Brad Gagnon
Goals / Objectives
To obtain a senior level employment at a reputable company and provide infrastructure expertise.
Professional Profile
Currently an Enterprise Systems Architect providing infrastructure architecture and engineering expertise to a fast paced and growing financial institution in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Thought leader who loves to take on new responsibilities and impart my knowledge to others. Very high technological standards. Utilizes a wide array of different enterprise technologies including servers, storage arrays, networking equipment, cloud and software to create architectural designs and standards. Holder of several advanced level industry certifications and looking at expanding those credentials. Relationship builder both with external vendors / parties and business units. Problem solver who believes that there is a cost-effective solution to everything. Constantly planning and testing ideas that can be implemented in an environment for greater efficiency, performance, scalability, uptime and ease of use.
Overview of Specialties
• Networking Infrastructure • Storage Infrastructure • Server Infrastructure •
• Virtualization Infrastructure • Cloud Infrastructure • Cloud Networking •
• SDLC • Windows • Linux • Mac OSX • vSphere / ESXi • HyperV •
• Active Directory • End User Computing • Backup Technologies •
• TCP/IP • Firewalls • Layers 1-7 • OSPF • BGP • DNS • STP • DHCP • NAT / PAT •
• IPSEC • RADIUS • LDAP • TACACS • ISE • LAN • MAN • WAN • UDP • SPAN •
• WiFi • VPC • VSS • Remote Access (VPN) • Network Taps •
• iSCSI • Fiber Channel • FCoE • SAS Storage • RAID • HBAs •
• Zoning • Network Segregation • NTP • SMTP • Optical Networking •
• Storage Policies • Network Policies • Backup Policies • Standardization •
• Clustering • VDI Technologies • Desktop Security • Server Security •
• Network Security • Permissions • Change Controls •
• Internal/External PKI • MDM • Leading • Teaching • Problem Solving •
• Monitoring / Analyzing • Vendor Relations • Support •
• Documentation • Diagramming • Governance • Controls •
• Testing / Validation / UAT • Audit / Compliance • Business Continuity •
Overview of Technologies Utilized
• Nimble Storage • Pure Storage • Dell Compellent • Dell EqualLogic • NetApp • HPE Alletra • Cisco Catalyst 1k, 3k, 6k, 8k, 9k • Cisco ASR / ISR Routers •
• Cisco Nexus 2k, 3k, 5k, 7k, 9k • Cisco Meraki • Cisco MDS •
• Dell M1000e / VRTX / FX • HPE C3K, C7K • HPE Synergy •
• Cisco UCS • Nutanix • JBOD • OEM / Whitebox •
• Cisco Unified Call Manager • Polycom Trio / Group • Mitel • Avaya •
• Cisco ASA Firewalls • Palo Alto Firewalls • Sonicwall Firewalls •
Fortinet Firewalls • BlueCoat SG / ASG • F5 BIG-IP • HAProxy • Zscaler •
• Ixia / Keysight Packet Brokers •
• Windows • Linux • Mac • BSD • vSphere / ESXi • HyperV • Active Directory •
• Group Policy • SQL Server • MySQL • Postgres • MongoDB • InfluxDB •
• Splunk • Exabeam • VMware Log Insight • Graylog • ELK Stack •
• Grafana • Hortonworks • Duo Security • Okta • Telegraf • Prometheus •
• Duo Security • Okta • Various other MFA •
• Apache • Apache Tomcat • NGINX • Red Hat Satellite • dnsmasq •
• ntpd • nfs • Advanced Layer 4-7 Proxying / Load Balancing •
• Veeam • Commvault • Rubrik • LibreNMS • Observium • Nagios •
• Solarwinds • InfoBlox • NetMRI • vRealize Operations • Pagerduty •
• VictorOps • Atlassian Confluence • Atlassian Jira •
• Atlassian Crowd • Datadog •
Work Experience
Morgan Stanley • 2021 – 2023
VP, Systems Architect | Public Cloud Transformation Services
Worked with Parametric / Morgan Stanley as an Enterprise Architect. In early 2021, Eaton Vance Corporation was purchased by Morgan Stanley, and as such, most Eaton Vance Employees were converted to Morgan Stanley. My role was changed slightly to include integration efforts before, during and after the acquisition. This included very heavy emphasis on inventory, standards and datacenter methodologies. Additionally, heavy focus was on implementing some additional security controls (Web DLP), access controls and other security-based initiatives. The core legacy Eaton Vance and Parametric business units were also seeing very heavy and fast paced growth during this time. Additionally, I oversaw 5 co-location facilities and 9 branch offices in relation to networking, security, architecture, storage and compute and am a shared resource among all those teams for architectural guidance and project lead for critical projects.
