CTO

• Dec 2018 - Present

As CTO I am responsible for outlining the company's technological vision, implementing technology strategies, and ensuring that the technological resources are aligned with the company's business needs.

Chief Information Security Officer

• May 2018 - Present

Core ICT Network Manager

• Apr 2016 - May 2018

Initially I was employed on a short term contract to cover the role of the previous Core ICT manager who had left. Within a short space of time I had resolved several long standing estate wide issues, during my first month with the company I had to project mange the relocation of the head office from Doncaster to Knottingly ensuring all systems were either migrated to the central data centre or the server room at the new head office, as a result I was asked to take on a permanent role to oversee all functions relating to the core network. Bringing a vast knowledge of systems I have been able to implement centralised systems to help standardise systems and setups thus reducing issues introduced by the human element. Working with and training a new engineer we have reduced the number of tier 3 calls on the helpdesk to less than three at any time, the lowest in the history of the company. Working with senior management and getting their buy in I have introduced a Kanban style of work management for the core team, ensuring that all work required is identified and categorised, including “unplanned work”, to allow review at a weekly planning meeting. Since this has been introduced more projects have been delivered on time and with no major issues after implementation. We are currently working on several key projects aimed at reducing costs and improving capacity, throughput and efficiency. These include major a network and server refresh at the main data centre, complete network refreshes at several of our larger secondary schools including new fibre and cat 6 cabling, switching, Wifi and rollout onto the central voice solution. Other projects in the pipeline include DR planning and testing and a new helpdesk system focused around ITIL practises. Show less

Network Solutions Architect

• Jun 2015 - Mar 2016

My role was to deliver technical and security services to SICL customers on projects and support contracts in a timely and professional manner. SICL support a wide range of customers with different business models and needs. Specialising in the support and deployment of networking technologies including Cisco ASA, Checkpoint, Juniper and Fortinet firewall solutions. All systems were managed in line with strict change control policies. Proactive monitoring of all systems via PRTG resulted in resolutions sometimes before the customer even noticed. As the technical solutions architect I was responsible for mentoring a team of around 15 network engineers. Show less

Head of Casino Infrastructure

• Jul 2014 - Jun 2015

My role was to manage the casino infrastructure and supporting team, our aim was to provide five-nines uptime from our data centre locations around the globe, ensuring all legal and security aspects were kept up to date. I was also been called upon to run several major projects across the whole group from time to time working with many external parties at the request of senior management, these teams spanned different time zones from Canada, UK, parts of Europe and sometimes the far east.Duties:Manage a team of 5 highly technical staff.Manage responses to incidents and problems arising via the Service Now system ensuring resolution inside SLA’s.Manage internal task queues (Jira / Kanban).Establish, relocate or de commission data centresManaging Group / Infrastructure Projects.Responsible for all security related aspects in relation to the online casinos operational infrastructure.Ensure compliance of scheduled penetration tests against casino infrastructures.Assist with geographic audits in relation to online gaming security requirements.Work with the Department of Gaming Enforcement in the US in relation to all security and audit requirements for the online US casino systems.Coordinating data centre, system and network requirements including all security aspects. Strengthening the IT infrastructure through to implementing new technologiesBudget management.Performing routine user & hardware audits.Liaise with suppliers for the procurement of IT hardware and support contracts.Maintaining documentation of changes in the infrastructure environments.Continuous improvement, optimizing work flows.Building relationships with Internal & external clients and technical teams.Managing the IT infrastructure of the local office environment. Show less

Head of Corporate IT

• Jun 2012 - Jun 2014

This role came about after several company restructures due to acquisitions and mergers, in the spring of 2012 I was asked to assist the then IT director with some project work within the corporate IT section of the business, following my work on the major system consolidation project I was asked to take on the role of Head of Corporate IT for the entire group. I have approx. 10 staff in 4 different time zones to manage.Duties:To manage the corporate IT infrastructure for the Amaya groupConsolidating and integrating different companies and infrastructures into the group solution.Installing new Cisco firewall HA solutions in the Calgary and Malta office locations.Creating a centralised corporate solution moving away from disparate office solutions.Managing a team of support staff across differing time zones to achieve the best possible customer satisfaction.Manage capacity planning. Ensuring all disaster recovery & business continuity aspects were covered and tested.Major Project SummaryAmaya – Active Directory, Email, Sharepoint Migration / ConsolidationThe iGaming industry is quite volatile with lots of acquisitions and mergers happening on a frequent basis. Due to this fact Amaya found itself in the situation with several disparate AD, email, and document systems in each office location. The office locations were prone to power cuts etc. The purpose of this project was to build a centralised systems location hosted in a data centre to provide 24x7 and “five nines” uptime to host a centralised systems for the networks of Amaya. The data centre was located in Montreal and the systems were hosted on HP blade centre technology and access was secured by a pair of Cisco ASA5525-X firewalls. The firewalls provided centralised vpn connections to all locations around the globe as well as providing a central user VPN solution. Show less

Professional Services Lead

• May 2010 - Jun 2012

Team lead for the professional services team, supporting the B2B customers in the European time zone. Duties: Work on all aspects of troubleshooting mission critical 24x7 client operations providing support to the B2B Casino Clients Team lead for the professional services team, supporting the B2B customers in the European time zone. Duties: Work on all aspects of troubleshooting mission critical 24x7 client operations providing support to the B2B Casino Clients

Technical Architect

• 2001 - 2010

Key Projects: 2 major WAN upgrades Implemented Exchange 2000, later upgraded to Exchange 2003. Implemented Cisco ASA firewall solution across the group at 4 sites. Implemented Websense internet filtering solution. Implemented a Cisco user vpn solution across the group. Implemented a helpdesk system for a 500 user base. Implemented an asset system to track the assets of the company. Implemented a Riverbed wan solution. Implemented and tested twice a year a full disaster recovery test of the network systems. Implemented Vmware 3.5 to reduce the physical server count by 70% Show less