Alex Matthews

Current

• Principal Advisor ICT Planning at Department of Natural Resources and Water

Past

• Founder / Principal at Needy Children and Orphans Foundation
• Postgraduate [Masters] at University of New South Wales
• Project Manager Information Systems Design & Deployment at Department of Defence

• Manager Information Systems at Department of Defence
• Postgraduate at University of Technology, Sydney
• Program Manager - Rapid Deployable Systems Development at Department of Defence
• Communications and Information Systems Supervisor at Department of Defence
• Manager Information Systems at Department of Defence
• Senior Information Systems Installation Technician at Department of Defence
• Lead System Administrator at Department of Defence
• Information Systems Manager at Department of Defence
• Systems Administrator / Technician at Department of Defence
• Senior Network Engineer at Department of Defence
• IT service desk manager at Department of Defence

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Education

• M Sc [IT] @ University of New South Wales
• Grad Dip IT @ University of Technology Sydney
• Grad Cert Sc [IT] @ University of New South Wales

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Recommended

12 people have recommended Alex

Connections

229 connections

Industry

Telecommunications

Websites

• Australian ICT Network

Alex Matthews’s Summary

Currently in a strategic application portfolio management role in the Program Management Office and oversee project delivery for the agency by conducting project assurance activities and providing advice as needed or requested. Focus is on ICT governance but recently began to oversee major scientific, construction, infrastructure and business programs & projects.

Manage $75M application portfolio for NRW and oversee the project assurance activities for NRW. Provide advice and review for key projects, documentation, technical plans and project governance. Currently working on the development of a project assurance framework and developing a complementary software QA framework to guide, streamline and integrate software intensive projects.

Leading establishment of an Enterprise Architecture at NRW as De facto Enterprise Architect. This integrates with whole-of-government ICT strategy while contextualized for the special nature of NRW which leads QLD's spatial community and so has a huge usage of GIS systems and so a v. challenging need for quality metadata regimes.
Previous experience includes tactical and operations management roles including staff as large as 50 under direct supervision. Primarily these roles were focused on telecommunications infrastructure, critical system development and installations projects and in turn the operations associated with these systems.
Have managed, procured, installed, tested and configured a range of communication systems including but not limited to IT networks, internetworking equipment, PABX telephony, ISDN, PSTN, VoIP, satellite systems and satellite telephony ranging from military to INMARSAT. HF, VHF, UHF radio. Microwave. ATM. Encryption (Military grade & AES/ 3DES).
I hold Masters Degree in Science, Majoring in Information Technology obtained at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Alex Matthews’s Specialties:

Now primarily a strategic planner, manager of technical staff, project managers/directors and communications system developers.

Alex Matthews’s Experience

• Principal Advisor ICT Planning

  Department of Natural Resources and Water

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  June 2007 — Present (1 year 3 months)

  Working in the Program Management Office, primarily focussed on development of portfolio, program and project management accross agency. Focus is on ICT governance but recently begun to include major scientific, construction, infrastructure and business programs & projects.
  
  Manage $75M application portfolio for NRW and oversee the project assurance activities for NRW. Provide advice and review for key projects, documentation, technical plans and project governance. Currently working on the development of a project assurance framwework and developing a complementary software QA framework to guide, streamline and integrate software intensive projects.
  
  Leading establishment of an Enterprise Architecture at NRW as De facto Enterprise Architect. This integrates with whole-of-government ICT strategy while contextualised for the special nature of NRW which leads QLD's spatial community and so has a huge usage of GIS systems and so a v. challenging need for quality metadata regimes.

• Founder / Principal

  Needy Children and Orphans Foundation

  (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Philanthropy industry)

  January 2008 — March 2008 (3 months)

  Whilst travelling in Mwendo, Uganda, the "Mwendo Needy Children and Orphans Project" [MNCOP] was found to be recieving no support from any agency [government or philanthropic].
  
  I founded the Needy Children and Orphans Foundation [NCOF] with intent to provide support to the 100 orphans and 400 needy children in need nutrition, clothing, shelter and education.
  
  NCOF is being registered as a legal entity [expected completion end Mar 08] and will first provide a web presence and e-donation facility to MNCOP.
  
  The nominated board lead by myself is now working to establish the NCOF organisational, operating models and core values. Activities in progress include stakeholder analysis, market analysis and major organisational liaison.
  
  Strategic policy currently under consideration includes investment, sustainability, fund raising, volunteer engagement, marketing, PR, communication, community engagement, benefit distribution, anti-corruption and institutional lobbying.

