Jim Leone Technology Expert

About Me

Innovative IT Leader | Driving Strategic Transformation, Operational Excellence, and Scalable IT Solutions

As a seasoned IT Director, and IT Manager, I specialize in bridging the gap between technology and business strategy to deliver impactful results. With a proven track record of over 25 years in managed service providers (MSPs) and IT leadership roles, I excel in designing, implementing, and managing IT infrastructures that are secure, reliable, and aligned with organizational goals.

🔹 Strategic Visionary: I thrive on building IT strategies that empower businesses to scale effectively, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to enhance productivity and operational efficiency.
🔹 Results-Oriented Leader: Known for spearheading complex projects, from disaster recovery planning to customer-facing portal development, I bring clarity and structure to technical challenges.
🔹 Cybersecurity Advocate: With hands-on experience in red team operations and compliance management, I ensure systems are fortified against evolving threats while maintaining regulatory alignment.
🔹 Collaborative Problem-Solver: A natural leader who fosters teamwork, I excel at aligning cross-functional teams to achieve shared objectives while nurturing talent development.

My career highlights include creating automated reporting solutions that integrate with tools like Prometheus and Grafana, building single-sign-on portals, and optimizing system performance through innovative scripting and process automation. Beyond technical expertise, I pride myself on maintaining a professional, results-driven approach to leadership that inspires confidence in stakeholders and teams alike.

📈 Let’s connect to explore how my expertise can help your organization achieve its IT and business transformation goals.

Biography

I was introduced to computing at an early age, and my passion for technology quickly evolved into a lifelong pursuit. By the age of 12, I was an established programmer and active contributor to the Bulletin Board System (BBS) community. Self-taught in multiple programming languages, I mastered C, C++, Basic, GW Basic, Pascal, COBOL, OSJCL, and both 8- and 16-bit PC assembly. My early expertise extended to database applications like dBASE, FoxPro, and AMI Pro.

At just 14 years old, I taught structured Pascal programming to adults through the Toms River Adult Education System, demonstrating both technical knowledge and the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. By 16, I was working for Supermart Book Distribution in Cranbury, NJ, as a CICS programmer, where I gained hands-on experience with AS/400 systems, hardware upgrades, and network wiring.

At 18, I transformed my basement into a tech hub, operating a Major BBS system with over 300 paying subscribers, supported by a fractional T1 line—an impressive feat for its time. By 20, I was a top-tier support technician at DataComm Warehouse, a division of Microwarehouse. There, I earned certifications as a Novell NetWare Master CNE, Microsoft NT Professional, and Lotus Notes Certified Engineer, solidifying my expertise in enterprise-level networking and support.

At 23, I joined McAfee as a virus reverse engineer, working on disassembling and analyzing malicious code. My expertise with Slackware Linux, AIX, and SCO Unix during this period fueled my growing passion for open-source technologies and systems engineering.

At 24, I became Senior Systems and Network Administrator at Chock Full O’ Nuts (later acquired by Sara Lee), overseeing HP 9000 systems, Sybase databases, and nationwide network infrastructures. I managed EDI automation, ISO9000/9001 certifications, and migrated critical enterprise infrastructure. These efforts involved supporting Novell NetWare and Cisco routers across a nationwide frame-relay network, where I also led a team of 12 IT professionals. My work took me to remote offices across the U.S. and internationally, including locations in the Netherlands and England, managing complex installations to accommodate additional company growth and acquisitions.

Over the years, I advanced to increasingly senior roles, including IT Manager at St. Barnabas Hospital and Director of IT at Withum Accounting and Consulting. At St. Barnabas, I played a pivotal role in connecting hospitals via SMDS and SONET and led infrastructure migrations to modernize operations. At Withum, I managed both internal IT teams and an external consulting group, reengineered LAN and WAN networks, and implemented business continuity solutions.

In roles spanning the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and managed services industries, I introduced cutting-edge technologies, ensured regulatory compliance (HIPAA, PCI, SOC2), and optimized IT systems to drive organizational success. I also expanded my expertise in analytics and data management, working with platforms like Hadoop, Snowflake, and data warehousing solutions to unlock actionable insights for decision-making.

