Professional Qualifications

  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
  • IBM Certified Solution Advisor - Tivoli Security
  • IBM Certified Advanced Deployment Professional
    • Tivoli Security Management Solutions 2008
    • Tivoli Security Management Solutions 2007
    • Tivoli Security Management Solutions 2006
    • Tivoli Security Management Solutions 2005
  • IBM Certified Tivioli Security Specialist
  • IBM Certified Deployment Professional
    • Tivoli Access Manager for e-business v6.0
    • Tivoli Identity Manager v5.1
    • Tivoli Identity Manager v5.0
    • Tivoli Identity Manager v4.6
    IBM Certified Information Management Specialist
  • IBM DB2 9 Fundamentals
  • EXIN Certification in ITIL Foundation

References

"Stephen is an experienced and thoughtful professional and I'll follow his blogging with great interest. I strongly recommend that you do too."
March 18, 2010, Tom Mellor, IT Security Consultant [Source: vintage1951 Blog]

"Stephen is a very capable manager who achieves a nice balance between people and tasks. He is great fun to work with and his passion for access control technology includes the ability to drop out of the manager role and into that of a very competent hands-on technical developer/troubleshooter.
July 30, 2007, Gary McMahon, Enterprise Architect, National Australia Group [Source: LinkedIn]

"Stephen is hard working talented individual who is a pleasure to work with."
January 21, 2007, Ian Cassidy, Lead Designer, NAG [Source: LinkedIn]

Professional Experience

2008-Present: IT Security Consultant - Pirean
IT Security Consultant providing consultancy, support and education services relating to Identity Management principles, the IBM Tivoli Security suite of software and web based application delivery to clients around the UK.

2004-2007: Manager: Identity Management - National Australia Group (UK)
Northern Court, Belfast
Manager of the Identity Management team for the National Australia Group in the UK managing a team of 8 technicians, 2 project leaders and a variable number of external contractors.

Responsible for the rollout of the security infrastructure for the Internet Banking applications for both Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank using a mix of Tivoli and Computer Associates security products.

I acted as a customer reference site for Tivoli security products and produced a case study, customer testimonial video and presented to both IBM officials and other customers.

1995-2002: Technical Specialist: Bull LiveLink Team - National Australia Group (UK)
Causeway House, Bedford Street, Belfast
Senior Technical Specialist designing and developing Mainframe Applications on a Bull mainframe. I joined the callout support team to support the system overnight and at weekends, as well as supporting the system during office hours.

I was the primary technical resource working on the conversion of the LiveLink system during the switch from the DPS8000 to the DPS9000 mainframes in 1998. I also wrote a positioning paper which defined opportunities for enhancing the LiveLink application's operability after the migration. This paper resulted in a funded programme of initiatives which lasted more than 6 months and included technical solutions for automating manual operating tasks.

I was the primary point of contact for Service Delivery engagement during the major projects that the Bull Engineering Room undertook, eg Year 2000 Readiness, EMU. I also worked with Service Delivery to define Bull specific change management processes which were mutually beneficial.

I led the technical design and delivery of the Branch Mergers during the late 1990s which involved working closely with other work streams and the business stakeholders. We suffered no loss of information or data integrity during each transition of account information from the closing branch to the remaining branch and the merger process is still available as a documented set of procedures should any future mergers be required.

I developed applications on an IBM RS6000 in C, primarily for the National Australia Group (Europe) Telephone Banking System. The code interfaced with an X25 network to the DPS9000 Transaction Processing System, an IBM MVS mainframe for access to an ORACLE database, a SUN Microsystems gateway and an IVR router. The code uses IBM's MQSeries middleware product for asynchronous processing.

1990-1995: Programmer: Bull LiveLink Team - Northern Bank Limited
Causeway House, Bedford Street, Belfast
Computer Programmer designing and developing Mainframe Applications on a Bull DPS8000 mainframe in COBOL. Major projects that I led included:

  • NBL/NIB Work Measurement System
  • Customer Deposits Centre
  • BACS Interfaces

During my time as a programmer with the Northern Bank, I represented the bank in a Youth Challenge for the Belfast 1991 celebrations. I was involved in a Challenge Anneka style contest which meant our team of 6 had to obtain free paint from local suppliers in order to repaint a house run by the Simon Community for the homeless.

I also represented the bank on the Men's Hockey team. We competed and won the Interbank tournaments of 1993 and 1994.

Education

1982-1989: Belfast Royal Academy Cliftonville Road, Belfast

  • A Levels attained in Mathematics and Economics
  • O Levels attained in Mathematics, Statistics, Additional Mathematics, English Language, Physics, Geometric Drawing, Geography and Chemistry
  • RSA course completed in Computing

Interests & Activities

Captained East Antrim Hockey Club for 4 years. I took on this role after 3 years in the Honorary Secretary post. I have also fulfilled the roles of Honorary Treasurer, Press Release Officer, Youth Team Coach and other captain & vice-captain roles throughout the Club.

The maintenance (and enhancement) of the East Antrim Hockey Club web site. The web site was first launched in March of 1996 and was short-listed for the Personal Website of the Year by the Irish Internet Industry in 2001. The database-driven, dynamic site now boasts over 8,000 pages worth of information and can be found at www.eastantrim.co.uk.

I enjoy reading, when time permits. I'm fond of historical and scientific books as well as novels in the fantasy and humour genres. I've also written a number of childrens books for my daughters, nephews and nieces.

I own two guitars, one acoustic and one electric. Unfortunately, my two young daughters won't allow me to play them while they are in the house although it is still an ambition of mine to enhance my music playing ability.