STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT & EXECUTIONDefines strategic business direction, market positioning and value proposition, pricing strategy & operating/financial models.

Green IT Vision, Strategy, & ExecutionInnovation Process, Strategy, & ExecutionLarge-Scale Budget & Financial PlanningCloud Migration Planning & Execution

STRATEGY AND TACTICS ALIGNMENTFocuses on organization and leadership to drive consistency in product management, marketing & field operations tactics.

Staffing, Placement, & Team LeadershipMission Critical Program & Operations Management

Contract & Vendor - Negotiations & DeliveryGuest Lecturing & University Recruiting

SOLUTION EXPERIENCEInvent, architect, engineer, & develop comprehensive solutions; deploys solutions with staff & contractors to meet business objectives.

Software Migrations/Transitions Systems Architecture Design & Development Custom Application Design & Development

Complete Product/Solutions Rollout

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTUREStreamlines & optimizes mission-critical environments.

IT Transformation Process LeadershipReference Architecture Development & Production

System Automation DevelopmentArchitectural Design Criteria Enhancement

A PROVEN TRACK RECORD OF PERFORMANCE

Operations ManagerAmazon.com, Hebron, KentuckyJune 2015 – June 2015

Managed the two highest-volume shifts in the most vital sortation center in the Amazon.com logistics network, with an average volume of over 140,000 packages per day (non-peak) and over 350,000 packages per day during peak season.

Only Operations Manager to manage more than a single shift.

Improved throughput efficiency of managed shifts by 290% from an average of 42 TPH to 122 TPH, increased building throughput shift rank-ing within the Amazon Sortation network from #16 out of 19 to #1 out of 19.

Revamped shift procedures and daily standard work management tasks improved on-time Estimated Arrival Date delivery by over 10%.

Improved shift capacity, shift efficiency, and shift quality metrics by over 10% week-over-week for four consecutive months.

Developed HR management process improvements and systems integra-tion that will save over $22 million per year across the Amazon sorta-tion, fullfillment, and logistics network, increase management visibility of employee productivity and quality metrics, and increase management and security visiblity and accountability of employees in the case of any emer-gencies or issues.

One of three Operations Managers in Amazon selected to develop and deploy new on-boarding procedures for all new Operations Managers hired for Amazon.com Sortation Centers in order to ensure rapid integra-tion to full productivity and efficiency.

Responsible for all training activities and onboarding of all new-hire personnel in the Hebron, Kentucky sortation center. Managed all trainer coordinators, training staff, and contracted trainers or coaches.

Served as Site Security Facilitator, responsible for site and per-sonnel security and loss prevention for the sortation center. Improved security rating from Deficient (11 non-stan-dard findings) to Excellent (0 non-standard Findings)

Strategic Business Unit ExecutiveXerox Business Services, Irving, TexasFebruary 2014 - July 2014

Profit and loss responsibility and overall control of planning, staffing, budgeting, man-aging expense priorities, and recommending and implementing changes to methods for the business unit.Increased profit margins by over 15% while improving customer satisfaction rat-ings by over 25%.Consistently exceeded the budgeted revenue and profit margins by over 50% over budgeted goals by transitioning the site to a leveraged services contract and a cloud-based model.

Senior DirectorXerox Business Services, Austin, TexasFebruary 2012 - February 2014

Managed the operations of network and security business units with overall re-sponsibility for the account (all State of Texas consolidated and legacy datacenters).

Provided budget analysis, labor planning, problem resolution and coordination of activities between client and company personnel.

Managed a team of fourteen Enterprise and Solutions Architects and eleven senior System Engineers that provided all solution architecture, engineering and build requests for the 32 largest agencies in the State of Texas; directly responsible for $50 million in additional revenue in the first year. Successfully completed 48 months of solutions backlog in less than 11 months.

Managed a team of over 40 personnel to provide network and security service delivery for all State of Texas datacenters.

Successfully completed HIPAA, NIST, FIPS, FTI audits and certifications for all State of Texas datacenters. Responsible for the development, deployment, and management of a large-scale, high-ly-available NIST-, FIPS-, HIPAA-, and FTI-compliant secure email solution for the Texas Office of the Attorney General.

Served as the Enterprise Architect for the Texas Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Texas Veterans Commission, Texas Facilities Commission, Texas Secretary of State, and Angelo State University. Responsible for long-term planning, strategic vision and coordination, and large project implementation.

Tasked by the CTO and Service Delivery Executive to overhaul the Engineering and Build processes; reduced time to server build and deployment by over 44 business days to 3 hours.Developed innovative and effective IT and Business strategies as well as solutions focusing on multiple specialized disciplines to meet client requirements/needs.

