Okta

Leading the Developer Velocity project (#1 engineering initiative) to break down our monolith to improve speed for all developers. I also formed and now lead an architecture committee comprised of chief and principal architects, allowing us to promote long term technical excellence and decision making for the organization.

Engineering Principal Technical Program Manager

Edgio

Completed the merger of Yahoo + Limelight to form Edgio which now serves nearly 20% of the world's internet traffic.

Manager, Technical Program Management, CTO Org

Yahoo

Managed, mentored, and led a team of 10 Technical Project Managers. Orchestrated company wide planning events for 22 teams and 142+ engineering/product people across multiple locations and time zones.

Manager, Strategic Programs, Technical Program Management

Built out the global platform at scale and reduced business exposure to disaster scenarios within Yahoo Edgecast. I additionally built and led the innovation labs arm within the company from the ground up, producing unique forward looking projects that have earned patents.

Senior Technical Program Manager, Strategic Programs

Verizon Media

TechOps agile focused role where I led a team of 4 Technical Project Managers within the PMO. My team and I successfully completed agile transformations in operations.

Manager, Technical Project Management Office

Managed the strategic partner and infrastructure program around the world, building infrastructure at the edge of the internet in new and emerging markets.

Sr. Technical Project Manager

Planed and built datacenter infrastructure at the edge of the internet in major cities and markets across the globe to increase performance for end users “eyeballs” of the internet—from streaming video, images, applications, credit card transactions, and more.

Technical Project Manager

Southern California Edison (SCE)

A mix of engineering and project management: I was responsible for executing high voltage multi-million dollar substation projects that provide power for northern LA, eastern LA, and southern Orange counties. Worked with teams of 15-50 stakeholders regularly to complete engineering on 90+ substation projects to date. Work impacted millions of customers within the region. Fun fact: I had a big part in the effort to restore nationwide grid stability after San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was shut down.

Project Engineer

I write about program management in an effort to challenge what we know about it. My goal is for you to make a bigger impact as a program and project leader. I write a newsletter that breaks down program tactics that you can use (link in bio).

Note: My direct message response time is slow on LinkedIn. Please email me for a faster response.

My work experience (the regular LinkedIn stuff):
12 years of leading infrastructure and software projects at scale. 3 years leading direct reports with the last team being 10 people. I lead organizational process creation, strategic programs, and implementation of right-sized agile frameworks appropriate for the organization's use case (agile as a tool, not a dogma).

Matt McDannel

Studio Compute

Created Studio Compute to bridge the gap between the demand for and real-world delivery of AI compute. We provide critical expertise to connect buyers with the right technology solutions.

Founder

STAAJ Health

- Driving team to establish the voice and vision of the STAAJ Health platform and brand

- Developing organic email, social and referral marketing campaign for the STAAJ Health pilot program

- Working with the CEOs of multiple partner companies to align resources and goals

- Managing team to produce original video marketing content

- Outbound messaging and automation

Co-Founder, Brand Architect

STAAJ Solutions

- Developing original marketing programs to establish clear brand identity and social media strategy aligned with business development and revenue goals

- Encapsulating executive voice and vision of CEOs and founders to establish brand identity and develop repeatable brand messaging

- Driving outbound lead generation and consumer engagement through strategic marketing campaigns

- Leading copy and content creation for marketing campaigns including articles, one-sheets, social media posts, and infographics

- Developing and driving a multi-approach email, social and digital marketing program to broaden brand awareness in a clear market segment and lead engagement and nurturing

- Coaching executive leaders and greater teams to reach operational clarity around brand and product messaging, product-market fit, and business communications

- Researching and capitalizing on market behavioral trends and opportunities

- Collaborating with cross-functional sales, business development, applications and product teams to maintain consistent messaging

- Monitoring custom analytics to course-correct and ensure program success

Tech & tools used: Miro, HubSpot, Pitch.Link, Google Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, Inlytics, Canva, LinkedIn APIs, Waalaxy, MidJourney, Google Gemini

Co-Founder, Head of Brand and Marketing Strategy

- Established and cultivated a culture of continuous performance improvement within the core business of running Edgio's compute platform with industry standard tools like Jira, Confluence, OpsGenie, ServiceNow, PagerDuty and others

- Realized $35k+ cost savings over external recruitment by hiring, training and promoting entry-level technicians up to celebrated roles in project management

- Reduced time-to-market by leveraging hands-on experience developed in the field to drive innovative deployment and service methods

- Increased cross-functional team collaboration by connecting document silos across AOL, Yahoo, Limelight and Edgecast

- Cut operational cost and decreased churn by strategically allocating human resources and training partners to think and work like employees

- Restored thousands of nodes to production by building a novel service and support system in challenging markets like India, Brazil and the Nordics through strong relationships with manufacturers and service vendors

