Kent Blake

Kent Blake

Implementation Project Coordinator

Followers of Kent Blake582 followers
location of Kent BlakeSalt Lake City, Utah, United States

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  • Timeline

  • About me

    Experienced IT Systems Analyst, Scrum Master, and IT Support Expert. Professional interests: Process, Automation, Cloud Infrastructure, Communication, and Teambuilding. I also like any dessert made with lemon

  • Education

    • University of Utah

      2001 - 2005
      Bachelor of Arts French

      Activities and Societies: French Language and Literature Major Minor: Computer Science French Language Studies - Comparative Literature in the French Language, Study Abroad for one monthComputer Science: Software and Theory Emphasis. Scheme to C++, Algorithm Analysis, Object Oriented Concepts

  • Experience

    • Speakeasy

      Sept 2007 - Oct 2008
      Implementation Project Coordinator

      Work with Speakeasy VoIP and Managed Services customers after the sales process through installation of services. Facilitate communication across various internal teams to ensure that customers are informed of the statuses of their orders. Manage customer needs and advise as necessary as project parameters change. Verify order completion after implementation of services, address any outstanding issues, and transition the account to customer operations and support.

    • VMC for Microsoft Corporation

      Feb 2009 - Jun 2009
      Bi-Lingual Support Engineer, Shift Lead

      Assist business IT administrators to resolve any technical issues or questions that arise related the Business Productivity Online suite of Microsoft applications including Outlook, SharePoint, Live Meeting, and Communicator, both in French and in English. Troubleshoot and resolve network and operating system issues which prevent use of the product. Distribute service requests as they are received to team members. Facilitate communication between team members and the management team. Act as mentor and technical lead for any issue that arise during the shift for which other team members request assistance. Show less

    • American Express

      Jun 2009 - Nov 2011
      Business Systems Analyst

      Manage deployment of software or other automated solutions for financial institutions in the Australia / Japan / Asia (JAPA) market. Gather business logic and requirements. Write business requirement documents, use cases, and create application screen prototypes to describe desired software functionality for American Express contracted and in house software development entities. Write and execute testing scenarios for software in development. Perform analysis and support on existing business software platforms to solve problems by leveraging or enhancing existing systems. Show less

    • Salt Lake County

      Nov 2011 - Jun 2015
      Business Analyst | Information Services

      Provided technical consultation to various agencies within Salt Lake County to implement technical solutions to enhance business processes or technical capabilities.Collaborated with the IT security manager to define and draft the first Mobile Device Policy including selection of a mobile device management platform, and associated support processes. Worked with Archives and Records Management director define a comprehensive Enterprise Document Management strategy.Researched and wrote a white paper detailing the current state of business intelligence (BI) assets and capabilities including recommendations to attain additional BI infrastructure and capabilities.Served as scrum master for a data warehouse project comprised of highly sensitive data from disparate systems within the criminal and social justice service agencies. Trained other technical teams on agile software development methodologies.Acted as project manager for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system including finance, budget, payroll, time and attendance, project costing, and human resource management modules for approximately six months during an expected outage by my supervisor.I was also responsible for providing weekly project progress reports to executive stakeholders including the Mayor or Deputy Mayor, Communications Director, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Technical Officer and Director of Human Resources.Due to the level of coordination needed on a daily basis, I implemented a daily meeting with approximately 20 project subject matter experts (SMEs), Project Management Team Members and County IT resources to maintain focus and coordination.In addition to the project management responsibilities, I also worked with the lead technical resource to define support processes, resolve issues with newly released functionality and schedule ongoing maintenance operations. Show less

    • SEDONA FRANCE

      Feb 2016 - Apr 2016
      IT Installer

      This was a three-month contract position fulfilled by Sedona Technologies for an IBM and State Farm initiative to update IT infrastructure components in State Farm Agent's offices throughout Utah.Confirmed scheduling, new equipment availability, and other administrative aspects with designated personnel at each office in advance of the install date to ensure successful and professional installation of equipment. Provided detailed installation details to office staff in order to minimize disruption of business which was essential to a sales and service organization such as State Farm Agent offices.The hardware being replaced include desktop PCs, monitors, uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units, while working around other IT infrastructure including Cisco network switches and network attached storage (NAS) devices.Each install required adherence to a mature and detailed process including * Coordination between each office and the three project entities (State Farm, IBM, and Sedona Technologies), to ensure relevant parties were advised of install progress, technical issues, and successful completion* Asset management tasks applied uniformly to ensure proper records facilitating remote access for central IT, and financial reporting* Troubleshooting issues, equipment failures or discrepancies in equipment to be installed or returned* Management of travel arrangements including hotel reservations, and per-diem expense reporting Show less

    • Kent Blake

      Jun 2019 - May 2024

      Example Projects:Technical editor responsible for creating and researching content to be used by writers. When finalized, the articles are published on the Amazon AWS websiteImplementation of a Linux Based Server to provide Authentication, File Sharing, Print Server, and Backup Services for a start-upCreated process and infrastructure resources for an organization to quickly adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic

      • Freelance IT Consultant

        Jun 2019 - May 2024
      • Information Technology Consultant

        Jun 2019 - Jun 2022
    • Western Governors University

      Feb 2024 - now
      Information Technology Service Desk
  • Licenses & Certifications

    • ITIL Foundation V.3

      The ITIL Certification Management Board (ICMB)
    • Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Cloud Architect Specialization

      Google Cloud
      Dec 2020
      View certificate certificate
    • Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation

      Coursera
      Sept 2020
      View certificate certificate
    • Agile Product Owner Role: Foundations

      LinkedIn
      Oct 2017
      View certificate certificate
    • Network+

      CompTIA
      Jun 2010
      View certificate certificate
    • ScrumMaster

      Scrum Alliance
    • ServiceNow Reporting

      Udemy
      Jul 2024
      View certificate certificate
    • Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services

      Coursera
      Nov 2020
    • Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure

      Coursera
      Jul 2020
      View certificate certificate
    • Elastic Google Cloud Infrastructure: Scaling and Automation

      Coursera
      Nov 2020
  • Volunteer Experience

    • General warehouse work from processing donations to preparing outbound containers.

      Issued by Utah Food Bank
      Utah Food BankAssociated with Kent Blake
    • Beta Tester for upcoming course releases

      Issued by Coursera on Jul 2020
      CourseraAssociated with Kent Blake