Brian Nicholson
CTO at BFI Solutions- Claim this Profile
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Topline Score
Bio
Candice Barham
Brian is a smart, calm and incredibly intelligent executive. He understands not only the business side of IT but also appreciates the fine tuning of implementing user friendly end solutions. He has incredible vision. He truly is a joy to work with.
Donna Ross
In mid 2004, Union Bank was in the market to replace its underperforming technology platform. We acquired CNA TRUST for its business, but largely for the Technology and skilled resources. Since Brian was instrumental in building the CNA TRUST team and platform, it made sense to consider him as a key resource in building my Senior management team. At my request, Brian accepted the role of Chief Information Officer for Union Bank’s Retirement Services Division. Brian immediately established a technology strategy and structured effective teams to lead complex business acquisition projects to convert new business to the bank’s new platform. Throughout his tenure with Union Bank, Brian consistently did more with less and looked for opportunities to reduce cost and improve efficiencies. Moreover, as an active member of our User group community, I heard on numerous occasions through many conference events that our platform outperformed our competition, that we had solved many challenges that others were suffering from, and we had done it at substantially less cost. Brian implemented structure, best practices, change management, risk management, and set the standard in our organization for IT excellence. --------------
Candice Barham
Brian is a smart, calm and incredibly intelligent executive. He understands not only the business side of IT but also appreciates the fine tuning of implementing user friendly end solutions. He has incredible vision. He truly is a joy to work with.
Donna Ross
In mid 2004, Union Bank was in the market to replace its underperforming technology platform. We acquired CNA TRUST for its business, but largely for the Technology and skilled resources. Since Brian was instrumental in building the CNA TRUST team and platform, it made sense to consider him as a key resource in building my Senior management team. At my request, Brian accepted the role of Chief Information Officer for Union Bank’s Retirement Services Division. Brian immediately established a technology strategy and structured effective teams to lead complex business acquisition projects to convert new business to the bank’s new platform. Throughout his tenure with Union Bank, Brian consistently did more with less and looked for opportunities to reduce cost and improve efficiencies. Moreover, as an active member of our User group community, I heard on numerous occasions through many conference events that our platform outperformed our competition, that we had solved many challenges that others were suffering from, and we had done it at substantially less cost. Brian implemented structure, best practices, change management, risk management, and set the standard in our organization for IT excellence. --------------
Candice Barham
Brian is a smart, calm and incredibly intelligent executive. He understands not only the business side of IT but also appreciates the fine tuning of implementing user friendly end solutions. He has incredible vision. He truly is a joy to work with.
Donna Ross
In mid 2004, Union Bank was in the market to replace its underperforming technology platform. We acquired CNA TRUST for its business, but largely for the Technology and skilled resources. Since Brian was instrumental in building the CNA TRUST team and platform, it made sense to consider him as a key resource in building my Senior management team. At my request, Brian accepted the role of Chief Information Officer for Union Bank’s Retirement Services Division. Brian immediately established a technology strategy and structured effective teams to lead complex business acquisition projects to convert new business to the bank’s new platform. Throughout his tenure with Union Bank, Brian consistently did more with less and looked for opportunities to reduce cost and improve efficiencies. Moreover, as an active member of our User group community, I heard on numerous occasions through many conference events that our platform outperformed our competition, that we had solved many challenges that others were suffering from, and we had done it at substantially less cost. Brian implemented structure, best practices, change management, risk management, and set the standard in our organization for IT excellence. --------------
Candice Barham
Brian is a smart, calm and incredibly intelligent executive. He understands not only the business side of IT but also appreciates the fine tuning of implementing user friendly end solutions. He has incredible vision. He truly is a joy to work with.