- Held teams together through organizational pivots by developing social camaraderie outside the office and in the field 

*Tech & tools used: Google Suite, Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Apple Remote Desktop, Jamf Pro, Confluence, ServiceNow, OpsGenie, PagerDuty, Kanban, Agile, Scrum, Visio, Slack, Zoom, Jira, Juniper Paragon, Dell OpenManage, Dell DigitalLocker, Windows Server, AWS, Workday, Paycom, SAP

Datacenter Operations Manager

Edgecast

- Scaled the Edgecast digital content delivery network as a deployment lifecycle specialist, growing the core platform from $4M to an over $400M acquisition by Verizon, and subsequent merger with Yahoo, AOL, Uplynk and Limelight

- Traveled globally as a tactical lead, project manager and new employee trainer; racking up dozens of successful, on-time projects, thousands of servers put into production and an entire team of engineers trained on their first deployments

- Developed detailed documentation processes in Visio, Google Suite, Confluence, IT Asset Management databases and other collaborative, web-based tools to allow cross-team partners to form automation around a single source of asset-state truth 

- Built a reputation for approachability, reliability, and subject matter expertise through relationships within key individuals among cross-functional teams and external vendor-contractors

* Tech & tools used: Google Suite, Microsoft 365, Visio, Confluence, Jira, ServiceNow, OpsGenie, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Dell OpenManage, Juniper Paragon, Cisco Meraki, Ciena, ServerTech, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Apple Remote Desktop, Jamf Pro, Confluence, ServiceNow, OpsGenie, PagerDuty, Kanban, Visio, Slack, Zoom, Jira, Cisco Meraki, Juniper Paragon, Dell OpenManage, Dell DigitalLocker, Windows Server, RedHat Linux, Fedora Linux, Ciena, BTI, CentOS, MacOS, JunOS, Bash, iOS, AWS, Workday, Paycom, SAP

Data Center Engineer

j2 Global Communications (now Ziff Davis)

- Resolved the telecommunications and media asset needs of clients like Federal Reserve Bank and KPMG through research, feasibility studies with Executive leaders and key stakeholders, and deployment of strategic server-network hardware on-site and in remote colocations around the world

- Created a legacy system of IT hardware deployment and service methodologies by developing detailed blueprints, technical documentation, and data analysis throughout global network footprints

- Realized over $20k savings year-over-year by owning the IT hardware and software asset procurement and lifecycle process, consolidating asset tracking into a novel database from the ground up

- Beat project deadlines, adhered to budget and promoted positive work environment by training and mentoring a flexible, global contractor force

* Tech & tools used: RedHat Linux, Microsoft Windows Server, Nagios, EasyVista, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio, HP Intelligent Provisioning, Cisco IP Communications, NetApp Storage, Sun System, SpectraLogic Tape Backup, HVAC maintenance, Diesel Generator maintenance, Power Distribution Units, Fiber Optic and Copper Patch Panels, Structured Cabling, Disaster Recovery, Halon Fire Suppression

Datacenter Hardware Engineer

Ipowerweb

- Enhanced the customer service model at Ipower by training and mentoring dozens of technical representatives at offices in California and Arizona

- Formed lasting relationships with individual business owners by collaborating with development and systems team to build custom dedicated and virtualized server hosting solutions to grow their brands internet presence

- Coached business customers in using web development tools like HTML, CSS, PHP MySQL and SSL

- Thwarted threats to customer environments like DDoS, virus injections and malicious scripts

* Tech & tools used: RedHat Linux, SuSE Linux, Microsoft Windows Server, HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, DNS, SSL, Bash scripting, Windows Powershell, SSL, MS Frontpage, HTML, HVAC, PDUs, Copper and Fiber Optic Patch Panels, Structured Cabling, Disaster Recovery, Fire Suppression, Diesel Generators

Sr. Network Operations Engineer

Co-Founder | Strategic Growth / Healthcare Education / Operational Safety

I approach brand-building the way architects design multi-use developments: intentionally, and future-focused. My work sits at the intersection of marketing, systems design, and business strategy. I've created the manual frameworks that scale to align people, products, and purpose across an entire organization.

I lead brand strategy as a Co-Founder at STAAJ for its growing list of products. My goal is to make sure our messaging and marketing support real, sustainable business growth: whether that means helping doctors grow their practices, helping high-risk businesses create safer workplaces, or connecting CEOs and founders with the expertise they need to scale.

Founder | High-Density Compute

Taking decades of experience in building bleeding edge compute and network infrastructure in datacenters around the world helped me launch Studio Compute. As my own business leader, I support other leaders in the field who are faced with the challenges of AI and HPC workloads.

Beyond work: 

I'm a lifelong writer, photographer, and filmmaker. I'm also a die-hard coffee lover & advocate for regenerative coffee farming.

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The Battle

Matt McDannel

Alex Wichman

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