Michael Downs

Chief Technology Officer at Evolving Solutions
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Contact Information
us****@****om
(386) 825-5501
Location
US

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Jennifer Kammann

Michael is one of those people you want on your team. He's intelligent, picks up new concepts quickly, and has an exceptional ability to translate technical concepts to layman's terms. He's great at developing trust and confidence with clients, understanding their business, and understanding how technology can help them. Clients see his value quickly and he becomes their confidant. He's a leader, a team player, and he gets results.

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Credentials

  • Carlson Executive Education Certificate of Excellence in Business
    University of Minnesota
    Jun, 2022
    - Nov, 2024

Experience

    • United States
    • IT Services and IT Consulting
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Chief Technology Officer
      • Jan 2018 - Present

    • Innovation and Technical Sales
      • Apr 2017 - Present

    • Solution Architect
      • Nov 2014 - Apr 2017

    • United States
    • Software Development
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Executive Advisor and Business Solution Architect
      • Jan 2011 - Oct 2014

      Provided thought leadership inside and outside of CA Technologies, focused on the impact of emerging technologies on business model, business delivery and IT delivery. Aligned with VP Regional Sales to develop opportunities for new clients supporting a team of Account Managers * Developed a deeper relationship for CA Technologies with clients by providing Thought-Leadership inside and outside of CA closely aligned CA to key business initiatives of clients. * Improved internal technical and sales staff understanding and ability to provide insight to our clients which resulted in increased client engagement and sales of new product to new customers, through mentoring, training and coaching. * Increased new product purchases by clients above current capacity by providing new insight and solutions to CIO and VP level executives across a variety of industries in the Midwest. These insights and solutions created new opportunities for account managers to pursue with clients focused on key business initiatives rather than traditional transaction-based negotiations. * Increased sales and services revenue of additional product capacity by clients through leading workshops to help them identify gaps in their current strategy and develop implementable plans to close those gaps. * Increased both the profitability and closing rate of CA transactions by consulting and providing insight to internal senior leadership on sales, marketing and customer solutions practices for a more rapid adaptation to clients focus on value outside of price. * Created and lead internal architect community focused on pursuing improved relationships and increased business with new clients. The collaboration and shared experiences and approaches allowed the team to adapt to the needs of new clients more quickly and to more quickly determine what approaches were successful and which should be abandoned as we pursued new markets. Show less

    • United States
    • IT Services and IT Consulting
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • IT Architect and Specialist - Delivery and Presales
      • Sep 1999 - Jan 2011

    • Internal Strategy Consultant
      • 2010 - 2011

      Consulted with senior executives within IBM chartered to bring new thinking to IBM’s growth initiative. As part of a small consulting team, I worked with executives from hardware, software, research, services, consulting and outsourcing divisions. The engagement included working with executives in China, Europe and the Middle East to ensure an approach applicable across geographies and markets. Interviewed clients, industry analysts and internal experts from all divisions to understand marketplace needs and internal capabilities. * Produced a concise action plan for a new growth approach for business analytics which was approved by the chairman and executive committee for implementation throughout the organization to facilitate a team of services, research, hardware and software senior executives.* Consulting lead enabling IBM Senior Executives and leaders in the Asia Pacific region to model and validate initial executive recommendations, uncover the unique impact of these recommendations in a developing market and identify the specific challenges and opportunities to be addressed in the final plan of action. Show less

    • Client IT Architect
      • 2005 - 2010

      Act as technical consultant and liaison between IBM and client technical and executive teams. Responsible for aligning IBM solutions with client business initiatives and providing strategic roadmap. Technical leader for sales team creating solutions covering and integrating all IBM divisions including software, hardware, business consulting, IT services, outsourcing and research. * Identified new opportunities for sales outside of traditional relationship, growing overall pipeline with clients.* Grew IBM footprint within clients to new products and services not currently installed or utilized by the client.* Led development of point of view documents to share with our clients during the sales effort to evaluate the current environment, the benefits of change, the impact of change to the client’s organization on fiscal, business risk, technical risk, skills and governance level and compared them with the risk of taking no action.* Responsible for over $200 million in annual revenue through leading technical sales team and identifying new opportunities* Mapped client strategic initiatives to IBM solutions to identify opportunities to assist clients in meeting their goals. Led the technology team in selecting appropriate solutions and integrating them with the client’s existing technology standards and design.* Increased our business credibility with clients by contributing to and presenting industry vertical research in Retail and Consumer Products to business and technology executives and thought leaders. Show less

    • IT Architect, Advanced End User Technologies
      • 2003 - 2005

      Responsible for a technical team providing new end-user and analytics technology solutions to high touch employees. Worked with a variety of portfolio managers and traders throughout the US to determine needs and provide thought leadership on emerging technologies. Responsible for guiding implementation of solutions within the constraints of corporate governance and regulatory guidelines. * Designed and obtained client signature for $10 million contract for services solution to provide enhanced end user support and strategy for high touch Financial Portfolio Managers, Traders and Analysts at American Express Financial Advisors.* Reduced the cost of strategic solutions and increased business investment in technology driven solutions resulting in increased end user satisfaction and retention. * Designed and delivered a high performance compute environment for portfolio managers and traders, enabling an acquired investment management group to launch new offerings on time while complying with corporate security and governance standards. Show less

    • IT Specialist/IT Architect
      • 1999 - 2003

      Responsible for a global team of desktop engineers and developers creating images and software distribution solutions for American Express business units world wide. Provided architecture and direction to the team as well as managing the relationship with technical stakeholders. Ensured final products met technical and business requirements and expectations for both the client and IBM as the outsourcing provider.* Led a team of 25 developers and testers around the globe in requirements definition, design, build and deployment of a standard desktop image. Reduced time to introduce new hardware from 45 days to 10 days and virtually eliminated the need for regression testing of business applications.* Led the team in prioritizing technical requirements and adapting design based on regular client user input. Facilitated and led user community groups to define and prioritize features and capabilities.* Collaborated with network, security, server and WAN teams to meet design requirements resulting in reduced cost to manage the environment and a reduction in expensive support escalations. * Consulted with client technical leaders and architects on software architecture and infrastructure integration, providing resources and solutions to meet their business needs, architectural standards and contract governance constraints. Show less

Education

  • St. Olaf College
    Bachelor's degree, Music
    1984 - 1988
  • Michigan State University
    1988 - 1989

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