Donna Ross
In mid 2004, Union Bank was in the market to replace its underperforming technology platform. We acquired CNA TRUST for its business, but largely for the Technology and skilled resources. Since Brian was instrumental in building the CNA TRUST team and platform, it made sense to consider him as a key resource in building my Senior management team. At my request, Brian accepted the role of Chief Information Officer for Union Bank’s Retirement Services Division. Brian immediately established a technology strategy and structured effective teams to lead complex business acquisition projects to convert new business to the bank’s new platform. Throughout his tenure with Union Bank, Brian consistently did more with less and looked for opportunities to reduce cost and improve efficiencies. Moreover, as an active member of our User group community, I heard on numerous occasions through many conference events that our platform outperformed our competition, that we had solved many challenges that others were suffering from, and we had done it at substantially less cost. Brian implemented structure, best practices, change management, risk management, and set the standard in our organization for IT excellence. --------------
Experience
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BFI Solutions
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United States
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Financial Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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CTO
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Jan 2020 - Present
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BGN Solutions
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United Kingdom
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President
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Oct 2018 - Present
Technology Consulting and Transformation Leader ~ Strategic Planning ~ Solutions Architecture ~ Cyber Security ~ Outsourcing & Offshore ~ Startup Background ~ Merger & Acquisition ~ Conversion/Integration Technology Consulting and Transformation Leader ~ Strategic Planning ~ Solutions Architecture ~ Cyber Security ~ Outsourcing & Offshore ~ Startup Background ~ Merger & Acquisition ~ Conversion/Integration
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Vertical Management Systems (VMS)
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United States
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Financial Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Chief Technology Officer
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Jan 2014 - Oct 2018
• Lead architecture and development of SaaS products to support $17M revenue business, fortune 500 clients including Wells Fargo, New York Life, Ascensus and SEI • Implemented Hybrid Cloud strategy to incrementally migrate VMS environments to public Cloud • VMware virtualization and consolidation of physical platforms reducing footprint and data center spend by $120k/yr. • Cloud services implementation including OKTA for Multi Factor Authentication (MFA), O365, Salesforce, and BOX • Implemented practices to “productize” custom software solutions, reducing support complexity and spend • Lead the design and construction of analytics and reporting capabilities leveraging Tableau and BI technologies to deliver financial analytics and report offerings • Refactor .NET web application code, implementing framework to support white labeling and responsive rendering to mobile devices. Restyled user interface to new corporate standard • Implemented best practices in SDLC and Agile methodologies, including development standards for Web, and release management automation • Outsourced Cyber Security role to Managed Service, to increase coverage and lower cost • Manage annual SSAE18 and SOC1/SOC2 audits for multiple business lines • Re-engineer and implement code management, DevOps for automated deployment/release strategies and practices Show less
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SADIS Corp.
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United States
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IT Services and IT Consulting
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President
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Jan 2009 - Jan 2014
SADIS Corp (Systems and Data Integration Specialist) Consulting in application development and systems integration projects. Consultant - Vertical Management Systems (VMS) - Application Development Manager Manage development of John Hancock Recordkeeping platform and Retirement Revolution Recordkeeping systems Consultant - General Electric (GE) - Program Management Manage software implementation project – ‘Smart Stream TLM’ accounts reconciliation solution, reconciling Sub GL accounts development and solutions delivery initiatives for financial and medical services industries. • Developed strategy to consolidate and reconcile seven (7) business unit accounting systems GL accounts to corporate GL account. • Working with SmartStream consulting team, established implementation plan to convert and replace business unit accounting systems to SmartStream TLM Show less
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DST Systems
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United States
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Information Technology & Services
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700 & Above Employee
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VP Program Management
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Jun 2011 - Jan 2013
Responsible for new client implementations and onboarding new business to the DST recordkeeping platform. • Enhanced payroll processing platform by reengineering front-end and back-end systems to leverage new technologies, quadrupling payroll processing throughput of existing business and accommodating new processing loads. • Established partnerships with offshore development firms to cut development costs and enable successful construction of new 401k plan processing functionality for large market business. Facilitated the onboarding of 850 new business retirement plans to the DST recordkeeping platform. • Solution new trading and data warehousing interfaces to TD Ameritrade, MATC, and new DST clients. Install infrastructure to support the onboarding of 250 new client plans. • Coached, mentored, and held managers accountable to align project work with company strategic initiatives, to effectively support enterprise SDLC and ensure timely solutions delivery for payroll processing, trading interfaces, and enhanced reporting. Show less
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Director IT
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Mar 2010 - Jun 2011
