Guy Foster

4041 Retford Drive Jacksonville, Fl 32225

904-607-5773 fosterg3@bellsouth.net

Director – Information Technology Operations/Customer Service

Principles: Infrastructure Management, IT Security, Strategic Planning, Financial & Budget Management, Disaster Recovery, Customer Service through managed Service Desk.

Visionary and goal oriented Senior IT Manager with over 20 years experience in planning, developing and implementing information solutions to address business needs and opportunities Developed strategic plans for corporate implementation and operation of client services, product support, quality assurance and training.

Proven Strengths:

o Ability to bring associates together to develop strategies and solutions for the organization.

o Superior negotiation skills with vendors with emphasis on cost reductions

o Pro-active approach on all issues

o Establishing and monitoring policies (standards) and procedures to ensure a stable IT infrastructure

o Managing relationships within and outside the organization

o Ability to manage multiple large projects to successful completion and within budget

o Organizational skills - Ability to make the difficult decisions for the organization in order to provide an efficient and cost effective IT support structure

o Have an understanding of global support structures and what type of infrastructure is required to meet the demands of today’s complex IT environment for various industries - Lan/Wan, Hardware (IBM AS400, Dell and IBM Servers, Desktops, Laptops, etc) Software development, telecommunications, security, disaster recovery, consolidated data center, customer support, etc)

Professional Experience

Tree of Life, Inc - St Augustine, Fl

1999 to Date Director of IT Operations/Customer Service Tree of Life is the nations leading distributor of natural, organic, specialty, ethnic, and gourmet food products with 12 distribution centers and 3,500 employees across North America. As a member of the Information Technology senior leadership team at Tree of Life, I have the responsibility to accomplish the following through leadership characteristics and technical background:

o Develop an Information Technology Strategic Plan based on business opportunities and operating requirements and efficiencies. Build consensus among enterprise and business unit management for the IT Plan

o Direct the definition, development, and support of systems which enable and drive business objectives by providing expedient, efficient, accurate, and secure information and transaction flow, and operational applications to support internal business functions

o Represent Information Technology as a global leader across the organization

o Conduct resource planning and control

o Provide communications to all levels of the organization, both internal and external

o View technology at an enterprise level while maintaining responsibilities and introducing solutions at specific departmental level functions

o Participate in the top 60 management group to develop strategy and define future business model for Tree of Life.

Responsibilities and Milestones

o Managed the implementation of a new Wide Area Network (WAN) to improved overall infrastructure.

o Develop and execute an annual multi-million dollar departmental budget plan for IT Operations department Procure and implement IT Systems and Peripherals for production and maintenance.

o Initiate improvement of work processes and lead improvement projects, support and assure the implementation of new IT services, with the proper procedures.

o Responsible for all infrastructure components in a centralized Data Center which includes data management, web hosting, network management, infrastructure management, desk top systems support, Data Warehouse, systems maintenance and communications (PBX, IP and wireless). Hardware consists of an IBM iSeries i5 (AS400) with multiple partitions along with multiple Dell and IBM servers. Databases currently supported include DB2, SQL and Oracle.

o Ensure the optimization of all system components to ensure computer availability to all users

o Manage a staff of 19 support personnel who have responsibility for 12 remote facilities

o Develop operational policies and procedures which include Security (Physical and End-User), E-mail (Size Limits, Usage), Internet Usage, Standardization (Desktop, Server, and Application), Back-Up & Recovery, Change Management, Anti-virus and Disaster Recovery.

o Developed and implemented IT Disaster Recovery plan. Changed from an in-house solution to an out-sourced vendor solution which saved over $200,000 annually. Conduct testing of all phases of Disaster Recovery on a semi-annual basis.

o Develop and implement cost controls through various measures which saved the corporation $4 million over a 3 year period

o Analyze and monitor all service level agreements (internal and external)

o Develop trend analyses and management reports

o Operationally responsible for installed servers, desktops/laptops, and communications equipment at 12 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

o Manage centralized Help Desk which services 12 facilities as well as our Corporate headquarters

Smurfit-Stone - Jacksonville, Fl

1989 to 1999 Information Technology Manager Smurfit-Stone is North America's premier packaging company, working as ONE team to deliver exceptional value to our customers, employees, shareholders

o Initial task - reestablish the IT organization as a business enabler and provide stability and credibility to the group

o Direct the design, development and implementation of all application development on an IBM iSeries (AS400) platform using RPG programming language

o Initiated the introduction of server based and desktop applications to the organization.

o Responsible for all infrastructure components including but not limited to all data, network and infrastructure management, desk top systems support, systems maintenance and communications

o Managed vendor relationships and implemented cost control measures

Other Related Experiences:

o Application design and implementation for large health care organization

o Project management with emphasis on IBM’s mid-range system (AS400, System 3x series)

o Application design, development and implementation within a variety of industries ranging from distribution, health care, manufacturing and government using a variety of programming languages.

o IT audits to establish best practices for a variety of industries

o Worked through various clients in developing best practices through the development of policy and procedures.

Education: Jones College Jacksonville, Fl BS Management

Minot State College Minot, North Dakota Various Studies