Today, I serve as SOC/NOC Manager at Spectrotel, where I lead complex projects involving SolarWinds, Gisual, FortiSIEM, VMWare, and Grafana. I specialize in API integrations, monitoring, and alerting systems with tools like Prometheus and InfluxDB. My cybersecurity work includes managing our FortiSiem, FortiEDR, Varonis, Rapid7 InsightsVM, and Darktrace systems, as well as performing penetration tests and threat assessments.

Additionally, I oversee cloud and hybrid environments, leveraging platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP to deliver scalable and secure solutions. I have assisted with the implementation of BigPanda for incident management, integrated Snowflake for analytics, and developed visualizations using Grafana dashboards. My experience with Big Data technologies and automation positions me as a key contributor to data-driven innovation and operational excellence.

My journey has been defined by a passion for innovation and problem-solving. Whether reverse-engineering malware, implementing disaster recovery strategies, or building state-of-the-art network infrastructures, I bring a wealth of experience and a commitment to excellence to every endeavor.

Skills and Expertise

IT Security and Governance

Requirements Gathering, Analysis, Design, and Development

Testing, Training, and Deployment

Support and Upgrades

Data Integrity and Information Governance | ISC2 CISSP

COBIT, ITIL, NIST, HITRUST, HIPPA, Joint Commission, Gap Analysis, ISO, PCI, SOC2

Data Administration

Database Administration and Maintenance

Report Development

Data Manipulation and Analysis

System Administration

Documentation and Training

Facilitating Upgrades and Vendor Relationships

Troubleshooting Complex Issues

Managing IT Staff

Project and Team Management

Managing Large Technical Projects and Teams

Fostering a Cooperative and Productive Work Environment

IT Budget and Life Cycle Management

SCRUM, AGILE, DEVOPS ADO

KPI Reporting

Resource Management and Cost-Performance Efficiency (CPE)

Business and IT Alignment

Building Relationships Between Business and IT

Streamlining Processes to Accomplish Tasks and Goals

Summarized Resume

James M. Leone

21 Wiley Way, Toms River, NJ 08757
P 732.581.6184 E jimleone@gmail.com

Professional Summary

• Accomplished IT leader with over 25 years of experience driving innovation and operational excellence in roles ranging from IT Director to SOC/NOC Manager. Expertise in cybersecurity, infrastructure management, cloud solutions, and data analytics. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, implement cutting-edge technologies, and align IT strategies with business goals. Adept at managing enterprise-wide systems, regulatory compliance (ISO,SOX, PCI, SOC2, HIPAA), and delivering scalable, secure solutions that enhance organizational performance.

Core Competencies

• Cybersecurity & Compliance: ISC2, Darktrace, FortiEDR, Varonis, Rapid7 InsightVM, PCI, SOC2, HIPAA

• Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake, Hadoop, Big Panda, DataBricks

• Infrastructure Management: SolarWinds, VMware, Hyper-V, Grafana, Prometheus

• Data Analytics: Big Data Warehousing, API Integration, Business Intelligence

• IT Leadership: Strategic Planning, Budget Management, Team Building

• Technical Skills: Bash, PowerShell, Python, Network Architecture, Virtualization

Professional Experience

SOC/NOC Manager

Spectrotel, Inc. - Neptune, NJ

• Manage the SolarWinds platform monitoring over 55K elements, including NPM, IPAM, and NetFlow modules.

• Implemented Grafana dashboards integrating data from APIs, FortiGate, Cradlepoint, and Prometheus scrapes.

• Administer FortiSIEM, FortiEDR, Varonis, and Rapid7 InsightVM to enhance cybersecurity and threat detection.

• Oversaw cloud environments (AWS, Azure) and supported PCI/SOC2 compliance efforts.

• Directed the virtualization infrastructure, leveraging VMware and Linux environments to ensure system efficiency.

• Developed and deployed BigPanda for incident management and Snowflake for advanced analytics.

IT Director

Direct Success, Inc. - Farmingdale, NJ

• Spearheaded the migration to Office 365 and implemented a hybrid Exchange environment.

• Managed AWS and Azure disaster recovery implementations, ensuring business continuity.

