Susan’s Professional Resume

SUSAN A. SILBERISEN

480-239-2324  ▪  ssilberisen@yahoo.com 

CXO – Executive, Operating, Information Technology

Ms. Silberisen is a confident and seasoned leader with demonstrated abilities to develop scalable programs, manage fast moving operations, respond quickly to business needs, and strategically and tactically guide a growing staff and operational team from start-up to a sustainable, replicable model.   An executive, with 20+ years of experience, Susan is an unique leader focused heavily on employee development and mentoring that brings huge benefits to any company’s bottom-line.  Strong, transparent communication with an emphasis on simplicity and clarity provide a foundation for partnering with colleagues, employees, and Boards of Directors.

Professional Experience/Focus:

• Human Resource Departments
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• P&L Management
• Organizational Performance
• Strategic Thinking
• Creative Recruiting
• Organizational Design (behavior/architecture)
• Sales (design and management)
• Social Media and Networking
• Go To Market Strategy
• Solution Identification
• International Know-how
• Legal Issues
• Motivational Speaking
• ERP/Large Projects
• ISO/COBIT/ITIL Standards
• Vendor Management
• IT Governance

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

SmallStreetUSA.com                                                                                                  July 2012 – Present (6 months)

Chief Creative Executive Officer

As Chief Creative Executive, my role is to take this subsidiary from inception to delivery over the next year.

http://www.SmallStreetUSA.com provides the opportunity for the average American to become not just a property owner, but also an investor in Main Street, neighbors, community, family and self.  SmallstreetUSA.com will offer the ability to investment in real estate properties utilizing the dollars an average American can afford. Currently, most banks are offering .25 percent interest on a savings account and Wall Street is too expensive or too untrusted. All investments offer risk, but lately the headlines regarding our large financial institutions and investment brokers have left us cold.

SmallStreetUSA.com is made up of dedicated business people with top skills in finance management, real estate management, property management, social media management, technology platform design, project management and non-profit affiliations. SmallStreetUSA.com is initially focused on Arizona, helping grow the economy and support the recovery of a badly damaged real estate market. Our goal is to expand and offer every city, town, countryside the opportunity through our crowdfunding platform and social media to join with their neighbors, dramatically increasing the value of the crowd and fund our country back to financial strength and solidarity.

BestIT.com, Phoenix AZ – Guangzhou China                                                                                                                2010-2012

Chief Operating Officer

This exciting and challenging career move provided an opportunity to mature a managed and professional services company. BestIT is a young and vibrant company focused on growing and expanding their market. During my tenure at BestIT as Chief Operating Officer, I had the opportunity to touch every aspect of the company. From building departments, industry standards (ITIL, SASE-16), strategic direction, financial standards and a sales and marketing team from the ground up, BestIT offered every component for growth.

• Took this company from a 200K monthly revenue base to 2.4M monthly revenue base in 20 months.
• Established an ITIL 3.0 compliant department layout made up of global technology services (client operations), global application development and support, enterprise project management office, innovation team, research and development, and sales and marketing.
• Put policy and procedure in place, service level metrics for clients to ensure their satisfaction and increased the satisfaction rating from a low of less than 50% to a current high of 94%.
• With my CFO colleague, established the first formal budget process and participated in the first financial audit
• With my sales and marketing team, tore down an antiquated sales approach and established go to market strategies for the service catalog and service portfolio we created in the second year.
• Established a formal information security approach and team
• Introduced a formal IT Governance Structure to get the ownership actively involved in the management and visionary components of BestIT by limiting risk and understanding opportunities

I had the honor of bringing in and collaborating with an excellent team of talented professionals and providing leadership that allowed growth of BestIT by 330% in the first 18 months including a monthly EBITDA of 450K+.

Arizona Department of Revenue, Phoenix, AZ                                                                                                          2006 – 2010

Chief Information Officer

Appointed as CIO, I was responsible for the oversight of all technology operations and strategies for this multi-billion dollar agency. Administered an annual budget of >$40M. The CIO supervised and managed a staff of 116 employees, 90 consultants, and 2 data center teams. Planned and lead major technology implementations. Coordinated consulting partner activities.  This challenging positive provided the opportunity to design a new organizational structure to manage the implementation and replacement of a 35-year-old legacy system.  I established an operations, application support and development, project management, and enterprise architecture structure to support all components of the agency’s technology needs.

