Hals Work History

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Hals Training

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Hals Credentials

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Hals Family History

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2014-Present                 Whitefish Credit Union                                     Kalispell, MT       

   
• IT Manager
  
  Apr 2018 – Present 
  
  Whitefish Credit Union known nationwide by its ability to provide high interest rates on savings. As the head of the Infrastructure team and the Desktop Support team it was back to an upper management position. There is a focus on ITIL directives, employee interactions, security, inventory, change management, performance, appraisals, vendor management, licensing, budgeting and audits.

• Server Applications Administrator
  
  Jan 2015 – Apr 2018          
  
  Whitefish Credit Union known nationwide by its ability to provide high interest rates on savings. VMWare infrastructure, iSCSI, Microsoft Servers, Exchange, SolarWinds, SQL. I function as the MS-DBA I provide MS server installs and upgrade of software on the servers, Backup and Replication to a secondary site, provide upgrade and patching of managed server applications using Veeam and Zerto. I provide IP, DHCP, DNS, SMTP and SNMP support as needed. Primary tasks are support of third party applications (DecisionPro, LaserPro, CreditQuest, MortgageBot, DataMart, Cash Suite ect..) that are connected to the core banking server, provide SSRS reports and Web designed reports. I am the backup to the Episys Core Systems banking administrator and Infrastructure Administrator.
  
  
  
  
• Programmer and Episys Specialist
  
  Oct 2014 – Jan 2015          
  
  Programming, Scripting and report writing using the Episys Banking solution from Jack Henry (JHA). Creating MS-SQL servers, creating databases, queries, data extracts from SQL using Excel, Access and SSRS.

2013-2014                 Teletech                                     Kalispell, MT       

• Call Center Representative
• Business Credit Card Specialist

Duties:  CSR providing excellent customer service to Bank of America Business Credit Card customers. Aways making added bonus for excellent  customer service.

2012-2013                Kalispell Copy Center                          Kalispell, MT

• Graphic Art Designer and Small Format production
• Business Designs of Fliers, Business Cards, Small Signs, Book Binding
• Laminations and cut stock
• Sales and ordering

Duties:  This was a fun design position. It is good to learn the production steps using Adobe products. I have used Adobe products for years and this position reinforced that there is more than one way to design. While using cut stock my way of design was great but when cutting from large stock I learned that there were more efficient ways to design. This was a fast paced upbeat position with great people.

2009-2016                 SparkysCorner                                     Kalispell, MT

• Owner Operator
• Web Design and Hosting
• Data driven webs, Static webs, RAD webs
• Graphic Design, Logos, Web Banners, Animations

1998-1999                      SparkysCorner   aka Advanced Computer Sales and Service

• Computer Sales
• Computer Repair
• Network Installation
• Microsoft Server Repair

Duties:  As the owner of Sparkys Web Design I was in charge of all phases of web management. We managed many types of Web Servers both Microsoft and Linux.  Sale of web hosting, Online Sales, Web Design, Graphic Art, Logos, Phone support, Content Management(CMS) mainly DotNetNuke using a MS-SQL, Custom web to sell merchandise, club websites with paid enrollment. Network design, Adobe Graphics, IIS,

2005-2009 Glacier Park INC East Glacier Park, MT

IT Director

· Windows NT 4.0/2K/2K3/2K8 servers NT4.0/2K/XP Workstations

· Ironport, Firewalls, Routers, Switches, DSLAM, Telecom Key and PBX systems

· Exchange 2K, SQL, WEB Servers







Duties: Management of small network covering 8 properties both US and Canada, Manage Servers for PMP, POS and file servers. Management of all low voltage equipment including , PBX, Key Systems, surveillance systems and door entry security. Including web development, scripts, graphic art, logos. Database management of Active directory, Exchange, MS SQL, Radius and PMP. Hardware managed include PBX, Routers, Switches, Spam Filters, Firewalls, T1, Metro, Frame and voicemail.

In June of 2005 I was offered a position replacing the IT Director at Glacier Park INC in North West Montana managing 2 employees and 75 PC’s. Downsizing from the 1000+ PC managed at CenturyTel. I packed up and moved to Kalispell Montana. My new position required that I spend the summer in East Glacier Montana and the Winter In Columbia Falls Montana. I quickly found that most of my work load was remoted out of Columbia Falls and that it took longer to do my work from East Glacier than from Columbia Falls.

