Dawn Brooks

Experience

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  Air Canada/IBM Canada Ltd.

  Jan 1987 - May 1990

  Network Operator

  Responsible for 24x7 monitoring of servers, troubleshooting of user problems related to telephony, modem, printers, and terminals on the Air Canada and Canadian Airline accounts.- Acted as off-prime lead responsible for managing escalations.- Created procedures and trained staff as part of the transition of Canadian Airlines network from Vancouver to Winnipeg resulting in minimal impact to the customer

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  IBM Canada Ltd.

  Jun 1990 - Aug 2011

  Provided resource management support for multiple competencies encompassing 1,400 employees - Worked with the directors and managers to ensure resource management initiatives were executed resulting in successfully meeting or exceeding quarterly targets.- Improved time to hire by meeting weekly with managers and their directors to review any staffing requests to ensure both business cases and financial support have been fully vetted before seeking approval to hire.- Provided monthly headcount forecasts based on quarterly initiatives, known losses (attrition and leave of absences), and adds (approved hiring and returns from leave) which facilitated the finance team to accurately project both quarterly costs and ability to meet targets. Show less Provided cost management support for the Security and Risk Management team comprising of approximately 600 staff. Served as liaison to the resource management team and the global skills team.- Negotiated budgets with account teams and met with service delivery managers monthly to review costs to ensure operating within plan.- Prepared cost forecasting for key accounts, enabling delivery and account teams to understand cost vs. budget needs to support the customer. - Analyzed monthly discretionary spending, working with directors to contain costs and flagging any costs incorrectly allocated to improve report accuracy.- As liaison to the global skills team, communicated mandatory education and IBM initiatives for employee personal development ensuring company directives were met. Show less Managed first/second level inbound call support for the Nissan account, supporting various applications and platforms (PCs, midrange, mainframe). Team consisted of 29 staff (6 IBM/23 contractor employees).- Successfully led team to meet or exceed all service level agreements with the customer.- Improved synergies within the Customer Support Centre in Winnipeg by initiating team lead meetings with my peer manager and senior staff.- Scheduled monthly one-on-one meetings with IBM employees to discuss their workload, training needs, career goals, and any performance issues. Information proved invaluable when completing comprehensive performance evaluations and led to successful promotion of key individuals.- Participated in SOW and SLA reviews when Nissan contract re-signed ensuring understanding of deliverables. Show less Provided AIX System Administration support for Air Canada, Air Canada Vacations, Via Rail, and Galileo accounts. Daily tasks included systems configuration, troubleshooting operating systems issues, and developing C shell scripts to automate tasks and provide alert monitoring.- Performed both Project Management and System Administration roles as part of the systems upgrade for Air Canada Vacations. Worked with the MQSeries, WebSphere, DB2, and applications teams ensuring project milestones were met, resulting in a successful completion of the project.- Created and tested procedures as part of the AIX upgrade project for Air Canada resulting in the successful refresh of multiple servers by the team with minimal impact to the customer.- Acted as a focal for an employee satisfaction initiative, working with peers to identify improvements that could be made within my team and the organization overall. Employee morale improved with this initiative. Show less Responsible for steady-state and project support for MQSeries, WebSphere, and Communications Server for AIX for Air Canada, Air Canada Vacations, Via Rail, and Galileo accounts.- Created and maintained procedures and documentation for both the operations staff and my peers resulting in noticeable improvement with training staff and problem resolution.- Developed C shell scripts to streamline tasks for the operations team and to provide automated monitoring to alert team of any issues resulting in decrease in down time to the customer. Show less

  • Resource Manager

    Sept 2009 - Aug 2011

  • Business Operations Manager

    Feb 2008 - Sept 2009

  • Front Line Manager, Customer Support Centre

    Aug 2005 - Feb 2008

  • AIX Systems Administrator

    Jan 2003 - Aug 2005

  • Technical Specialist, Advisory

    Mar 1998 - Jan 2003

  • Network Software Analyst

    Jun 1990 - Mar 1998
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  Great-West Life

  Aug 2012 - Nov 2017

  Associate Manager, Middleware Utility Services

  Work closely with the Assoc. Manager Middleware Services as a “Unit President” responsible for managing a distinct set of services within Enterprise Infrastructure Services, offering products and services which require I.T. assets whose primary intent is to provide shared software integration utilities upon which business applications are built. Scope includes services that assemble application windows and services that integrate data across application layers.Examples include:o Websphere Portal and Application Server (WPS and WAS)o Identity management (Tivoli IM)o Access management (Tivoli AM, Active Directory, LDAP)o Data transport services (MESH, MQSeries, Ab Initio)• Partner with business and I.S. leaders to develop business cases for the introduction, or expansion of Middleware capabilities and services, across the enterprise. Responsibilities include managing all aspects of middleware utility services from inception to decommission.• Work with business and Account Advisory consultants to understand the annual business demand for services.• Work with Technology Solution Centre leaders to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to meet the business demand.• Sponsor initiatives to introduce new services and to upgrade or decommission existing services.• Accountable for staff management including hiring, performance appraisal and development, rewards and recognition, discipline, coaching and career counseling, and contracting for vendor provided services. • Develop, manage and reports on budget for work unit and prepares forecasts, and variance reporting, on a monthly basis. Show less

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  Canada Life

  Nov 2017 - Sept 2022

  Manager, Middleware Services