• Planned and managed large, multi-year project, involving implementation of $165M  financial management system to replace legacy systems. System facilitated $300M in new revenue in 2 years.
• Identified need for PMO and carried out development and establishment of program with certified talent.
• Formulated comprehensive 5-year staffing plan and directed hiring of 30 new staff members to date.
• Reduced costs by coordinating consolidation of 3 data centers into 1 converged data center.
• Introduced formal ITIL 3.0 standards as well as Six Sigma quality assurance for testing and release
• Created Information Security Office and Enterprise Architecture group.
• Implemented a tri-stream development and release management program utilizing AGILE/SCRUM
• Focused disciplines including Mid-Range Platform, Windows Desktop Platform, Windows Server Platform, UNIX
• Client/Server Platform, Internet/Intranet (Web) Platform, E-commerce/EDI

JEFFERSON WELLS, Phoenix, AZ                                                                                                                                   2005 – 2006

Senior Compliance Consultant

Provided senior-level consulting to clients of large professional services firm in areas of Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance audit process and IT management.

• Formulated SOX response plans for corporations. Plans included formal processes for policy, process, and controls to ensure integrity and accuracy of financial reporting.
• Assisted small companies in establishing and growing IT divisions.
• Introduced Six Sigma, ITIL and COBIT/COSO in various organization based on need and fit

1^ST NATIONAL BANK OF ARIZONA/NEVADA, Phoenix, AZ                                                                      2003 – 2005

Vice President of Information Security

Recruited to turn around poorly-performing IT organization for fastest-growing private bank in Western US. Carried out major investigation into IT security procedures and risk to facilitate ISO 17799 compliance. Served as Project Director for 15 key projects, including vulnerability assessment, system development and implementation, procedure development, software development, and more. Established project management team and Information Security Steering Committee. Prepared and implemented controls. Led design of custom Identity Management tool.

• Introduced security support tools, including Websense, OpenView, Tumbleweed, network sniffers, Cisco hardware, Nessus, Snort, Solarwinds, and Honey Pots.
• Implemented and/or upgraded intrusion detection, IT forensics, network and systems security monitoring, enterprise email, physical access controls for information, user access and authentication, telecommuting policies, VPN, IT testing, enterprise application security architecture, risk assessment, and more.
• Successfully completed $3.6M project portfolio to accomplish ISO compliance.
• Nominated as Information Security Executive of the Year in 2004.

CHARLES SCHWAB, INC., Phoenix, AZ                                                                                                                       2002 – 2003

Senior Manager, IT Problem Management

Coordinated team in design and implementation of program to improve recovery rates and enhance problem management controls. Assisted in developing policies and procedures, educational tools, audit system, integrated control, measurement indices, and reporting systems. Established critical trend and analysis structures.

• Worked closely with data center team to resolve incidents and potential network intrusions.
• Member of rapid response team and facilitated process of immediate issue response.

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY, Flagstaff, AZ                                                                                            1998 – 2002

Project Director (1998-1999); Assistant Chief Information Officer (1999-2002)

Oversaw IT training program for staff and faculty of large university. Turned around ineffective training program and carried out multiple technology upgrades. Promoted to Assistant CIO. Supervised staff of 35 and administered $1.5M budget. Established PMO and IT Steering Committee. Served as PMO Director, managing $14M in projects. Hired 70 personnel for PMO. Secured 10,000 sq. ft. building for project management and IT functions. Hired and implemented DBAs and System Administrators. Served as vendor liaison.

• Planned and directed implementation of Student Administration System.
• Oversaw vital PeopleSoft upgrade. Managed installation of data warehouse and business intelligence systems.
• Reduced expenses $1.8M by eliminating mainframe maintenance expenses, renegotiating PeopleSoft maintenance and licensing fees, and downsizing mainframe team.

NEW PERSPECTIVE SOFTWARE, INC., Austin, TX/Flagstaff, AZ                                                                                1994 – 1998

Chief Executive Officer / Chief Operating Officer

Co-founded start-up software development company. Hired and managed staff of 25. Administered $2.2M budget. Actively involved in all aspects of business and technology operations, including product planning, project methodologies, product testing, sales, marketing, and PR. Obtained $4M in venture capital funding.

• Oversaw design, development, and deployment of 2 products in only 18 months. (Non-profit Membership Management and Point of Sale System)
• Built sales from zero to $1.2M in less than 2 years.
• Earned several prestigious awards: Claris Corporation’s New Product Award – SOHOMaster (1997), Best Value (MacZone), Best Product Design (Graphics In Tech), and 4 Mice Rating (MacWorld).

CAREER NOTES: Previous positions include Owner/Operator of PERSPECTIVES PLUS (1992-1994), Sr. Support Systems Analyst at KADO SYSTEMS (1990-1992), and Business Analyst/Programmer at SCIENTIFIC & ENGINEERING SOFTWARE, INC. (1986-1990). Details available on request.