I am an economist and a start up organizer so I got to basics I was determined to see what I had to work with. I scanned the network and determined that there were over 200 PC’s not 75. That equated to $125,000 in missed Microsoft Licenses. I questioned my supervisor and found that my supervisor was aware of the shortfall but that I was not to worry about it as that only pertained to PC’s with Microsoft Office. I found that my supervisors statement was not accurate. I did my best to increase the budget each year to bring Microsoft Licensing compliant but hit budget roadblocks and could only purchase 8-10 licenses a year. Determined to keep track of what PC inventory I had to work with I created a web based inventory system that kept track of licenses, serial numbers, IP, location and notes.

In 2006 we took full control of our online website and created a site that could be modified by more than just the IT staff or subcontractor.

In Checking I found that the network that Glacier Park INC was using was very latent (slow IP response) caused by use of IP over satellite systems. I also found that Citrix and non-y2k compliant PC’s were slowing the network. Finding that Windows Terminal Services was not as affected and that transfer by HTTP-browsing was even better I began retiring Citrix and using Terminal Servers which would save $10,000 in Citrix costs per year and began moving as many applications as I could to a web based platform.

I had an employee that spent a substantial amount of time resetting a HR access database and found that it was being accessed by more users than Microsoft recommended causing file locking issues. It was moved to a SQL server and the next year was moved to a web based system. I was instrumental in the redesign of the in house HR web system and the incorporation of the online hiring system which included tracking each change request so that if there was any question the person that made the change could be contacted. This tracking did not sit well with the HR manager but was very beneficial for legal reasons.

In the fall of 2006 a complete phone system audit was performed. I removed unused phone lines and discovery of billing circuits that were never reported to IT. That changed the telecom expense for 2007 by reducing the cost $109,000. Along with a pursuit of $10,000 in refunds from Verizon. I was also able to find discount lines to call from PBX to PBX within the park and cut another $10,000 in long distance fees. I was required to sit in an audit to explain a $129,000 savings for 2007. My supervisor was not pleased that I was in a VIAD (parent company) Audit and that the expenses had been ongoing for years without being spotted. It did not look good for my supervisor.







Along with the telephone audit I found that a technician must be on site to work on each of the 6 PBX’s. A simple change could result in 6 hours of driving to make a 10 minute change. I found unused modems and began hooking them up to the PBX so that I could dial in and make changes without making a trip onsite. Interesting that I found that the AVAYA PBX had been installed many years before yet many features were not being used. I implemented music on hold, Automated Attendant (press 1 for, press 2 for, press 3 for), Call forwarding when closed, ARS (Automatic Route Selection) just to name a few. Eventually we found that it was better to do serial over IP and added options that were faster than modems to speed access to the PBX.

As I sat in Staff meeting mentioning that we could be filling more rooms if we sold online my supervisor would shoot down the idea saying that it would upset other sales. In 2007 my supervisor came to me and said that it was mandated that Glacier Park INC have online sales. We dropped everything and coded for online sales. I had projected very conservatively that the first year we would have $35,000 to $50,000 in online sales. We had a little over $1,000,000 in online sales in 2007. This savings translated into a call center savings of over $80,000. My supervisor was not happy that the system ran so well and saved so much and was against the whole idea.

In 2007 was the first year in many that Glacier Park had stayed within the budget guidelines. They had made a $23,000,000 budget with $300,000 to spare. It takes $3 in income to pay for $1 expense. Had the IT department ignored the telecom savings of $129,000 and the labor savings from the call center of $80,000 or $209,000 total. Glacier Park INC would have had to generate $627,000 more revenue missing the budget mark of $23million by over $300,000. The IT department literally save the budget in 2007. Did I mention that because the budget was met that upper management would get a bonus? I had now crossed over the line with my supervisor and my supervisor gave me a bad review and would not grant me my bonus. I kept quiet as I did not want to provoke my supervisor more.

I thought in 2008 I could smooth the issues out but my supervisor was on a vengeful direction. I did not see it coming. I was in meetings 9 times that I documented where I discussed upgrades mandated by the parent company and was told not to interrupt the business flow during peak season. This upgrade had to be scheduled with a subcontractor. While out of season my supervisor relocated to Phoenix and told me not to do the upgrade. Then out of the blue my supervisor called, said I had lied and was without reason. I found out later that my supervisor had gotten into trouble over the issue and I was made the fall guy.

I went back to work for myself. Did I mention that the online booking in 2008 did $11,000,000 yes $11 million.

1999-2005 CenturyTel Missouri

Network Administrator

· Install of NetWare 4.x,5.x,6.x and NT 4.0/2K servers

· Repair and updating of Workstations Windows NT4.0/2K/XP

The CenturyTel Story is a whirlwind story.

I was working at Inacom The Computer Place when I received a call in 1999 that CenturyTel needed a PC Support and Network technician to subcontract for a few months during the Y2k upgrades. I did not know that it would lead to many years of work.

I worked as a subcontractor for Inacom for 11 months working at CenturyTel in Kalispell Montana. I did upgrades on servers and workstations and then was asked to apply for a PC technician position. I elected to stay with Inacom but stayed to train the new technician. Little did I know that 5 months later they would offer me another position.

In May of 2000 I accepted a LAN Administrator  position in Kansas City working for a company called Spectra which was a minority partnership business with CenturyTel. I was dumped into the fire. Thank goodness that I am a startup organizer as that is what I found. An office with cubes and boxes of computers and employees waiting for me to get them a computer. Within several weeks we were up and running smoothly, call center working, dispatch working and network design operating.

In 2001 CEO Ken Matzdorff  requested that we move to a building in a different part of town.  Come to find out Ken was not the most honest guy around. We moved to a building that he had leased for a different purpose and then wanted out of. Thousands of dollars in moving expenses and downgrading of environment as we moved to a new location.

In 2002 I was part of a 4 man team to oversee a $2.2bil 550,000 Verizon wireline acquisition. This acquisition almost doubled the size of CenturyTel and left me as the lead LAN Administrator for CenturyTel’s largest region. I was tasked with budgeting, design and licensing of PC’s and Servers. The IT acquisition costs were $3,7000,000 and I was within 1%. This acquisition was also a move of and combining of Spectra into CenturyTel. I was relocated to Columbia Missouri which was centrally located in Missouri and I traveled to all corners of the state to maintain equipment.

In 2004 came a big shock that Ken Matzdorff was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud of which he pled guilty spent years in jail and paid millions in fines.

In 2005 I was offered a position in Glacier Park and I returned to Kalispell Montana. It was a great ride for 6 years and I was sad to leave CenturyTel behind. CenturyTel even offered me a position at the corporate headquarters as the head Intel LAN Administrator to keep me from moving to Kalispell. The offer by Glacier Park was to good to pass up. I have family in Kalispell and hope to spend more time with them. .

1998-1999                     The Computer Place                              Kalispell, MT

           Network Engineer

·         Install of NetWare 3.x,4.x,5.x and MS NT 4.0 servers

·         Repair and updating of Workstations  Windows 3.1/95/98/NT4.0

·         Install and configure Hubs/Switches/Routers

I am working at my own shop one day and in walks an old friend. He says why don’t you come to work with us at Inacom we need a PC Support and network technician. I thought it over and closed up my doors on my storefront,  brought my customers to Inacom and started a new chapter.

What I thought was going to be a different job each day turned out to be very different. I was with Inacom for 3 weeks when the boss comes to me and wants to know what I know about Novel Networks. I had installed what was called a lite version and that was good enough for my boss. I started a daily adventure to CenturyTel. I worked at CenturyTel for the next 11 months as a sub-contractor.  I did everything from installing a PC for a Customer Service Rep to repairing color laser printers to installing and configuring Novel Servers and even remotely configuring Novel Servers. I worked with Novel software that could do remote updates on a PC better than Microsoft could do. It was 10 years later that Microsoft achieved what we were doing in the spring of 1999.

When the 11 month were completed with CenturyTel I returned to a daily life at Inacom where it was a fast paced process to prepare all the updates that needed to be placed on all the PC and Servers that we supported around Flathead Valley for the Y2k millennial date issue. I was doing what I thought I would be doing for Inacom and that was traveling from North of Whitefish to south of Dayton for different jobs each day.

In April of 2000 came another call from CenturyTel this time wanting me to work full time as a Local Area Network Administrator in Missouri. I was offered a 200% wage increase, better benefits and a dream position. The next adventure begins.

1997-1998                     Mobile-Tech Computers                         Kalispell, MT 

         Computer Specialist
         Onsite Sales and Service of computers

After programming computer in several language forms and repairing PC’s since my very early years I elected to change professions and pursue a computer career. In 1997  after the closure of Timerline Lumber I worked for Mobile-Tech Computers as a computer repair man.

I repaired computers for customers at their site or in the shop. I sold and ordered custom computers. The majority of all computers sold by Mobile-Tech were custom made for each customer.  I also set up simple Windows networks.

I was only on the job a few weeks when I was told that I would need to become A+ certified and told to take and exam at the local exam station. I drove to the exam station took the test and passed with a grade in the high 90%. When I arrived back at work I asked how others had done with their exams and was told that my score was the highest and that most technicians had to take the exam twice and several technicians had to take the test three times. I found it interesting that I did not study and passed the exam the first time.

This was a fun positions but a  slow time after Christmas resulted in several of the new employees being temporarily laid off.  I was one of the new employees that were temporally laid off. During my layoff I purchased some inventory, found a store front and started my own PC repair business.