Led numerous expansive, multi-agency, multi-vendor projects to a successful, timely com-pletion to include being the focal for all Office 365, Azure, and cloud migrations for state agencies, for over $14 million in unforecasted revenue growth annually.

Operations, Security, & Training ManagerU.S. Army, Kentucky, Tennessee, Korea, IraqSeptember 2002 - August 2011

Handled all tactical, logistical, transportation, and communications security and operational management for the Deputy Commanding Gen-eral, US Forces – Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

Served as the Personal Security Officer for the Commanding General and Senior Non-Commissioned Officer for Multi-National Division – North during the Surge of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Led over 1,000 tactical air and ground convoy movements in combat without a single loss.

Managed a team of over 100 civilian contractors and military personnel and implemented cost reductions on Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq; saved the U.S. Government over $1.5 million each year.

Responsible for over $55 million in computer and tactical commu-nications equipment, weapons, and vehicles through multiple combat deployments without loss or damage.

Revamped procedures to provide full manpower coverage while cut-ting material and manpower costs by over 60%.

Improved ratings of all managed areas by over 36%.

Served as MIS Manager supporting an organization of over 1,400 personnel.

Engineered and deployed high-availability clustered database solution that flawlessly tracked all detainees being processed within Iraq. This led to the integration of U.S. civilian, military, and law enforcement databases, im-proved detainee processing time by over 27%, and saved the U.S. Government over $1.9 million annually in lodging, fuel, and person-nel costs. Processed over 100,000 detainees through the Central Criminal Courts system of Iraq.

Designed, built, and administered the database, server, and storage solution responsible for the daily life support needs of over 9,400 military and civilian personnel.

Exceeded unit personnel retention goals by over 35%; lauded as the best personnel retention program on Fort Hood (#1 out of 342).

Selected as 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, Ken-tucky Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year (#1 of 9700).

Senior Manager - High Availability & EngineeringInterland, Atlanta, GeorgiaNovember 2000 - May 2002

Served as the Subject Matter Expert on High Availability and Clustered Solutions to the President, CEO, and CTO.

Managed team of six senior-level engineers responsible for creation of all high availability (99.999% availability or greater) and clustered/blade com-puting server solutions.

Directly responsible for an annual budget in excess of $100 million.

Designed, built, and deployed large-scale highly-available solutions for Ford, Toyota, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Schlumberger, and the Fed-eral Reserve Bank.

Decreased per unit server costs by over 35%, improved availability of all dedicated hosting solutions by over 15%.

Senior Managed Systems ConsultantNetwork Associates Inc., Palo Alto, CaliforniaAugust 1998 - January 2000

Analyst responsible for optimization, verification, and stabilization of net-work designs, troubleshooting of customer networks utilizing protocol analy-sis systems for eleven Fortune 50 companies.

Managed hardware and software purchases for client sites with average monthly service contracts of over $8 million.

Increased customer retention rate for region by 10%, increased cus-tomer satisfaction rating for region by over 30%, increased addition-al consulting services purchases by over 20%.

HARRY HARDCASTLEEnterprise ArchitectXerox

HEATHER WEASTProject ManagerXerox

JAMIE BAZDARICPlatoon LeaderU.S. Army

NATE BROOKSHIRECompany CommanderU.S. Army

“AJ is a detail oriented, can do manager and architect. He always goes the extra mile on every project. In the time I have worked with him he has implemented multiple projects and initiatives successfully. He can manage projects, vendors and technical staff all at the same time.”

“AJ is a motivated and driven leader, who has proven to work well under pressure with pressed deadlines! He has an exceptional ability to leverage one of his key strengths, strategic thinking and planning. As a PM working with AJ and his team to architect and solution key projects, his unique skill in identifying potential project risks is invalu-able. He has been instrumental in the success of our organization, and will continue to make a positive impact. If you focus on surrounding yourself with people who want to succeed, then AJ must be on your list!”

“I had the pleasure of having A.J. in my Platoon in a Combat Military Police Platoon. As his Platoon Leader, I had the chance to observe him in many capacities and can honestly say he is one of the most talented and intelligent Soldiers and Leaders I have ever had the pleasure to work with. His impact on our organization was widespread and instant as he keenly grasps the high value tasks with ease and owns them. His ability to work with everyone and lead from many different levels was evident early on and his rise in the military ranks was definitely a plea-sure to watch. A.J.’s professionalism and drive were unmatched and I would jump at the chance to work with him again.”

“I have worked with A.J. in the 716th Military Police Battalion at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and highly recommend him. He is well known throughout the Army for his ability to communicate to a wide au-dience. His communication and administrative skills are simply amazing. A.J. is a proven leader in combat and will be an asset to any organization.”