Education & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Education:  Bachelor of Science, Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State Univ.), San Marcos, TX

Certifications:  PMI Project Management Professional (PMP), ITIL Foundations Certification

Training:  Project Management, Six Sigma, ITIL/ITSM, Greenleaf Servant Leadership, TQM, CISSP, CISM

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Presentations/Publications:  CUMREC, HEUG (Higher Ed User’s Conference), ISACA, CSI, CIO Council, FTA

Affiliations:  CIO Executive Council Member, ISACA Presenter and Annual Member, Project Management Institute (PMI), SANS Institute (CISM), National Association of Female Executives, Assistance League Non-Profit (President 2000) Member, Texas Leadership Foundation

Large Systems Experience (both implementation and management):  Oracle ERP and EBS, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, CA Service Management Suite, Backup and Recovery,  Service Automation, SAP Business Suite, Business Objects, Financials

Location Information:  Currently maintain a presence in Phoenix, AZ     

 

Recommendations & Endorsements:

 

“In my professional career I have never worked for a more understanding, knowledgeable, take charge person. Any task or goal that Susan has set towards has been accomplished with grace and professionalism. I feel that she would make an exceptional member of any company that she works for, as it was an honor working for her.”  —    Lee Van Goethem, Systems Administrator, BestIT, worked indirectly for Susan at BestIT

“I have had the great fortune of working with Susan in two separate organizations. She is a phenomenal leader. She supports her staff and her colleagues and gets involved to the appropriate degree to enable them to be successful. She truly cares about the people and the company. I have had the pleasure of watching her build an organization that consistently outperforms expectations. She can take an organization that is good and make it better. She can take an outstanding organization and make it world-class; both from a technology perspective and a business perspective. She really knows how to run a company. I’d work with or for Susan in any capacity.” —    Charlie Vark, Vice President, Global Application Services, BestIT, reported to Susan at BestIT

“I had the privilege of working with Susan at both AZDOR and BESTIT. She has played a key role in my growth and success. Through the years, we worked on various projects and I was impressed by her manner of doing business. Susan has always executed at a high standard with enthusiasm and commitment. She demonstrated essential abilities as critical executive management role, guiding the company from a highly risky uncertain level to an extremely stable established high gross margin business. Susan is the real IT leader who fully understands technology and business strategy! It has been a great pleasure to work with her, learn from her and get guidance from her!”  — Jian Yang, Enterprise Data Architect, BestIT Consultant, Wells Fargo, worked indirectly for Susan at BestIT

“It is my sincere pleasure to endorse Susan. I have held three different positions that each reported directly to Susan. I find Susan to be one of the finest leaders I have had the opportunity to learn from. Her ethical standards are pristine, as is her respect for and professional support of those around her. She is gifted at identifying, honing in upon, and nurturing specific gifts and skills of her staff. She genuinely cares about the professional development of those under her direction, as well as the success of her charge (the company/firm). She embodies the spirit of servant leadership and is “at home” both strategically and tactically. Susan is the supreme multi-tasker. I have witnessed her draft a partnership agreement, negotiate vendor pricing over the phone, and discuss performance metrics with a staff member simultaneously, without typo or error in judgment. She fully understands and embraces the relationship between technology and business strategy, and how the nexus of the two result in overall business success. It has been my genuine pleasure to work for and take direction and guidance from Susan Silberisen.”  —    Barbara Geiger, Director, Marketing & Communications, BestIT, reported to Susan at BestIT

“Susan brought structure, honesty and integrity into everything she was involved with. These traits along with enormous energy, situational understanding and expressed respect made her a person I would absolutely work for again.”  —    Thomas Saltsman, Contract Project Manager, BestIT, reported to Susan at BestIT

“Susan is an outstanding individual who takes a collaborative approach to team leadership. Her dedication to her clients is only matched by her genuine concern and support for every member on her team. She has excellent people skills and is very result oriented. Therefore, I would recommend Susan for a leadership role in any technology company.”  —    Jim Stocker, Senior Database Administrator, Best IT, worked indirectly for Susan at BestIT

“Throughout my professional career, I have had the pleasure of working for Susan at two very different organizations where she assumed the responsibility of CIO and COO. Susan is an exceptional leader with vision. She communicates the needs of the business, the steps ahead and provides constructive guidance along the way. Susan is tactful and strategic with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Susan ensures her organization has the resources necessary to excel and is a consistent supporter clearing any roadblocks to accomplishment. Susan is a team builder/ player and is very personable. She understands the importance of repeatable processes and efficiencies to help an organization grow and measures success. I have personally experienced tremendous growth, change and benefit to both organizations as a direct result of Susan’s leadership. If given the opportunity, I would definitely work with Susan again.”  —    Ian Sutherland, IT Administration, BestIT, worked indirectly for Susan at BestIT

