curriculum vitae

Summary
Transformational, servant leader looking for new challenges and opportunities to serve in a positive, team-focused, and mission-driven environment. With over 20 year of information technology experience in both the private and public sectors, I can navigate nuances inherent to both. I have served in all areas of IT, from Network Security and Help Desk, to CIO, allowing me to understand how to help customers, work with vendors, handle security concerns, work with constituents, and everything in between. This includes an established track record of creating and maintaining internal and external relationships with stakeholders, including industry vendors and contractors. I am a lifelong learner and am always looking for new and innovative ways to address and overcome emerging, as well as unforeseen problems in proactive ways. I focus on active and ongoing team building and growth through training, participation, and succession planning, and I am not afraid to volunteer for opportunities to participate in statewide organizations to learn from my peers in other agencies.

Professional History

Department of Finance & Administration / Strategic Technology Solutions

IT Director - Infrastructure, Supporting the Department of Human Services
June 2023 - April 2025

• Responsible for the DHS Infrastructure Cloud, DevOps, and Telecommunications Teams.
• Responsible for vendor management of multiple State vendors working on projects for the Department of Human Services.
• Incident Commander for Department of Human Services Infrastructure responsible for Incident Response, Root Cause Analysis collection, and After-Action Reports.
• Leads Telecommunications Team in Business Continuity and Disaster Response efforts Statewide.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Executive IT Director, Chief of Information Technology Division
September 2017 to June 2023

• CIO for TWRA managing all areas of Information Technology support for the TWRA.
• IT division has approximately 25 support personnel supporting over 730 users, with a budget in excess of $4 million.
• IT Division includes, Helpdesk & Desktop Support, Networking and Security, Software Development, Web Development, IT Project Management, and IT Printing and Data Entry.
• Responsible for developing the Agency’s Disaster Recovery and Continuity of Operations Plans.
• Point of Contact for both Agency Physical Security System as well as Cyber Response and Disaster Recovery.
• Point of Contact for the TWRA Disaster Recover Server Migration Project.
• Work closely with other State and Federal Agency’s in support of our Scientific and Law Enforcement Staff in the field.

Assistant Chief of IT, Technical Operations
January 2016 to September 2017

• Assistant Chief of IT division managing the Data Entry, Desktop Support, Network Security, and IT Print Operations sections.
• Responsible for providing metrics used for project costing of IT Print Operations deliverables and forecasting for more accurate inventory and process control.
• Coordinated training for division staff with both State and outside providers.
• Implemented Human Resources’ Physical Security System initiatives statewide.
• Special projects include redesign of “TWRA On The Go” mobile application upgrade and worked with STS on including TWRA on the States “MyTN” mobile application.
• Project managed the vendor relations, project requirements, procurement process, and deployment of the servers for both TWRA’s Production and Disaster Recovery environments.

Desktop Support Supervisor
February 2015 to January 2016

• Supervised the Desktop Support/Helpdesk team supporting customer requests as needed statewide.
• Project manager for implementation of TWRA’s Physical Security System at TWRA locations statewide.
• Point of Contact for IPT phone system migration and support.
Network Operations Supervisor - January 2013 to February 2015
• Supervisor over TWRA’s Network Administration and Security responsible for TWRA’s network operations and LAN/WAN management statewide.
• Duties include normal Network Administration, Disaster Recovery and Security duties as well as assisting Desktop Support with customer issues as needed statewide.
• In charge of developing a Disaster Recovery plan for TWRA. Work with agency Director, Disaster Recovery contacts and outside vendors to assess needs and develop recovery solutions. In charge of testing and implementing solution once approved and initiated.
• Project lead on migration of TWRA’s phone system to the State’s Internet Protocol Telephone (IPT) system. Duties include working with regional offices statewide on preparation for migration as well as making sure all infrastructures such as cabling, and switches are to IPT specification and if not to have them upgraded. Once up to specifications, work with migration team to implement IPT migration plan.

Tennessee Department of General Services

Information Systems Consultant Security/Infrastructure
January 2012 to January 2013

• Support General Service’s customers with IT security and infrastructure issues as needed.
Backup Desktop Support in supporting customers with desktop applications and hardware issues. Specific projects and ongoing duties in this position included:
• In charge of developing a Disaster Recovery plan for the Department of General Services. Work with agency Directors, Disaster Recovery contacts and outside vendors to assess needs and develop recovery solutions.
• Work in Active Directory updating user and computer objects and groups as needed.
• Provide training to agency clients on software and hardware.
• Perform needs assessment and draw up specification for new hardware and software purchases, make recommendations and suggestions on purchases and draw up justifications.
• Researched and proposed solution for agency staff on IT Hardware and Software solutions.
• Worked as backup on the Access Control System.
• Use Microsoft System Center Manager (SCCM) to build collections for the deployment of software updates for General Services. Assess needs and schedule pushes for General Services.
• Support contractors entering the State environment with onsite connectivity, security, and networking issues. Includes security checks on contractor devices as well as support once in our environment.

Mark Ridings Consulting

Consultant/Owner
1990 to December 31, 2011

Owner/Operator of an Information Technology & Visual Media consulting business. Services include computer network design, installation, maintenance, and administration for small to medium size businesses with Windows based networks as well as end user desktop and application support. Visual Media services included photography, videography, postproduction design and graphics. These services were brought together to service client needs including website creation and administration, printing and publication design and creation, as well as video and DVD creation and production.

Education and Training

University Middle Tennessee State University
Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies, Mass Communications/Political Science

Professional Certifications and Organizations

• Information Technology Executive Council Board (Chair, 2022-2023)
• Tennessee Government Leadership Council (2022-2023)
• LEAD Tennessee Alumni Association Steering Committee 2021-2024 (Chair, 2022 and Treasurer, 2021)
• Project Management Institute (2020 –2024)
• Tennessee Certified Public Manager (2019 – Present)
• Conservation Business Managers Association, Conference IT Committee 2018-2023 (Co-Chair (2019)
• Information Technology Professionals Association Board Member 2017 – 2024 (Chair, 2020)
• INTERFACE Nashville Advisory Council (2018 & 2021)
• Tennessee Government Executive Institute (2018)
• Tennessee Government Leadership Black Belt Program (2016 – 2024)
• LEAD Tennessee Alumni (2015)

Technical Certifications and Training

• Microsoft MCP (Since 2000)
• CompTIA Network + ce (2015-2027)
• CompTIA Security + ce (2015-2027)
• Criminal Justice Security System Level 4 (2023 -2025)
• Certified Agile Leader 1 (2021-2026)
• Certified Scrum Master (2024 – 2026)
• CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) Course – New Horizons C LC (2018)
• Project Management Professional (PMP)® Course – New Horizons C LC (2022)

Blakhart

curriculum vitae

Professional History

Blakhart Consulting