Damaris Duckworth
Albstadt
Summary
Experienced professional with a proven track record in on-call response and support, vendor oversight, interfacing with senior management, development teams and design consultants. Adept at ensuring customer satisfaction and a charismatic leader.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
6
6
Certification
Work History
Head of Data Center Operations
IX Africa Data Centre
06.2021 - 10.2023
- Collaborated with senior management to formulate DC strategy.
- Data Center operations - managed facilities equipment and systems to ensure right capacity and redundancy is 100% available and efficiently.
- Hired and lead appropriately skilled facility operations workforce whose capacity and capabilities are aligned with current services required, with potential (through training) to meet future planned service requirements.
- Security management - with proper security policies, procedures, work instructions and controls; oversaw security team with regular reviews, and in consideration of ISO 27001 and PCIDSS.
- Facilities Maintenance – wholistic MEP and supporting areas maintenance in accordance with equipment/systems lifecycle planning.
- Authored and maintained proficiency and oversaw strict adherence to critical awareness policies, process, established engineering guidelines, MOPs, SOPs & EOPs.
- Risk management – ensured that appropriate risk management framework for DC with logical and systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, monitoring and treating risks involved in any activity and process that affect DC facility and services.
- Compliance – ensured that the DC meets requirements of national and local laws, codes, standards and (industry) regulations & other standards and best practices based on principles of good governance and customer demand and requirements defined in the SLAs.
- Safety and Crisis management – ensured that facilities incorporate safety design principles with statutory regulations, industry standards taking into account best practices towards comfortable and safe work environment. Handled operations crisis management and communication by overseeing, gathering and management of crisis (pre, during and post crisis) using laid-out plans.
- Monitoring, reporting and control – ensured consistent levels of service quality were delivered and met customers' expectations.
- Identified issues, analyzed information and provided solutions to problems.
- Self-motivated, with strong sense of personal responsibility. Adaptable and proficient in learning new concepts quickly and efficiently.
Data Center Facilities Manager
icolo.io (A Digital Realty Company)
01.2018 - 05.2021
- Ensured efficient utilization and 100% availability of the DC infrastructure by developing, utilizing, and reviewing MOPs, SOPs & EOPs.
- Partnered with DC infrastructure development and engineering team to establish criteria and execution of turnover and transition from design & engineering to operations and product support. Lead the team in ISO 270001 and PCIDSS certification of the DC.
- Leadership - Lead, mentored, engaged and developed teams to maximize their individual contributions. Took part in recruiting, assessing, training, coaching and team appraisals.
- Worked closely with vendors to foster healthy vendors'/suppliers' relationships, managed contracts, product performance, usage monitoring and forecast, service levels and expectations.
- Oversaw production environment infrastructure projects on‑time and on‑budget including DC consolidations and equipment commissioning and decommissioning as well as operational systems upgrades in coordination with development and or vendor teams.
- Developed opportunities for cross‑team effectiveness and removed organizational barriers for strong teamwork, collaboration, and excellent service delivery.
- Planned annual CAPEX/OPEX Budget and consolidated data center spend. Monthly cost/consumption tracking and cost control. Worked closely with application stakeholders for budget/activity forecasting.
- Implemented service methodologies like incident management, problem management, capacity management change management.
- Provided excellent customer service, interpersonal awareness, and communication skills, these were particularly relevant given multiple partners and service support vendors engaged in successful operation of data center.
- Created management reports outlining important facility statistics.
Senior Site Engineer & Client Representative
icolo.io (A Digital Realty Company)
06.2016 - 12.2017
- Prepared and submitted daily, weekly, monthly, and requested reports to senior management, summarizing progress of contractor and vendor activities, quality control, resourcing and scheduling issues, and any other pertinent facts as required during construction and fit-out phases.
- Charged with understanding technical specification and scope of work of each contractor/vendor that they had been mandated to. Assisted on-site teams in implementation of quality plans for project and ensured specified quality of works was achieved.
- Checked contractor's claims and submittal against its accuracy and reality and made recommendations to senior management. Verified and revised contractor reports, proposals for changes and request for payment issued by contractor and transmitted them (for eventual approval) to senior management, together with comments, and remarks.
- Managed data holistic center snag list - documented, reported and resolved errors, omissions, discrepancies and deficiencies for construction phase closeout.
- Participated in project evaluation process; highlighted challenges associated with project and gave feedback to continuous improvement cycle.
- Sat on DC MEP design committee provided on-site support, and trouble/problems/issues resolution, of critical support systems during fit-out, to ensure fault tolerance for Tier III+ data center objectives; participated in Integrated Site Acceptance & Testing (ISAT).
- Provided personable and approachable leadership to collaborate with and influence construction site teams towards common objective - successful completion of build and fit-out phase of Tier III+ colocation facility.
- Facilitated smooth handovers by thoroughly documenting all relevant information related to completed projects.
Level 2-5 Network Support Engineer
ITWorX Ltd
12.2012 - 04.2016
- Extensive knowledge and experience of TCP/IP protocol suit with practical implementation of switching, routing protocols and LAN/WAN services.
- Remotely analyzed and diagnosed complex network faults for level 1 end-users, recommending and implementing corrective measures.
- In-depth knowledge of configuring and troubleshooting routing protocols: BGP, OSPF, RIP, IGRP and EIGRP on Cisco, Mikrotik, Ubiquiti, HP, D-Link, Netgear, Huawei, Linksys, TP-Link and Juniper.
- Implemented and troubleshooted layer 2 protocols i.e., LLDP, CDP, ARP, MLT, PPP, FDDI, HDLC, IEEE 802.11, MPLS, STP, RSTP etc.