• Postgraduate [Masters]

  University of New South Wales

  (Educational Institution; 5001-10,000 employees; Higher Education industry)

  February 2007 — November 2007 (10 months)

  Graduated the Masters Science [Information Technology] with Distinction
  
  Masters degree including:
  
  Enterprise Architecture,
  Systems Planning,
  E-business and
  Systems Engineering Practice.

• Project Manager Information Systems Design & Deployment

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

  August 2006 — June 2007 (11 months)

  Brisbane, Australia.
  
  A diverse role including project and operations management as well as a strategic planning and policy function. Managing large teams and multi-million dollar projects.
  
  Successfully managed projects to achieve on-time, on-scope delivery within resource constraints and exceeding customer quality criteria.
  
  Projects were typically about the design, configuration and deployment of multi-million dollar Defence communication systems.
  
  Also acted as operations manager of a team of over 40 Information Systems staff and in a strategic planning and policy making capacity specialising in Information systems provision, professional development, logistic support, systems procurement, development and testing.

• Manager Information Systems

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2006 — August 2006 (7 months)

  Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  
  Project manager for development & deployment of a multi-million dollar suite of Defence classified, life-critical information systems & associated infrastructure.
  
  Systems were deployed to Afghanistan and a major logistic support planning process was a key delivery success factor.
  
  Interface to other international Defence information systems required the development of a comprehensive security framework, another key success factor.
  
  The project was delivered using just six telecommunications specialists. The technologies installed and administered included:
  
  C / X / Ku band satellite,
  L band satellite telephony [INMARSAT],
  Radio networks [UHF, VHF, HF],
  secure, encrypted, Government classified voice, data and
  video-teleconferencing,
  PABX telephony,
  Nortel Passport ATM,
  Cisco internetworking,
  xADSL,
  V100 Multiplexors,
  HP blade servers with RAID,
  Gigabit optical fibre LAN backbone and
  commercial satellite TV.

• Postgraduate

  University of Technology, Sydney

  (Educational Institution; 1001-5000 employees; Education Management industry)

  February 2005 — November 2005 (10 months)

  Graduated the Diploma in Information Technology with Distinction
  
  Graduate Diploma including:
  
  Database Management Systems,
  Information Systems
  Data Communications (OSI model & Cisco),
  Mobile Networking,
  Systems Development,
  Project Management & Proffessional Ethics and
  Programming in:
  
  VB .Net 2003,
  PHP,
  XML,
  Optimal J,
  Javascript and
  C#

• Program Manager - Rapid Deployable Systems Development

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  May 2004 — December 2004 (8 months)

  Sydney. Australia.
  
  
  Leading a major initiative to develop lightweight, rapidly deployable Information and Communication Systems for a senior Defence headquarters.
  
  Beginning with a major stakeholder engagement and requirements elicitation project the program identified a number of related and interdependent projects to collectively bring about change to capability and culture.
  
  Specific project deliverables included the design, procurement, testing and construction of a number of small deployable information and communication systems capable of deploying at short notice and handling Defence classified analogue and digital traffic and data. All associated procedural, security, goernance and policy methodologies, frameworks and documentation were also produced. All projects were delivered on time, on scope, within resource constraints and met quality benchmarks. The program in turn exceeded epectations for benefits realisation.

• Communications and Information Systems Supervisor

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  November 2003 — May 2004 (7 months)

  Baghdad, Iraq.
  
  I lead a team of nine telecommunications specialists. The technologies installed and administered by my team include C / X / Ku band satellite, L band satellite telephony [INMARSAT], handheld satellite [Iridium, Sectera], Radio networks [UHF, VHF, HF], secure, encrypted, Government classified voice, data and video-teleconferencing, PABX telephony, GSM and CDMA mobile telephony, Nortel Passport ATM, Cisco internetworking, xADSL, HP blade servers with RAID, Gigabit optical fibre LAN backbone, commercial satellite TV and RFID access control.

• Manager Information Systems

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  April 2002 — November 2003 (1 year 8 months)

  Sydney. Australia.
  
  I was responsible for designing, purchasing, installing, documenting and operating a short-notice globally deployable telecommunications system capable of providing secure, encrypted, Government classified voice, data and video-teleconferencing.
  
  I was awarded a commendation for exemplary service by the Australian Army for my work developing this system.

• Senior Information Systems Installation Technician

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2002 — April 2002 (3 months)

  Timor L'este [East Timor].
  