• Enhanced security by deploying Fortinet firewalls, VPN appliances, and Netwrix auditing systems.

• Designed and executed broad disaster recovery plans utilizing cloud and COLO solutions.

• Administered Salesforce for CRM operations and developed reporting solutions for DEA compliance.

Senior IT Consultant

JKnipper & Co. - Lakewood, NJ

• Managed over 600 servers (virtual and physical) and led hyper-convergence POCs for Nutanix and Simplivity.

• Created KPI dashboards for sales and IT teams, integrating data from multiple sources.

• Developed SOPs and SLAs for pharmaceutical clients, ensuring stringent compliance standards.

• Implemented VMware SRM and Cisco UCS Blade solutions for improved virtualization performance.

Specialty Consultant

AT&T Research Group - Middletown, NJ

• Contributed to OpenStack cloud analytics research and POC development with leading scientists.

• Engineered OpenStack environments using KVM, Hadoop, and CentOS.

• Managed lab infrastructures, integrating VMware solutions with NetApp appliances.

• Supported Bank of America’s VMware system automation team, optimizing deployment workflows.

Director of IT

Withum Accounting & Consulting - Princeton, NJ

• Reengineered company-wide LAN/WAN infrastructure across 9 locations, improving reliability.

• Transitioned outdated systems to Windows 2000 and implemented centralized help desk operations.

• Managed a team of 12 IT professionals and external consultants, delivering seamless IT support.

• Led Y2K compliance efforts and ISO9000/9001 certifications, ensuring enterprise readiness.

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science – Kean University, Union, NJ

• Associate’s Degree in Computer Science – Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ

• Systems Analysis & Design Certification - Brick Computer Institute, Brick, NJ

Certifications & Training

• Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

• ISC2 CISSP

• Cisco CCNA, CCNP

• VMware vSphere 5 Configuration and Management

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

• GCP Associate Cloud Engineer

• Six Sigma Green Belt

• SolarWinds SCP

• Splunk Admin Training

Technical Skills

• Operating Systems: Windows Server, Linux (Ubuntu, CentOS), AIX

• Virtualization / Containerization Expert: VMWare, HyperV, KVM, Kubernetes, Docker

• Programming: Python, PowerShell, Bash

• Monitoring Tools: Grafana, SolarWinds, Prometheus, InfluxDB

• Security Tools: Darktrace, FortiEDR, Rapid7, Varonis

• Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP, Snowflake, Hadoop

Expanded Resume

James M. Leone

21 Wiley Way, Toms River, NJ 08757

email jimleone@gmail.com

phone 732.581.6184

Director / Sr. Network Engineer / I.T. Management / MSP / Banking / Medical / Pharmaceutical / Food Service Industry / System Development Life Cycle

Spectrotel, Inc.

Neptune, NJ

SOC/NOC Manager

• Responsible for entire company SolarWinds platform currently monitoring over 55k elements via NPM. Also responsible for IPAM, NCM, NETFlow, and SAM SolarWinds implementations.

• Configured and implemented Grafana dashboard visualization platform on Linux. Create panels and dashboards using API integrations with Fortigates, Cradlepoints, SolarWinds, and numerous other products via OpenApi, RESTful API, Prometheus scrapes, InfluxDB, and other data sources. Also implemented and configured both Grafana and Prometheus alerting systems.

• Configure and Administer company FortiSiem Siem platform.

• Manage company FortiEDR system.

• Certified Admin for DarkTrace Threat Visualizer

• Installed FotiNAC, Network Access Control System

• Varonis Administrator

• Implemented BigPanda, SnowFlake, and Gisual integrations.

• Assist with ConnectWise admin and troubleshooting.

• Assist developers with managing and maintaining the Microsoft SQL Server security and instances.

• Assist with Veeam backups and administration.

• Administrator for Rapid7 InsightVM threat assessment tools.

• Perform Pen Tests and threat assessments for customers.

• Responsible for entire VMWare virtualized infrastructure

• Team admin for PCI / SOC2 compliance audit and certification

• Admin to HP Nimble Storage

• Responsible for entire Linux Infrastructure

• Admin for company Meraki and Fortigate devices

• Azure Devops (scrum) implementations

• AWS Security Admin

• Perform threat analysis, remediation, and forensics.

