Chris Rapp

Current

Asst. VP / Director of Technology at Sovereign Bank

Past

IT Manager at Vartec Telecom
IT Manager/ Senior Lead Developer at Safeguard Business Systems

Education

The University of Texas at Austin
W.T. White HS

Recommended

7 people have recommended Chris

Connections

193 connections

Industry

Banking

Websites

Chris Rapp’s Summary

Senior/Executive Technology Management.

Currently the Asst. VP / Director of Technology for Sovereign Bank in Dallas Texas.

In charge of all technology for the organization.

Chris Rapp’s Specialties:

Networking, PCs, Printers, Voice Over IP, Web Development, Information Security, Technology Governance, Business Continuity, GLBA Compliance

Chris Rapp’s Experience

Asst. VP / Director of Technology

Sovereign Bank

(Public Company; Banking industry)

September 2004 — Present (5 years 3 months)

• Leadership of entire Information Technology department
o Preside over departmental employees, consultants and vendors.
• Manage and operate information technology budget for entire organization.
o Control computer hardware, software, peripheral purchases and expenditures
o Negotiate, manage and maintain all contracts with software, hardware, network admin, telecommunications, compliance, security, etc. vendors
o Work with Executive Council to ensure expenditures match the budgeted amounts
• Manage, support and maintain core processing system (Jack Henry 20/20)
o Manage relationship with Jack Henry support engineers.
• Manage and preside over IT Steering Committee to make corporate decisions regarding information technology.
o Provide direction and make recommendations for IT systems and expenditures to Executive Council.
o Provide status reports on pending issues and IT projects.
o Respond to questions from Executive council regarding IT related issues.
IT Manager

Vartec Telecom

(Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Telecommunications industry)

2002 — 2004 (2 years )

• Mergers & Acquisitions: Actively participated in the integration and consolidation of corporate systems and processes as a member of the Integration team during VarTec’s acquisition of Excel Communications.
• Made decisions on hardware, software, and network infrastructures to implement for entire IT department.
• Managed multi-functional teams of 4 - 20 programmer/analysts to maintain a common code base across Windows and UNIX platforms resulting in simultaneous release of features on all platforms.
• Managed and defined workloads for development teams
• Managed joint requirements meetings with development staff and customers
• Managed vendor contracts and relationships and project to institute new IT standards for development software
• Managed relationship between IT and corporate customers
• Managed project to overhaul the corporate IT standard method for version control and change management
IT Manager/ Senior Lead Developer

Safeguard Business Systems

(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Printing industry)

July 2001 — December 2003 (2 years 6 months)

• Managed 100% successful delivery of code enhancements and defect fixes for corporate distributor order entry application
• Managed change management and version control ongoing projects
• Managed requirement gathering and specification definition for IT development projects
• Managed relationship and workflow between development staff and quality assurance staff
• Managed corporate order entry system code releases
• Provided weekly reporting on staff performance and evaluation to executives
• Developed and maintained corporate code updates and defects for corporate order entry system
• Created and managed code releases
• Performed project management tasks including requirement planning, goal definition, specification planning, staff workflow assignments and reporting, etc.

Chris Rapp’s Education

The University of Texas at Austin

Bachelors , Speech/Communications , 1989 — 1994

Activities and Societies:

3 Year Letterman on Football Team, Texas Wranglers, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes In Action, Big Brothers and Sisters Volunteer
W.T. White HS

1985 — 1989

Additional Information

Chris Rapp’s Websites:

Chris Rapp’s Interests:

Football, Golf, Internet, Web 2.0

Chris Rapp’s Groups:

Dallas SecureWorld Steering Council, Parish Episcopal School, Parish Episcopal School, Toastmasters, Dallas Cowboys Fans LinkedIn Group, Facebook CIO Magazine Group, LinkedIn CIO Group, NewsVine