Eaton Vance Corp • 2019 – 2021
AVP, IT Infrastructure Architect | Network Team
In 2019, moved from the Parametric Infrastructure Team to the Eaton Vance Network Team. This was done out of a request by the (now former) manager of that team. They were having issues with staffing and had quite a bit of project-based work around implementing various new topologies and technologies around the enterprise, including migrating from Cisco ASA to Palo Alto on the edge, implementing AWS DX Circuits, building out a new datacenter facility in Ashburn, VA, as well as decommissioning a legacy facility in Bedford, MA. Additionally, my work was supporting the existing Parametric affiliate during growth. This saw things like capacity planning, circuit upgrades, router / switch / core gear upgrades and implementations and various other projects relating to networking.
Parametric Portfolio Associates • 2015 – 2021
Enterprise IT Systems Architect
Employed with Parametric Portfolio Associates as an Enterprise IT Infrastructure Architect – note that this is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp. Initially, I was hired as a System Engineer and was promoted within 7 months to Senior Systems Engineer, and again after 2 years to Systems Architect. My primary job functions were to design, document, and maintain a complex multi datacenter virtualized infrastructure of approximately 3000 virtual machines (including another 900+ Virtual Desktops) in a multi-domain active directory forest and the hardware supporting that environment. Each site is connected by at least redundant networks (either MPLS / VPLS or Point to Point circuits using BGP). This infrastructure supported over 800 employees (at 6 branch offices) utilizing in-house developed software, supporting development and their development environments. I also supported the rest of the enterprise as a VMware SME.
NorthstarMLS • 2011 – 2015
Senior Systems Engineer
Previously worked at NorthstarMLS as the Senior Systems Engineer of the IT Team and SQL Team. I was responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of an infrastructure of about 150 Virtual Machines in a mixed hypervisor / multi-datacenter environment (predominately VMware, but also a small HyperV Cluster). Our environment serviced about 20,000 Realtors in Minnesota, a small part of both North and South Dakota, and Western Wisconsin. I implemented quite a few new technologies that have improved uptime, reliability, redundancy for an all-around more robust environment.
• Additional Employment History Available on Request •
Training / Memberships
- VMUG Member – 2011 – 2016
- VMworld 2012 – 2016
- Microsoft HyperV Training
- Cisco CCNA / CCNP Fast Track Training (ProTrain)
- Palo Alto Networks: Configuration and Management (Global Knowledge)
- Nofsinger Leadership Training (From One to Many)
- vSphere 5.5: Install, Configure, Manage (VMware)
- Certified Scrum Master Training (Scrum Alliance)
- Numerous local events relating to industry (VMUG, Nimble User Group, Scrum / Agile Meets, AWS Trainings, Veeam, Cisco, Palo Alto, Security Conferences, etc….)
- CISSP Training Boot Camp (IC2 Sponsored)
- Many internal compliance, audit and security trainings
Certifications
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- Nimble Storage Certified Storage Associate
- VMware Certified Associate – Datacenter Virtualization (VCA-DCV)
- VMware Certified Professional (VCP5)
- VMware Advanced Certified Professional – Datacenter Administration (VCAP5-DCA)
- VMware Advanced Certified Professional – Datacenter Design (VCAP5-DCD)
- VMware Certified Professional (VCP6)
- VMware Certified Advanced Professional 6 – Datacenter Virtualization – Design (VCAP6-DCV – Design)
- VMware Certified Implementation Expert – Datacenter Virtualization (VCIX6-DCV)
Certifications (In Progress and “Would Like”)
- CCNP Enterprise
- AWS Solutions Architect Associate
- AWS Solutions Architect Professional
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert