Strategic technology leader and innovator with 20+ years of experience delivering transformative technology products and services that drive business growth, operational efficiency, and innovation. Proven ability to align technology initiatives with business objectives, leveraging data, AI, and automation expertise to enhance scalability, security, and long-term value.

Hands-on with deep technical knowledge across traditional and emerging technologies like Kubernetes, blockchain, and AI-driven platforms. Complementing this technical acumen is a strong foundation in finance, macroeconomics, and strategic analysis, supporting a holistic approach to technology leadership and business resilience.

Experienced across diverse industries, including web, retail, regulated gaming, and higher education. Adept at leading high-performing teams, managing complex projects, and articulating complex technical strategies to stakeholders at all levels, including C-suite executives.

Led the engineering division (~25 people) to drive platform, test, release, and environment management, consolidating practices and focusing on automation, standardisation, and regulatory harmonisation. Spearheaded initiatives to deliver shared platforms, reduce operational costs, and accelerate delivery timelines.

Built and Scaled Engineering Teams

• Recruited and Built a 25-person Team: Assembled a team of full-time engineers and contractors in a competitive market, establishing all critical engineering functions.

Reduced Operational Costs and Enhanced Delivery

• $2.5M Kubernetes and GitLab Platform Initiative: Authored and led the development of a Kubernetes (k8s) and GitLab-based platform, reducing maintenance by 90% with autoscaling and Kubernetes operators.
• 40% Reduction in Build Times: Consolidated CI/CD tools from 15 to 3, streamlining development processes and increasing efficiency over 5 years.

Improved Service Delivery and SLAs

• Increased Platform SLAs to 99.9%: Achieved and maintained 99.9% uptime across all engineering platforms, reducing downtime and improving platform reliability.

Cloud and Security Innovation

• $2M DevSecOps Initiative: Built and secured approval for a DevSecOps initiative, embedding security into development workflows and remediating many vulnerabilities.
• API Gateway Deployment: Led Kong Enterprise API Gateway deployment, cutting API delivery times by 50% and increasing security visibility.

Streamlined Environment and Development Efficiency

• Reduced Development Build Times from 8 Weeks to 8 Hours: Leveraged Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to shorten environment build timelines and enhance project velocity.

Organisational Transformation and Engagement

• Increased Employee Engagement by 22%: Fostered innovation by establishing technical communities, driving engagement from 50% to 72%.
• Technical Separation of TLC from Tabcorp: Led the demerger by migrating 50+ applications, tools, and environments to a newly established standalone platform.

Led a 15 IT Architects & Engineers team to drive technology innovation, streamline operations, and build scalable, cost-efficient platforms aligned with business objectives. Delivered strategies, business cases, and roadmaps to modernise infrastructure and cloud services across the organisation.

Established Core Technology Framework

• Defined guiding principles for technology adoption, securing executive and architectural buy-in to standardise platforms across the enterprise.

Significantly Reduced IT Costs

• 50% Reduction in Infrastructure Costs: Consolidated storage platforms from 5 to 2, downsized roles from 6 to 3, and optimised resource management.
• 60% Reduction in Telephony Costs: Replaced Avaya with Genesys PureCloud, transforming contact centre operations.
• 65% Reduction in WAN Costs: Spearheaded SD-WAN/LAN deployment, increasing bandwidth tenfold.

Streamlined Operations

• 35% Simplification in Network Operations: Streamlined data centre and office networks, laying the foundation for automation initiatives.
• 70% Increase in Sprint Velocity: Enhanced R&D productivity through Agile adaptation.

Cloud Transformation

• Unified Services Across ~13,000 Retail Stores: Partnered with executives to consolidate infrastructure & cloud strategies.
• Achieved First-Ever Cloud Approval: Secured OLGR and VGCCC approvals, accelerating sector-wide cloud adoption.
• Optimised Cloud Costs: Automated resource management, keeping cloud spend flat by shutting down 80% of dev/test workloads during non-peak hours.
• Expanded Multi-Cloud Readiness: Integrated AWS connectivity with Azure and Google Cloud expansion preparations.

Technology Innovation & Leadership

• Blockchain MVP for Lottery Draws: Delivered proof-of-concept, demonstrating enhanced transactional security and scalability.
• Accelerated Development Environment Builds: Reduced build times from 8 weeks to 8 hours through Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Pioneered Emerging Tech: Led pilots and PoCs in Blockchain, RPA, IPFS, SDN, IoT, ML, and AI, advancing technological capabilities.

Progressed through multiple leadership roles, culminating in the Infrastructure Manager position, overseeing strategic infrastructure projects, data centres, cloud migrations, and global network operations. Directed a team of up to 16 IT professionals, building and scaling global networks, communications platforms, and automation frameworks.

Infrastructure Optimisation and Cost Savings

• 30% Reduction in Data Centre Costs: Rebuilt networks with hyper-converged infrastructure, improving performance and lowering operational expenses.
• Migrated $1B in Site Traffic: Transitioned Wotif Group’s websites from hosted services to in-house data centres, deploying networks in Brisbane and Sydney to support large-scale customer transactions.
• 60% Reduction in Telephony Costs: Negotiated carrier contracts and replaced Avaya with Cisco UC, modernising global communications across eight offices.

Cloud Migration and Automation

• AWS Cloud Migration: Led the transition of internal applications to AWS, establishing hybrid cloud connections for future scalability.
• Accelerated Deployment by 75%: Introduced Ansible and Terraform to automate infrastructure provisioning and change, enhancing speed and reliability.

Global Network Expansion and Modernisation

• Enabled QoS for Global MPLS Services: Enhanced reliability and reduced latency across international offices by deploying QoS-enabled MPLS networks.
• Unified Communications Deployment: Delivered Cisco UC and contact centre platforms across global offices, boosting collaboration and streamlining workflow.
• Expanded Network Infrastructure Globally: Spearheaded infrastructure rollouts across multiple sites, ensuring operational consistency and performance.
• Relocated Wotif Group Headquarters: Managed the relocation of the Brisbane head office, deploying new switching/routing infrastructure to ensure seamless operations.

Team Leadership and Development

• Built High-Performing Teams: Recruited and led network/communications engineers, developing scalable processes to manage projects and support.
• Cross-functional project Delivery: Directed multi-region teams through significant network expansions, cloud transformations, and data centre relocations.
• Established Insourced Operations: Designed tools and processes to support the shift from outsourced to insourced operational models, increasing internal capabilities.

TTG was a technology solutions provider in the networking and communications vertical. As a solution architect, I helped small—to medium-sized businesses migrate to new technologies such as IP telephony and cloud services. I was responsible for all interactions with the customer, including pre-sales engineering, project management, deployment services, and post-sales support. This role required both technical and non-technical skills to achieve a suitable business outcome.

Pioneered Fortinet Deployments in Brisbane

• Delivered Early Fortinet Solutions: Led the rollout of some of Brisbane’s first Fortinet firewalls, establishing TTG as an early adopter and positioning the company as a local Fortinet specialist.

End-to-End Project Leadership

• Full-Lifecycle Solution Delivery: I oversaw entire project lifecycles, from pre-sales consultations to deployment and post-sales support, ensuring seamless customer migrations to IP telephony and cloud networks.
• Cross-Vendor Expertise: Successfully integrated and deployed multi-vendor solutions, including Mitel IP telephony, Extreme Networks switches, HPE Networking, and Cisco equipment.

Increased Sales through Technical Expertise

• Boosted Sales: Leveraged technical expertise in networking and security to assist sales teams during pre-sales engagements, identifying client pain points and delivering tailored solutions that increased deal closure rates.

Client Engagement and Retention

• Enhanced Customer Retention: Built strong client relationships through hands-on involvement in deployment and post-sales support, driving long-term retention and securing repeat business.

Optimised Deployment Efficiency

• Reduced Deployment Time: Standardised deployment processes for IP telephony and security appliances, shortening project lead times and enabling faster technology adoption for clients.

Griffith University offered me various opportunities, including computer support and network engineering. I received numerous promotions and frequently switched teams, which enabled me to acquire valuable knowledge and expertise in large-scale IT management, design, and services. 

• Building Network Upgrade. Project to upgrade all campus networks from 10Mbps to 100Mbps to the desktop (2 years).
• Data Centre switch upgrade. Worked to deploy 1Gbps Cisco switches into GU data centres.
• Desktop upgrades. Worked in teams to complete bulk desktop workstation upgrades and automated deployments.
• Computer Lab Imaging project to automate the delivery of computer labs with imaging technology like Ghost and multicast. 
• Y2K Project to ensure all machines at the university would meet the Y2K standard 
• Worked with team to implement Fortinet Firewalls into the university. 
• Assisted in the first university full coverage wireless network rollout 
• Helping internal customers with desktop support issues both in person and via contact centre