the opportunity 6 years go to manage & grow the infrastructure team. It was a natural career progression that aligned with my inherent commitment to coach & mentor my team both personally and professionally. I immediately created an inclusive and high morale environment where people are rewarded for working together, not competing against one another. While maintaining the company culture, individual accomplishments are rewarded and new goals continuously set. Providing continuous feedback, individual mentoring, a high bar, and technical excellence are cornerstones of my management style.
As my career progresses, my goals include:
► Continuing to develop and implement enterprise security programs
► Growing highly scalable, secure, and always available infrastructure to ensure operational excellence utilizing cloud technologies
► Ongoing mentoring and development of my team
► Providing leadership for strategic initiatives on Cybersecurity, Cloud, and Infrastructure
► Expand upon 7 years of Cryptocurrency / Blockchain expertise to help innovate and solve challenging problems
SPECIALTIES:
Cybersecurity, Data Security & Operations, Negotiation, Enterprise Vulnerability & Patch Management, Mentoring, Cross Functional Team Leadership, Coaching, Budgeting, Strategic Planning, Vendor & Risk Management, Azure, Cloud, Project Management, Information Security Leader, Infrastructure, NIST, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Azure, AWS, infrastructure as code, DevSec Ops
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