Chris Cravens

Current

Director of IT at MEVIO
Principal Consultant at Cravens Technical Consulting

Past

Network Manager and Sr. Project Manager at First Republic Bank
Project Manager at United Airlines
IT Manager at Home Focus, a Subsidiary of Bank of America

Project Manager at Linuxcare
Project Manager at Bank of America

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Education

St. Mary's College of California

Recommended

7 people have recommended Chris

Connections

235 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Chris Cravens’s Summary

Seasoned Information Technology management professional based in the San Francisco Bay Area with ten years IT experience including management, project leadership, business systems analysis, technical writing, and consulting. Deep experience across several IT disciplines including infrastructure, web and client server applications, networking, telephony, and project management.

Chris Cravens’s Specialties:

IT Management, IT Strategy, Enterprise Project Leadership, Team Building, Budget Management, Business Process Redesign

Chris Cravens’s Experience

Director of IT

MEVIO

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

January 2007 — Present (1 year 10 months)

• Collaborated with Executive team, elicited operational goals and plans, then defined IT strategy and roadmap, operational plan, and budget to support business objectives.
• Established high quality infrastructure and business applications on a shoestring budget by aggressively negotiating contracts with key vendors, leveraging Open Source development, and utilizing free or low cost web services.
• Performed team skillset-to-roadmap gap analysis, defined a mentoring and professional growth plan for IT staff.
• Authored and implemented operational policies and procedures based on IT Service Management principles.
Principal Consultant

Cravens Technical Consulting

(Privately Held; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

1997 — Present (11 years)

Independent IT Management Consulting for small business to Fortune 500 enterprises.

Clients Include:
First Republic Bank
Bank of America
United Airlines
Irwin Home Equity
Network Manager and Sr. Project Manager

First Republic Bank

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; FRC; Information Technology and Services industry)

February 2003 — December 2006 (3 years 11 months)

• Headed a team of twelve engineers nationwide and a queue of over 50 active projects; accountable for 300+ Windows Servers, NetApp SANs, and Cisco network in three data centers.
• Migrated Novell directory and server environment to Active Directory and Windows Server, increased provisioning efficiency 75% by establishing automated build procedures. Integrated LDAP based security profiles into file system security, reducing risk and satisfying audit requirements.
• Conceptualized and architected virtualization based scalable server deployment model to support rapid expansion in key markets, cutting startup costs for new sites in half and decreasing build time for new branch servers by 60%.
Project Manager

United Airlines

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; UAUA; Airlines/Aviation industry)

May 2004 — October 2004 (6 months)

• Directed 60 member, cross-functional global project team in the replacement of 1500 airplane maintenance PCs in 55 sites worldwide, defined requirements, deployment schedules, training, communication, support and escalation plans.
• Facilitated technical solution and business process design sessions with senior management and key stakeholders from multiple business units, defined business requirements, established consensus and executive support, and created actionable tasks and milestones for subteam leads.
• Developed flexible deployment models for five global regions, accounting for relevant variables, integrated into a detailed project plan integrating activities across multiple divisions and multiple parallel threads of implementation activities.
IT Manager

Home Focus, a Subsidiary of Bank of America

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

January 2002 — October 2002 (10 months)

• Implemented an enterprise appraisal management system with workflow for internal resources and supply chain management for vendors and partners and an Intranet e-commerce order fulfillment application fully integrated with the new ERP application and the legacy system of record.
• Increased production capacity by 200%; reduced per unit expense by 30% by streamlining and automating workflow.
Project Manager

Linuxcare

(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

January 2000 — June 2001 (1 year 6 months)

• Implemented ERP application for professional services organizations in a startup technology services organization; collaborated with senior management, billable consultants, and the vendor’s development team. On deployment, immediately increased consultant utilization, resulting in a 100% increase in consultant revenue.
• Shepherded the creation of a Project Management Office (PMO) and the adoption of project management standards aligned with industry standards (PMBOK), collaborated with product marketing to monetize project management on engagements going forward.
Project Manager

Bank of America

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BAC; Banking industry)

1997 — 1998 (1 year)