• Member of our company PCI compliance team.

• Assist IT with security across all platforms.

• Assist with 365, Azure, AWS, MS Teams, MS Exchange, Domain Controllers, Intune Endpoint Protection, and many other aspects of our infrastructure.

• Given my experience, I assist with issues across all departments. I contribute and troubleshoot with all departments including, but not limited to, Engineering, SOC, NOC, I.T. and Application Development.

• Proficient in BASH, PowerShell, and python scripting, incident response, root cause, wireshark, digital forensics, automation, security monitoring, network troubleshooting, and many others

Direct Success Inc.

Farmingdale, NJ

I.T. Director

• Managed organization’s technology infrastructure

• Managed Company 365 implementation and hybrid Exchange

• G-Cloud and G-Suite administration for all projects and zones

• Provided reporting and documentation for DEA and client audits.

• Managed strategic technology alliances and assisted with Business Development.

• Company admin for Salesforce

• Attended company sales conferences. Participated with kiosk setup and service-solution sales.

• Implemented and enforced IT compliance, security, and business continuity practices and procedures.

• Managed HyperV and VMware Infrastructures

• Daas 8.3, Managed Cloud administration

• Managed Ubuntu and Kali Linux distributions

• SolarWinds RMM and Bomgar remote management

• Netwrix auditing and monitoring systems

• Managed virtual and server backup using VEEM and Vault

• Managed company AWS and Azure D.R. implementation

• Supported and managed Shoretel\Mitel phone systems

• Supported CPR+ pharma/medical device applications and SQL databases

• Managed Barracuda email filtering systems

• Managed and support mixed on premise/365 Exchange 2016 for organization

• Managed all Windows 2008R2, 2012 R2, and 2016 servers

• Maintained all aspects of the Microsoft Windows environment such as AD, DNS, DHCP, Clusters, and DR

• Transitioned 130 phone lines to new carriers for cost savings. Managed SIP and analog line porting and firewall configurations

• Implemented and manage Fortinet Firewall, Forticlient protection, and VPN appliances for remote offices

• Implemented Kiwi syslog server for capturing community data and Splunk for parsing and analyzing important security log information.

• Managed Brocade switches and all Vlan configurations

• Implemented broad disaster recovery plan utilizing COLO and Cloud presence

JKnipper & Co

Lakewood, NJ

Sr. I.T. Engineer/Consultant

• Managed 533 Virtual and 106 physical servers

• Project lead for hyper convergence solution discovery, POC, and implementation

• Helped to develop KPI for company sales teams and IT department

• Managed Nutanix and Simplivity Hyperconvergence technologies

• Managed company AWS projects

• Developed Information Security / Technology SOP’s, SOW’s and SLA’s for our large pharma clientele

• Managed Cisco UCS blade project implementation.

• Oversaw all virtualization aspects of production, including but not limited to, VMware HA, and SRM

• Utilized SolarWinds for data collection and system monitoring

• Implemented and supported entire Microsoft Windows Server Infrastructure

• Optimized EventSentry for system threat and security monitoring

• Configured and managed Cisco ASA firewalls and routers.

• Implemented technology Change Control procedures

• Admin for EMC VNX5300 and 5500 SANs.

• Admin for Compellent SAN

• Provided reporting and documentation for DEA and client audits.

• Mobile device security and management implementation of Airwatch.

• Managed all Vendor alliances and participated with Business Development. Created slide decks and tracked pipeline in Salesforce

• Generated five million in service-related sales for the company.

• Attended company sales conferences and pre-qualified customers for the sales team

AT&T Research Group

Middletown, NJ

Big Data and Cloud Analytics Research/ POC Teams

• Worked with research team to develop and implement new OpenStack Cloud analytics environment.

• Team included original OpenStack contributors and scientists such as Changbin Liu, Carsten Lund, and Frederick True.

• KVM virtualization implementation, configuration and management

• Liaison to third party clients, providing technical oversight and expertise.

• HP C7000 enclosure installation, configuration, and management

• Engineered six lab locations and two POC environments for OpenStack development

• Worked with KVM, VMware, Virtualbox, OpenStack, DevStack, Hadoop, CentOs, and Ubuntu.