“Susan is one of those very rare and driven individuals who can draw out the best in almost anyone. Her vision, instinct and professional finesse is inspiring. Susan has a draw about her that inspires her people to excel at what they do, and empowers them to be successful within their roles. Susan has the ability to captivate a room, and consistently converts clients, partners, and staff into long lasting relationships. I have been fortunate to work for Susan, and hope to have the opportunity to work under her influence again.”  —    Julee Kalvin, Executive Assistant, BestIT, reported to Susan at BestIT

“Let me first start by saying that Susan Silberisen is directly responsible for leading a complete operational turn around within BestIT’s ability to effectively deliver services to their customer base. Susan’s technical knowledge and CIO leadership experience allowed her to quickly assemble a team of experts to improve delivery. The combination of her technical and operational skills proved to be a powerful combination which contributed directly to revenue growth and increased profitability. Most specifically, while I was there, sales programs I developed lead to the largest contract in BestIT history of almost 6 million dollars. Without Susan’s direct leadership during the technical assessment, proposal, and delivery stage BestIT would not have secured that business. Susan’s C Level experience is vast and any organization would benefit from her leadership at the highest levels. I would welcome an opportunity to work with her again.”  —    Jeff Karns, Director of Sales, BestIT, reported to Susan at BestIT

“Working with Susan is a pleasure. She’s bright, energetic, savvy, innovative, creative, and knowledgeable. Her understanding of people, business, and technology enables her to deliver innovative solutions to complex problems. As a leader, Susan is process-driven and sees potential in her team members that even they may not recognize. She encourages creativity, embraces diversity, and provides solid leadership to her team. Susan is a proven leader who would be an asset to any organization.”  — Joe Ryan, Senior Technical Writer & Communications Manager, BestIT, worked indirectly for Susan at BestIT

“I’ve worked with Susan over the years and have come to appreciate her leadership and strategic mindset. Her attention to detail ensures success whenever she takes on a challenge. Her team building and leadership skills are second to none. She has deep technology skills and as a technology executive, an organization cannot go wrong by considering and hiring Susan.” — Ed Vasko, Managing Director, CEV Professional Services, was a consultant or contractor to Susan at Arizona Department of Revenue

“Susan is one of the rare leaders that is a visionary will all the skills and experience to successfully implement the vision. Susan is able to leverage the resources at her disposal to achieve success, and fully encourages her team to participate by contributing their thoughts, experience, and wisdom – thereby allowing the team to share in the success. Most importantly, I’ve never seen Susan lose focus on the overarching goal of providing excellent IT customer service.”  — Jim Harden, PMP, Executive Project Manager, Arizona Department of Revenue, reported to Susan at Arizona Department of Revenue

“I was working for Accenture when Susan was hired as the CIO of our client, the Arizona Department of Revenue. While I did not report to her directly, I had the opportunity to participate in meetings and decisions with her while working through outstanding issues in our system. This allowed me to closely observe her management style on a daily basis and benefit from her techniques. Susan stands out as one of the most organized and driven managers with whom I’ve worked. Her suggestions for improvement in the IT department were precise and accurate. She analyzed their needs, prioritized them with the business teams, created a plan to reorganize her staff, and then fought for the resources she needed to implement that plan. Thanks to her foresight, she was able to create government IT positions that competed with private sector salaries, providing the ability to hire the well-equipped individuals needed to support the department. She showed great courage in her reorganization of the department and was able to succeed by developing a clear plan based on proven experience. To this day, I regularly use several aspects of management that I learned from Susan, such as prioritizing issues, planning meetings, documenting results, and helping people take ownership and responsibility for their work. I am convinced that Susan has much to offer anybody she works with and I recommend her without hesitation.” — Drew Bierlein, Contractor, Arizona Department of Revenue, worked indirectly for Susan at Arizona Department of Revenue

“As a consultant project manager who specializes in large-scale initiatives, I’ve worked in numerous IT departments and had time to carefully observe IT leaders. None can compare to Susan’s combination of experience and skills. Most CIO’s know their technology and many also know have intimate knowledge of their business. However, few are natural leaders like Susan, and virtually none have all that plus a personality that is easy to work with and for. If your company needs an IT Executive, you should be working now to steal her from her current employer. You’ll just waste time on that pile of resumes HR is sending you!” — Ken Baer, PMP, Owner, Applied Intent, LLC, was a consultant or contractor to Susan at First National Bank of Arizona

“Susan acted as the Program Manager for all aspects of the ERP Implementation. She was visionary in creating a project plan, project budget and success criteria that guided the implementation to success at NAU.” — John Kelty, ERP Implementation Project Director, Northern Arizona University, reported to Susan at Northern Arizona University