Summary

With 25 years of experience in technology, I have worked across a range of platforms including Linux, Mainframe, and AWS.

My background spans software development, database administration, and large-scale system modernization, with a focus on delivering practical solutions for complex enterprise challenges.

I enjoy collaborating with cross-functional teams, mentoring others, and sharing knowledge to help drive continuous improvement.

My approach is hands-on and approachable, aiming to make technology accessible while maintaining high standards for quality and reliability.

Work Experience

State Farm

Senior Technology Engineer

Bloomington, Illinois, United States

2024 - 2025

• Led data modernization initiatives for the largest Property and Casualty (P&C) claim system in the world, driving strategic improvements across core systems.
• Collaborated with cross-functional technical teams to support and enhance production claim systems, ensuring high availability and performance.
• Consulted with enterprise technology teams, advocating for solutions aligned with business objectives.
• Influenced software engineering and data management best practices across multiple teams, fostering a culture of quality and efficiency.
• Evaluated new products and drove proof-of-concepts, advocating for innovative solutions to enhance enterprise capabilities.
• Resolved major production outages by coordinating rapid, multi-team troubleshooting efforts, minimizing downtime and business impact.
• Communicated complex technical solutions and project progress to senior leadership, ensuring transparency and alignment.
• Mentored junior engineers and cultivated a collaborative, innovative team culture.

Prior Experience

State Farm

Lead Data Engineer

2022 - 2024

Core Team Member on Enterprise Systems Modernization Efforts

• Automated Db2 to Postgres migration: Developed a Python program to convert the DDL for 24,000 Db2 tables to Postgres. Collaborated with enterprise data enablement teams to review vendor tools for schema migration.
• Migrated billions of rows with zero downtime: Successfully replicated billions of rows of legacy data from z/OS Db2 to Aurora Postgres using Qlik Replicate, enabling early experimentation with Aurora Postgres.
• Streamlined deployment with automation: Implemented Gitlab CI pipelines and Flyway to automate DDL deployment for Aurora Postgres, boosting efficiency and consistency.
• Troubleshooting and support: Acted as the go-to data engineer for troubleshooting production issues, quickly resolving problems and minimizing downtime.
• Leadership and mentorship: Provided technical leadership and mentorship to other engineers, fostering a collaborative learning environment.
• Knowledge sharing: Presented at area, guild, and cloud summit meetings to share knowledge and best practices.

Data Analyst - Database Administrator

2016 - 2022

Db2 and Postgres Database Administrator specializing in automation, performance tuning, and data migration

• Collaborative problem solver: Worked closely with application developers and Db2 performance teams to implement database changes, tune query performance, and resolve performance issues.
• Managed a complex data landscape: Our Db2 production environment has over 24,000 tables across 30 Db2 subsystems, including High Availability Parallel Sysplex Db2 Data Sharing Groups.
• Data migration expert: Developed and executed data migration jobs during a hardware sunset project, successfully reducing the production hardware footprint for High Availability Sysplex systems by 33% for claims data.
• Postgres: Assisted team members with database changes and debugging application issues in test and production environments.

Software Developer

2010 - 2016

Team Lead for Enterprise Claim System (ECS) Print/Fax application and server type owner for ECS File Share server

• Supported a J2EE application that managed the printing, bundling, and delivery of prints and faxes for the world's largest P&C claim system.
• Developed a software solution to streamline the claims file delivery process for the legal department, improving efficiency and accuracy.
• Worked on an enterprise print consolidation effort that enabled the use of enterprise printers by the ECS application to increase security and cost efficiency.

Enterprise Claim System (ECS) Program

• Led efforts to bring over 200 data flows to rest before conversion by driving discussions across multiple application teams to create a system-wide plan.
• Contributed to the ECS Data Conversion Project by writing data extract jobs, identifying data quality issues, and proactively cleaning up data quality issues before migration.
• Enhanced the legacy Claim Service Record (CSR) architecture to allow a read-only mode for safe access to pre-conversion data without training.

System Analyst

2000 - 2010

Team Lead for Claims Service Record (CSR)

• Led and owned maintenance of critical CSR applications across transaction management, architecture, security, data movement, organizational data, and automation tools.
• Streamlined system audits, security reviews, and performance troubleshooting as the single point of contact.
• Championed architecture, design, and code reviews to ensure high quality and consistency across the CSR application suite.
• Provided quality control and oversight as a State Farm contact and team lead for external associates in a support structure with only 10 State Farm internal employees for legacy CSR.

Claim Service Record (CSR) Project Highlights

• Core team member on the HP CSR port project to re-platform to HPUX.
• Worked on HP server clustering effort to reduce server footprint by 40%.
• Contributed to the expansion of catastrophe services capacity by building a second centralized cluster.
• Involved in all projects from 2004 until 2012 as a design team member. Design team members functioned as architects and consultants for requirements, design, and code reviews.

Innovative Solutions

• Developed and implemented a JDBC-based distributed query tool, enabling ad-hoc reports on 300 nightly backup databases with no production impact while allowing reports for business to run during the day.
• Enhanced distributed command-line utilities for parallel execution and variable substitution across 300+ servers by server type, boosting operational efficiency.

Education

The American College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

2010

• Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)

Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana

2000

• B.S. Management Information Systems, minor Computer Science
• Graduated Magna Cum Laude