• Planned and Contributed to company MDM implementation

• Engineer on Bank of America VMWare system automation team

• Configured tight integration of Virtual Solution with NetApp appliances

• Cloud implementation with use of Dell Crowbar for OpenStack cloud solution

• VMWare and Hypervisor expert in charge of Implementing VM self-provisioning processes

• Integrator and tester for USDS (Unified Software Delivery Systems)

• Managed and installed Dell Equalogic and HP LeftHand P4300 and P4500 series SANS

• Admin for over 30 managed Cisco switches, numerous Cisco routers, and numerous Cisco ASA 5505/5510 Firewalls

• Admin for Cisco Telepresence systems and Cisco 7900 series phones

• Managed many company servers, and VMWARE VSphere virtual environment of over 150 virtual servers.

• Specialized in VMWare High Availability (HA)

• Upgraded department VM Infrastructure to VSphere 5

• Installed and configured entire VSphere architecture for our UK and Boston offices.

• Veeam expert in Virtualization backup, recovery, and de-duplication

• Installed and configured many Microsoft Exchange 2010 servers with migration from 2003 to 2010.

• Worked with world-renown analytical computer scientists such as Carsten Lund, Changbin Liu, and Frederick True on OpenStack projects.

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch

Pennington, NJ

Sr. Consultant/Subject Matter Expert

• Consultant on the Integration Tools N Strategy Team (Title of Subject Matter Expert)

• System Processes Engineer for Merrill Lynch/Bank of America special projects.

• Planner and Contributor on company MDM implementation Team, Steering Committee

• Engineer on Bank of America VMWare system automation team. VMWare Migrations, P to V, and Orchestrator

• Configured tight integration of Virtual Solution with NetApp appliances

• Cloud implementation with use of Dell Crowbar for OpenStack cloud solution implementation of DAGS.

Community Surgical Supply, Inc.

Toms River, NJ

I.T. Director

• Supported over 600 employees, 42 servers, at over 12 locations

• Installed, managed and maintained all aspects of technology for one of the largest oxygen supply/DME companies in the U.S.

• Years of experience dealing with HIPPA and HITECH compliance.

• Experience with Joint Commission preparedness.

• VMwareESX 3.5, VSphere 4.0, 4.1 & 5.0 running numerous hosts, appliances and vm’s.

• VMware VShield, View and ThinApp experience.

• VCenter, VSphere HA, VMotion and DRS installation and support experience

• Veeam, BackupExec, and many other disaster backup and disaster recovery solutions

• Equalogic PS4000 series San’s

• Microsoft 2000, 2003 & 2008 servers and terminal servers

• Microsoft Exchange 2003 & 2007 servers

• Ubuntu Linux servers running Hylafax fax server.

• CentOS (Redhat) Linux Servers

• GFI Fax servers.

• Experienced with Fastrack DME software

• Experienced with CPR+ Pharmacy, Infusion, and Medical Billing software.

• Established a ‘Paperless’ office workflow utilizing document imaging technologies such as Medforce Document Imaging.

• Numerous Cisco switches, ASA firewalls, 1700, 2500 & 2600 series routers, and remote office VPN’s.

• Microsoft WSUS Server, Symantec Endpoint Protection, and numerous other security and disaster recovery methodologies.

• Citrix Metaframe Administration

• Responsible for all Commercial Company Operations including but not limited to:

• Managed all commercial partnerships

• Installed and supported of a variety of networking solutions, POS systems, and financial packages

• Security, Corporate Email, SAN, WAN, Virtual Server, infrastructure documentation, and remote computing solutions.

Withum Accounting & Consulting

Princeton, NJ

Director of Internal I.T. and External Consulting Group

• Developed and implemented policies and procedures for internal and external I.T. groups, which were previously non-existent.

• Implemented a centralized Help Desk and escalation procedure to assist the delegation and tracking process of all I.T. related issues.

• Managed all internal and external I.T. operations which included technology related to our company infrastructure as well as per diem based external consulting group.

• Completely re-designed, implemented, configured, and documented the infrastructure of the company’s LAN’s and WAN.

• Installed and configured Diverse T-1 connections for Internet redundancy.