- Experience in configuring Windows servers and configuring network capabilities on them, DNS, DHCP, AD, and filer server.
- Enhanced network security with implementation of firewall policies and regular vulnerability assessments. Good understanding of firewalls on various platforms e.g., Cisco ASA, Mikrotik firewall, checkpoint, pfSense and untangle.
- Knowledge in IPSEC VPN design connection and protocols, IPSEC tunnel configuration, encryption and integrity protocols.
- Optimized network infrastructure through meticulous documentation and change management of configurations, procedures, and changes. Attended to trouble tickets and support help desk.
- Deployed, configured, cloned, and managed virtual environments like VMware, windows hypervisor and virtual box.
- Trained and supporting level 1 support customer personnel for improved overall user experience through support, training, troubleshooting, improvements and communication of system changes.
- Managed hosting desk; cPanel management - accounts, domains, emails, MySQL databases, billing and account.
- Assisted in design of scalable wireless networks that accommodated future growth while maintaining high levels of security. Rolled out Ubiquiti Scalable and Unified Enterprise WiFi Management of bank WAN.
Project Manager/Administrator
Ndani Interiors Ltd
03.2007 - 11.2011
- Achieved financial objectives by preparing interior design budgets, scheduling expenditure, analyzing variances and initiating corrective actions.
- Accounting and bookkeeping; liaised closely with auditors to close pending end of year financial reports for 7 years backlog and filed tax arrears and penalties with KRA.
- Managed relationships with clients, vendors, service providers and landlord to ensure that all items are invoiced and timely paid.
- Member of creative department - created Interior design proposals and presentations as per brief, theme and client preferences.
- Carried out interior design project management - procurement, implementation, research, coordination and supervision from project inception to close-out.
- Enhanced overall project success by conducting thorough post-project evaluations and incorporating lessons learned into future efforts.
- Performed review and analysis of special projects and kept management adequately informed.
- Interior Architectural Drawings using ArchiCADD.
Lighting/Maintenance Technician
Film Studios (K) Ltd
11.2005 - 08.2006
- Managed repair workshop and hiring of film gear (grips, lighting), cameras (DVCAM DSR) and mobile silent generators.
- Provided customer support and vendor management.
- Performed preventive maintenance, servicing, repairing and installing of ballasts, lamps, transformers, dimmers, intelligent lighting and generators.
- Created and documented asset and spare parts inventory & kept track of hired inventory.
- Optimized system performance through thorough testing, analysis, and adjustments as needed.
Avionics Apprentice
Titan Avionics (K) Ltd
09.1999 - 11.2002
- Performed troubleshooting and repair of aircraft avionics equipment and electrical systems such as navigation/communication systems, weather radar, autopilot, compass systems and accessories component level.
- Participated in test and inspection (check A, B, C & D) of aircraft avionics systems by performing maintenance checklists and reports as required in accordance with manufacturers' best practice & KCAA regulations and guidelines.
- Took part in repair, overhaul and upgrades of aircraft avionics components and accessories to MFG specifications.
- Made use of all mandated safety equipment and complied with all safety requirements in accordance with company and government regulations and guidelines.
- Acquitted myself with small aircraft repair, inspection processes and procedures manual.
Avionics Intern
Titan Avionics (K) Ltd
11.2001 - 01.2002
- Took part in troubleshooting to determine malfunctions on aircraft avionics components and electrical systems components, such as airborne navigation/communication systems, weather radar, autopilot, compass systems and accessories component level.
- Familiarized myself with repair, overhaul and upgrades of aircraft communication & navigation components, autopilot and other electrical systems components and accessories to MFG specifications.
- Participated in performing aircraft maintenance checklists and reporting as required in accordance with manufacturers' best practice KCAA regulations and guidelines Introduced to small aircraft repair, inspection processes and procedures manual.
Education
Online MOOC - Learning How to Learn - Learning Sciences
University of California San Diego
San Diego, California11.2022
Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering - Telecommunication
Railway Training Institute
Nairobi, Kenya11.2010
National Diploma in Electrical Engineering - Electronics
Railway Training Institute
Nairobi, Kenya11.2002
Skills
- Self-Directed
- Multitasking
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Problem Resolution
- Quality Assurance
- Decision-Making
- Organization and Time Management
- Interpersonal Communication
Languages
English
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Swahili
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Gikuyu
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
German
Beginner (A1)
Certification
- Certified Data Center Professional - CDCP
- Siemon Certified Installer
- Mikrotik Certified Network Associate - MTCNA
- Cisco Certified Network Associate - CCNA
- Telecommunication Graduate Training Programme
- Microsoft Certified User Support Profession
References
Available on request
Timeline
Head of Data Center Operations
IX Africa Data Centre
06.2021 - 10.2023
Data Center Facilities Manager
icolo.io (A Digital Realty Company)
01.2018 - 05.2021
Senior Site Engineer & Client Representative
icolo.io (A Digital Realty Company)
06.2016 - 12.2017
Level 2-5 Network Support Engineer
ITWorX Ltd
12.2012 - 04.2016
Project Manager/Administrator
Ndani Interiors Ltd
03.2007 - 11.2011
Lighting/Maintenance Technician
Film Studios (K) Ltd
11.2005 - 08.2006
Avionics Intern
Titan Avionics (K) Ltd
11.2001 - 01.2002
Avionics Apprentice
Titan Avionics (K) Ltd
09.1999 - 11.2002
Online MOOC - Learning How to Learn - Learning Sciences
University of California San Diego
Higher National Diploma in Electrical Engineering - Telecommunication
Railway Training Institute
National Diploma in Electrical Engineering - Electronics
Railway Training Institute
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