  The Australian Defence Force built a $15M military base for the Timorese military in preparation for the handover of border security from United Nations' forces to the Timorese. My role was to manage the information systems installation and included the management of all security aspects of installing government classified systems overseas, the production of system operating procedures and training of site administration staff.

• Lead System Administrator

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  August 2001 — December 2001 (5 months)

  International Peace Monitoring Group [PMG], Bougainville.
  
  The role of PMG was to facilitate peace negotiations after the conclusion of the Bougainville Conflict. My role was to provide Information Systems support to facilitate PMG operations.
  I was awarded the Australian Service Medal for my work with PMG.
  
  I was also awarded a commendation for excellence by the Land Commander of the Australian Army.

• Information Systems Manager

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  July 2000 — August 2001 (1 year 2 months)

  Darwin, Australia.
  
  Received formal leadership training courses including Frontline Management and trade technical courses in Cisco routers, Lotus Notes [Group Ware and Email] and Microsoft Windows NT4. Managed a team of 20 staff, coordinated technical training and managed IT equipment.

• Systems Administrator / Technician

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

  January 1998 — January 2001 (3 years 1 month)

  System administrator of IT systems including government classified. Provide technical support to networks of up to 500 users including networking, intertnetworking, email, encryption and other application support.
  
  Q - Whats the difference between a system administrator and God?
  
  A - God doesn't think he's a system administrator

• Senior Network Engineer

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2000 — July 2000 (6 months)

  Timor L'este. [East Timor]
  
  Senior Network Engineer for the Commercial Communications Management Team [CCMT]. CCMT's role was to install backbone communications for the United Nations Transitional Administration [UNTAET]. My role was to conduct the installation of a nation-wide Cisco router based IP backbone to provide a backbone router system [BRS] for UNTAET operations. This network, including the VoIP component is still in use today by the United Nations in East Timor.
  
  I was awarded the Australian Active Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal for my role with CCMT.

• IT service desk manager

  Department of Defence

  (Government Agency; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  March 1999 — February 2000 (1 year)

  Darwin, Australia.
  
  Provided first line support to 300 staff for two Government classified networks. One Novell IPX network supporting a repair workshop and one Microsoft Windows NT4 network facilitating the organisational unit's office automation, email, groupware and data storage requirement

Alex Matthews’s Education

• M Sc [IT] @ University of New South Wales

  Masters of Science [Information Technology], Majors in ICT Management and Information Technology Systems Planning, 2006 — 2007

  Masters degree including Enterprise Architecture, Systems Planning, E-business and Systems Engineering Practice.

• Grad Dip IT @ University of Technology Sydney

  Graduate Diploma, Information Technology, 2005 — 2005

  Graduate Diploma including Programming in VB .Net 2003, PHP, XML, Optimal J, Javascript & C#, Database Management Systems, Information Systems and Data Communications (Cisco), Mobile Networking, Systems Development, Project Management & Proffessional Ethics

• Grad Cert Sc [IT] @ University of New South Wales

  graduate Certificate, Information Technology, 2003 — 2004

  Completed Grad Cert including Computer Security, Telecommunications, System Development and Integrating Infomation Systems Technology

Additional Information

Alex Matthews’s Websites:

• Australian ICT Network

Alex Matthews’s Interests:

Search Engine optimisation, Enterprise Architecture, Eco-tourism, Philanthropy.

Alex Matthews’s Groups:

Founder / Principal of the Needy Children and Orphan Foundation

Member - Web Standards Group since 2005
Member - Open Source Industry Australia since 2006
Member - Queensland Enterprise Architecture Council since 2007

•    International Association of Software Architects
•    LIONs "LI Open Networkers"
•    Systems Thinking
•    International Network of Social Entrepreneurs
•    Service Oriented Architecture Special Interest Group
•    The Enterprise Architecture Network
•    Australian LIONs
•    The 4-Hour Academy
•    Friends of Australia
•    Positive Thinkers
•    1 Australia - Australian ICT Professional Network
•    Architects of Australian Technology

Alex Matthews’s Honors:

Australian Active Service Medal - East Timor
Australian Active Service Medal - Iraq
Australian Active Service Medal - ICAT [Afghanistan]
INTERFET Campaign Medal - (Pending)
Iraq Cmapaign Medal
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
Australian Service Medal - Bouganville
United Nations Service Medal - East Timor
Soldier's Medallion
Commendation - Land Commander Australia

Alex Matthews’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch