Hello, I'm

Michael Oates

IT Operations Leader

20+ years driving infrastructure, cloud, and IT strategy across global enterprises — from federal programs to pharma SaaS.

20+ Years Experience
99.99% Uptime Delivered
35% Cost Reduction
60% Faster Change Approvals
Michael Oates
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Results-driven leader
who ships reliability.

I'm an IT Operations Leader with over two decades of experience overseeing infrastructure, cloud, and support operations across hybrid environments. I specialize in building and leading high-performing global teams, implementing scalable cloud solutions, and optimizing service delivery through ITSM best practices.

From managing federal programs at IBM to directing cloud operations at a pharma SaaS company, I've consistently delivered measurable outcomes: reduced costs, improved uptime, and strengthened compliance postures across HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, and PCI DSS.

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWS, Azure, VMware vSphere, hybrid cloud design, and infrastructure-as-code at enterprise scale.

👥

Team Leadership

Managing matrixed, globally distributed teams of 10+ engineers through growth and transformation.

🔒

Compliance & Security

End-to-end delivery of HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, PCI DSS, and federal security compliance programs.

ITSM & Automation

ITIL-based processes, ServiceNow/Jira, PowerShell automation, and continuous improvement culture.

Career History

Volunteer IT Manager

Marquette L Walker Ministries — Apex, NC

March 2026 – Present
  • Serve as sole IT leader and strategic technology partner to C-Suite, owning full IT budget, vendor relationships, and complete asset inventory across a remote workforce.
  • Deliver end-to-end IT projects with full accountability for planning, resource allocation, and budget oversight aligned to organizational growth.
  • Own the organization's full infrastructure: network, cloud services, email systems, and security protocols for a fully distributed remote team.
  • Author and enforce all IT policies, procedures, and security measures, establishing compliance and data protection frameworks from the ground up.
  • Administer Microsoft 365 including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive, maintaining platform stability and security compliance.
M365 AdminVendor ManagementIT StrategySecurity Policy

Director of Data Center & Hosting Operations

Suvoda, LLC — Conshohocken, PA

Oct 2022 – Nov 2025
  • Led Cloud & Infrastructure Operations for a 10-person team with 24/7 incident response ownership, escalation management, and RCA across hybrid on-prem and AWS environments.
  • Drove AWS cloud adoption delivering 99.99% uptime through automated, self-healing infrastructure-as-code solutions.
  • Directed capacity planning, business continuity, and disaster recovery strategy ensuring RTO/RPO and SLA compliance.
  • Established operational governance tracking workload and resolution metrics in Jira, mentoring engineers and optimizing cloud costs.
  • Met GxP, GDPR, HIPAA, and security compliance requirements through cross-functional collaboration.
AWSIncident ManagementGDPR/HIPAAInfrastructure-as-CodeTeam Leadership

IT Operations Manager / Infrastructure Specialist

IBM — Keyser, WV

Mar 2015 – Oct 2022
  • Directed SOC and Service Desk teams supporting a federal program serving 1,000+ users with full incident management, SLA adherence, and service request ownership.
  • Owned operational stability for 5+ mission-critical federal applications through root cause analysis, audit readiness, and remediation planning.
  • Led ITIL-based change and release management, coordinating with vendors to minimize service disruption and prevent repeat incidents.
  • Served as primary federal client liaison, delivering operational recommendations, managing contracts and budgets, and authoring RFPs/RFQs/IFBs.
  • Managed large-scale VMware, network, and security infrastructure; mentored 10+ employees through performance and career development.
Federal ITITILVMwareSLA ManagementBudget/Contracts

Senior Systems Administrator

Orbital ATK — Keyser, WV

Nov 2012 – Mar 2015
  • Administered VMware infrastructure of hundreds of physical and virtual machines across a 24/7 defense manufacturing facility.
  • Led design and deployment of VMware and SAN-based infrastructure replacement for classified systems, boosting reliability for 20 engineering workstations with zero downtime tolerance.
  • Implemented streamlined imaging processes and load balancers, significantly reducing provisioning times and stabilizing mission-critical manufacturing applications.
VMwareSAN StorageDefenseZero-Downtime

Sr. Systems and Network Manager

The Active Networks — Frostburg, MD

Nov 2004 – Nov 2012
  • Directed a team managing 3 enterprise data centers with 500+ physical and virtual servers and 1,000+ workstations.
  • Led major infrastructure projects including large-scale data center migrations, disaster recovery design, and virtualization initiatives.
  • Leveraged ServiceNow automation and optimized ACD systems, cutting ticket resolution times and boosting team responsiveness.
Data CenterServiceNowVirtualizationDR Design

Core Skills

👥 Leadership & Management

IT Operations Management IT Strategy & Roadmapping Cross-Functional Team Leadership Staff Development & Mentoring Vendor & MSP Management SLA & KPI Management ITIL Change, Incident & Problem Mgmt Budget Planning & Cost Optimization Agile / PMP Project Management

Infrastructure & Cloud

Hybrid Cloud (AWS / Azure / GCP) VMware vSphere / ESXi / vCenter Microsoft 365 / Teams Admin Active Directory & Azure AD IAM DR & BCP LAN/WAN, VPN, Firewalls Cisco / Juniper SAN/NAS (Veeam, CommVault) Telephony & VoIP / Teams Voice

🔒 Security & Compliance

IT Governance & Risk Management SOC 2 / ISO 27001 HIPAA PCI DSS GDPR Endpoint Security & Patch Mgmt DLP & Encryption MFA & Conditional Access SIEM Monitoring

Tools & Automation

ServiceNow Jira Service Management JAMF Intune SCCM PRTG / Nagios / New Relic / SolarWinds PowerShell Python Asset Lifecycle Management Generative AI for IT Ops

Notable Projects

01

AWS Cloud Migration

Migrated multiple legacy on-premises systems — application servers, databases, and storage — to AWS. Leveraged EC2, RDS, and S3, implemented automated scaling and backups, and decommissioned outdated hardware.

Result 35% reduction in infrastructure costs + improved DR capabilities
AWSEC2RDSS3IaC
02

ITIL Change Approval Automation

Designed and implemented an automated ITIL-based change approval workflow leveraging PowerShell and ServiceNow integration, streamlining end-to-end change management and improving stakeholder visibility.

Result 60% reduction in approval time + consistent change control compliance
PowerShellServiceNowITILAutomation
03

HIPAA & SOC 2 Compliance Programs

Led multiple compliance initiatives across hybrid cloud environments, coordinating cross-functional teams to implement security controls, document auditor evidence, and remediate gaps.

Result Strengthened regulatory posture & reinforced customer trust
HIPAASOC 2Audit ReadinessCloud Security
04

PCI DSS Certification

Led a cross-functional initiative to achieve PCI DSS certification, implementing rigorous security controls across cloud and on-premises environments and coordinating with internal teams and external auditors.

Result Full PCI DSS certification achieved — improved data protection
PCI DSSSecurity ControlsCompliance
05

Data Center Consolidation

Consolidated multiple geographically dispersed data centers into a single, resilient hybrid cloud architecture — migrating workloads to cloud and virtualized environments, optimizing storage and network configurations.

Result Improved operational efficiency, enhanced uptime, reduced maintenance overhead
Hybrid CloudVirtualizationDRNetwork Optimization
Education

Systems Analysis

WVU Potomac State College — Keyser, WV

Get In Touch

I'm actively exploring new leadership opportunities in IT Operations, Infrastructure, or Cloud Management. Whether you have a role to discuss or just want to connect — reach out.