• Configured ISDN BRI backup solutions for redundancy at our satellite offices.

• Converted all antiquated SMC Tiger routers and switches to CISCO 2600, 1700 & 7000 routers and Catalyst 4000switches. Also configured routers on the WAN and LANs.

• Installed, configured, and managed Checkpoint and Raptor firewalls.

• Upgraded NT 4.0 servers to Microsoft Windows 2000 Enterprise.

• Implemented company-wide Intra-net, Outlook Web Access, and Citrix N-Fuse.

• Managed 12 employees and handled all I.T. managerial and financial issues

• Managed an enterprise of 300 + users at 9 locations on multiple Windows 2000/NT 4.0 Servers, Novell Netware 4.11 / 5.0 Servers, and Hewlett Packard HP9000 Servers.

• Administered all functions related to information services, technology, and telecommunications – Internet connectivity and data circuits; desktop OS, office, accounting, and email collaboration applications.

• Strategically created all LAN / WAN topology and infrastructure.

• Designed and implemented all remote branch technology.

• Created yearly budgets and proposals for departmental enhancements.

• Strategized and implemented backup schedules, upgrades and anti-virus protection.

• Assisted with Quality Control Measures and ISO 9000/9001 certification requirements.

• Managed and completed a rigorous update and testing plan for Y2k, achieving a year 2000 compliancy level enterprise wide.

• Responsible for software and hardware evaluation, integration, and rollout.

• Continually evaluated enterprise for upgrades, enhancements, and modifications

  Education

• Kean University – Union, NJ – Bachelors Computer Science

• Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ – Associates in Computer Science

• Brick Computer Science Institute, Brick, NJ - Systems Analysis and Design Specialist – 2 years

• PC Age, Edison NJ - MCNE Netware / IntraNetware / CCNA / CCNP, MCSP training – Received many certifications

Programs/Certifications

• FortiEDR

• DarkTrace

• Hack the Box

• BigPanda Professional Certification

• Snowflake

• SolarWinds SCP and Thwack MVP

• FortiSiem

• FortiNAC

• FortiAnalyzer

• Fortimanager

• CoFense

• PhishMe

• Varonis

• Completed G-Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer and Professional Cloud Architect training Dec 2020

• Completed Splunk Admin training July 2020

• SalesForce Lightening administration

• Windows Server 2019 Administration

• Vendor Relationship Management Courses, Boston Mass., May 2019-Aug 2019

• Windows 10 Configuration and Administration

• Achieved Prestigious MENSA Certification in 2017

• Exchange Server 2016

• Windows 2016 Server Admin

• Windows 2008 Server R2, Server Virtualization & Configuration

• Windows 7, configuration.

• Exchange Server 2007 & 2010

• Windows 7 and 2010 Office Deployment

• SharePoint Server 2010Configuration

• Six Sigma Green Belt

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM

• CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker)

• Spiceworks and Kaseya System Management Platforms

• Unicast/Multicast backup and deployment technologies for large scale backup and deployment. Various different packages such as CloneZilla and Ghost.

• VMWare vSphere 5 Configuration and Management

• Dell KACE Network Management and Deployment training. K1000 & K2000

• Oracle Server Virtualization Platform and VirtualBox

• CentOS (RedHat), Ubuntu, and Slackware Linux operating system experience

• Foundstone Intrusion Detection, Computer Forensics and Hacking Countermeasures

• Best Certifications for MAS90, MAS200 C/S, MAS200 SQL and MAS 500.

• Great Plains Solomon Certified.

• Novell CNE, IntraNetware and GroupWise Certification

• Microsoft MCP, MCP+I, and SQL Server Certifications.

• Hewlett Packard HPUX System 10 & 11 certification.

• Various AIX certifications

• Cisco CCNA & CCNP

• MCSE 2007

• Symantec Firewall and VPN technologies

• Citrix (CCA). Citrix training in Edison, NJ

• 3Com Certified switching hub / router technician. Managed switch training completed in Virginia.

• Compaq Certified Server Technician. Completed Proliant / Prosignia Server training Phil, PA.

• Proper Hiring Practices / Human Resource / Management Training, Edison NJ

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