Collaborate with business and technology leaders to establish and drive vision and strategy for $1.1B organization with 9 business verticals. • Responsible for corporate infrastructure and applications supporting 4 regional offices and 3 outsourced call centers. • Collaborate strategically with business and technology leaders to implement capacity planning and project prioritization process to support business vertical’s key initiatives, driving 2010 revenues from $900M to $1.1B • In 12 months, upgraded suite of end user enhancement and productivity tools for 1000+ FTE, including Windows7 64bit, MS Office 2010, Exchange 2010, mobile messaging, and remote access dual factor VPN with SmartCard Show less
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Union Bank
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United States
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Banking
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1 - 100 Employee
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CIO Retirement Division
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Aug 2004 - Jan 2009
Provide vision and strategic leadership for bank’s $58M Retirement Services business, managing $10B in assets. Spearhead initiatives partnering with business and technology leaders for the development & delivery of complex financial applications, tracking 400,000 plan participants and trading $8M in assets, daily • Upon the acquisition of CNA Trust by Union Bank, tasked with planning and executing technology consolidation and integration; developed and executed a comprehensive plan, allocated subprojects, created functional teams, engaged outsource vendor partners and successfully integrated resources from both organizations resulting in conversion completion on schedule, staff reduction of 40, and elimination of $800K in software and vendor contracts. • Champion the development and implementation of a Services Oriented Architecture, worked with PMO integrating bank corporate and partnered services to division’s new platform. Implemented enhanced security profiles and digital fingerprinting for multi-factor user authentication. Partnered with RSA to integrate and consume their web service to both Microsoft .Net and Opensource J2EE client facing web solutions to undercut fraudulent activities internationally. • Managed integration of 2 workflow and CRM solutions to forge new client service platform. Tracked B2C transactions and performance metrics to ensure service delivery performance measured to strict service level agreements. Managed project and procedure documentation to ensure smooth transition into production. • Lead divestiture and conversion activities for Union Bank retirement portfolio to Prudential Retirement. Established and maintained high moral and fostered tight integration between the two organizations, cultivating an environment to successfully execute multiple wave conversions and transfer portfolio in record time. Show less
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CNA Insurance
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United States
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Insurance
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700 & Above Employee
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VP, Business Systems
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Apr 1998 - Aug 2004
For CNA Trust - division of CNA Insurance, aligned IT strategy with business objectives, managing a staff of 30 reports supporting all systems functions for a financial services operation with $15M revenue and $3B in assets. Responsible for engineering, QA, PMO, and GRC. • In order to accommodate rapid business growth from acquisitions, lead the development and implementation of a Data Warehousing system resulting in more efficient information storage and retrieval and increased IT capacity. • Architect of the industry’s first ‘No Trading Blackout’ conversion, in support of the acquisition and conversion of 600+ Sun America retirement plans to the CNA Trust platform. • Coordinated audits with the FDIC for regulatory compliance and public accounting firms for level II SAS 70 Show less
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Sr. Software Engineer
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Nov 1996 - Apr 1998
Served as lead developer and project team lead for the company’s flagship product Abitroll©. Developed product enhancements for software used to track the flow of news print from the paper mill to the news stand. Served as lead developer and project team lead for the company’s flagship product Abitroll©. Developed product enhancements for software used to track the flow of news print from the paper mill to the news stand.
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Tim Hortons
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Canada
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Food and Beverage Services
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700 & Above Employee
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Application Developer / Network Analyst
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Jan 1993 - Nov 1996
Developed and deployed to franchised outlet locations, an accounting and inventory management software for franchisees to automate daily cash reconciliation, check writing, and inventory control to optimize collection of Point-of-sale data, inventory ordering and corporate royalty payments Partnered with IBM to construct and configure on-premise head quarters Data Center, install and configure LAN/WAN, to support HQ and 5 regional supply warehouses Developed and deployed to franchised outlet locations, an accounting and inventory management software for franchisees to automate daily cash reconciliation, check writing, and inventory control to optimize collection of Point-of-sale data, inventory ordering and corporate royalty payments Partnered with IBM to construct and configure on-premise head quarters Data Center, install and configure LAN/WAN, to support HQ and 5 regional supply warehouses
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President
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Jan 1990 - Jan 1993
Founder- Developed Tim Hortons franchisee accounting system and back-office solution, to automate cash reconciliation, inventory management, GL/AP/AR, P&L and Balance Sheet for quick service restaurant industry. Founder- Developed Tim Hortons franchisee accounting system and back-office solution, to automate cash reconciliation, inventory management, GL/AP/AR, P&L and Balance Sheet for quick service restaurant industry.
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Education
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University of Phoenix
in progress, Bachelor of Science, Business / E-Business
Community