CHRIS NONAArea ManagerAmazon.com

JEFF MELLINGERMNF-I CSMU.S. Army

KEITH HORSEYDirector, MISMueller-Shields OME

DAVID SEGALLABattalion CommanderU.S. Army

“Working with A.J. as my supervisor was a pleasure. A.J. is very knowl-edgeable and his leadership skills are exemplary. Under his leadership I was able to demonstrate my strengths as a manager and he was always there to provide guidance and advice on my opportunities.”

“A.J. Merrifield is an intelligent, dedicated career professionalism able to achieve organizational goals and objectives to enable success. A.J. possesses unquestionable integrity and displays his high degree of loyalty and committment to excellence as he accomplishes all re-quired tasks. A.J. is a trusted leader who gets the job done right the first time.”

“Seeing what A.J. has done with his life and career has been a pleasure. I was able to pull A.J. in to accomplish the “improbable” at the begin-ning of my corporate career and his confidence, skill, and winning attitude was essential in changing the improbable to the definite. There is no surprise for me that A.J. has done so much, helped so many, and made such a difference at so many companies. Anyone can talk about what a person’s skills are, and he has many. My recommendation is of A.J. as a person. As a true winner, and as a boon to any organiza-tion. Look no further.”

“I had a number of opportunities to observe and interact with AJ when he was a staff sergeant in the Army, serving in Iraq, and I was the senior NCO for the entire Coalition in Iraq. Not only had AJ just been selected as the Noncommissioned Officer of the Year for the 101st Airborne Division, but also he was in charge of the personal security detachment for the division command sergeant major. AJ was always very articulate, insightful, proactive and trustworthy, and it was clear to me that he was a person who always gave his best in any situation in peace or war. In short, AJ is a people person, dedicated to his mission and his fellows. I would be proud to serve with him again.”

University of Southern California Annenberg SchoolBachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism (3.8 GPA) Graduated May 10, 1996

United States Army Military Police School One Station Unit Training (OSUT) - MOS 95B (Military Police) Graduated 2003, #2 of 228 Special Reaction Teams Training Phase 1 (SRT) and Phase 2 (Marksman/Observer LEO Sniper) Graduated 2004, #3 of 83Force Protection/Anti-Terrorism Officer Level II Course Graduated 2008, #1 of 46

United States Army Non-Commissioned Officer Education SystemPrimary Leadership Development Course Graduated 2004, #2 of 118Basic Non-Commissioned Officers Course Graduated 2009, #2 of 214Retention NCO Course Graduated 2008, Commandant’s ListUnit Movement Officers Course Graduated 2008, #1 of 44Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Graduated 2008

United States Army Sabalauski Air Assault School Air Assault School Graduated 2004, #2 of 178 Pathfinder School Graduated 2008, #2 of 68

Xerox Business ServicesITO Small Business Unit Leadership Academy Graduated 2014

Network General/Network Associates Sniffer UniversityOSI Analysis, Server, and Network Management Certified 1999Microsoft MCSE, Cisco CCIE Certified 1999

Department of Veterans Affairs Certified Disabled Combat Veteran (80% Disability)

CLEARANCESDepartment of Defense Secret Clearance, Valid through 02/2019Department of Defense Interim Top Secret Clearance, Inactive as of 05/2011State of Texas Law Enforcement Information Clearance, Valid through 02/2017State of Texas Information & Systems Clearance, Valid through 02/2017

AWARDS101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year Fort Campbell, Kentucky Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year716th Military Police Battalion Non-Commissioned Officer of the QuarterFraternal Order of Police Distinguished Volunteer, Hopkinsville, KY LodgePresident’s Club, Xerox, Q1 2014 Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Commissioned by Gov. Ernie Fletcher for winning Fort Campbell NCO of the YearHonorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Commissioned by Gov. Ernie Fletcher for contributions to Law Enforcement

MILITARY AWARDSIraq Campaign Medal (4 Service Stars), Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commen-dation Medal (4th Award), Army Achievement Medal (3rd Award), Joint Meritorious Unit Award (2nd Award), Meritorious Unit Award (4th Award), Valorous Unit Award, Army Superior Unit Award, Army Good Conduct Medal (2nd Award), National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Korean Defense Service Med-al, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (3rd Award), Pathfinder Badge, Air Assault Badge, Driver & Mechanic Badge (Driver-Wheeled Vehicle Clasp)

MEMBERSHIPS101st Airborne Division AssociationAssociation of the United States ArmyVeterans of Foreign WarsIraq and Afghanistan Veterans of AmericaFraternal Order of PoliceThe U.S. Army Sniper AssociationNational Pathfinder AssociationASCAPHonorable Order of Kentucky Colonels

CHARITY WORKSpecial Advisor to the Board of Directors, SongwritingWith:SoldiersCoach, Special OlympicsContributor, Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, Special Works Program