ERIC AVANT

GETTING TO KNOW ME: WHO, WHAT & WHY

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
If I had to describe myself with one word, it would be kaizen (改善), the Japanese philosophy meaning “continuous improvement”. With a distinct talent for leveraging technology to enhance business objectives and capabilities, I relish in opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve workflows. With exceptional analytical and strategic thinking skills, I have developed my technological skills through hands-on experience in many facets of technology. An effective manager, I have spent the last 8+ years managing a team of 6+ technicians with an $880,000 annual budget to develop state of the art technology operations for my organization. Having experience throughout the entire project lifecycle, from pre-planning to execution to post-deployment support, I have developed strong leadership and communication skills to deliver high-quality results on time and under budget. I excel in high pressure situations, think quickly on my feet, and have experienced and exercised crisis management and disaster recovery in a number of scenarios.

In my leisure time enjoy various activities such as golf, racquetball, bowling, volleyball, exercising, cooking, music, meeting new people, and participating in community events. I strongly value spending time with my family, wife, and infant son. I have also spent over 15 years of my life training in mixed martial arts with Toe2Toe Dojo (formerly World Jujitsu Academy) studying a variety of martial arts styles (karate, kick boxing, judo, jui-jitsu, and weapons), eventually attaining a Black Belt and the title of Sensi (instructor).

MY MISSION
Soon after graduating college, my father shared with me a video of the great speaker Simon Sinek's TED Talk Start With 'Why. I learned that in order to become successful, I must first understand my purpose - define my 'why' - before defining how and what I do. This was an pivotal moment for me in my life to take pause and truly define what drives me and makes me happy. What I came to realize is that I feel significant personal satisfaction out of solving problems, even greater satisfaction out of helping others solve problems, and that the more complex the problem, the more satisfying it feels to overcome. With that in mind, I found that my comprehension of technology and the capabilities of technology would fall hand-in-hand with my desire to solve problems for others. Understanding this molded who I am today and would define my purpose and my career. With that, I shifted gears and sought out a career path in technology. Starting at an entry level role, I felt that the scope and reach of my work was limited and I wasn't fully satisfied. As my career progressed, I came to understand that I my ability to solve problems grows exponentially when I take a leadership role and coach an entire team to carry out my visions.

My mission is to solve complex problems facing my organization and its customers by cultivating and coaching a team of technicians in the field of technology.

I have a passion for solving problems, improving user experiences and work-flows, developing fault tolerant highly available solutions, and cultivating my team to achieve my ambitions in an efficient manner. Currently, my team and I manage and administer all the hardware, software, databases, applications, networking, storage, phone, and other IoT (i.e. surveillance, access control, audio/video, etc.) solutions for 450 users in 30 departments across 90+ sites. We operate over 120 switches, 50 access points, 350 cameras, 12 physical servers, 36 virtual servers, 4 SAN systems, 6 NAS systems, 10 wireless point-to-point systems, and much more, including but not limited to 6 SQL Servers, 6 websites, and all departmental and organizational hardware, peripherals, software, and applications. All whilst maintaining in-house helpdesk services for all aforementioned systems. Since taking over, I have overseen nearly a full life-cycle of change across all technology systems in our organization. I am proud of what we have done, it is a completely different operation.. and better in every way!

No one likes change, but technology is the future and I absolutely love being in the forefront leading change in an organization.

WHAT'S NEXT
There are a few reasons for my interest in a new position with a new organization at this time in my life. I absolutely love my organization and the people in my organization after spending years building relationships with my peers and developing trust and respect in my role as Technology Director. I have built great relationships within my very effective team of technicians that support me in achieving our objectives. So it does bring me some degree of heartache to leave behind so many positive relationships.

However, I have been with my current organization for 11+ years and the Technology Director for 8 years and I am very driven to pursue a positive progression in my career; and, career experts advise to always look for new opportunities after a maximum of 7 years in any given role. Secondly, I feel I have mastered the needs of this organization and provided a complete 180 degree turn-around with regards to the performance and services of the Technology Department for Colleton County, leaving me with fewer and fewer challenges on a day-to-day basis.

I am ready for new challenges and I want an opportunity that will provide me that. I feel fully equipped with the skills to succeed with in a new organization. Finally, I recently married and had a child and I want to provide the best possible life for my family. We currently live and work in a more rural community and I believe moving to a more populated area or transitioning from the public sector to the private sector will provide more opportunities and resources to provide for my family.

The types of organizations I feel I would transition into successfully and provide immediate contributions are local governments with a larger population base (>100,000 residents) or smaller private sector companies (<1,000 employees). The types of jobs I believe I would be most successful at would be IT Director, Deputy IT Director, Assistant Director, IT Manager, Project Manager, or similar leadership roles within another organizations technology operations.

I am specifically targeting the Charleston SC, Sumter SC, Savannah GA, Denver CO, and Dallas TX areas because my wife and I have siblings and friends these areas that can offer support overcoming the challenges of changing jobs and relocating. I would also be interested in opportunities in the mountains of North Carolina, specifically Asheville, simply because we love that climate, that environment, and would still be within reasonable proximity of my family in South Carolina. Other locations I would consider employment are Greenville SC, Spartanburg SC, Rock Hill SC, Columbia SC, and Charlotte NC.

Taking into consideration my current salary and benefits package, I am seeking opportunities that can offer a minimum starting salary $110,000 annually in the South Carolina area. Whereas opportunities in more populated locations such as Colorado and Texas, I would be seeking a minimum starting salary of $130,000 to $140,000, depending on the area, to offset the cost of living increase. I am willing to negotiate a lower salary in exchange for remote work and/or a company "take home" vehicle. I am also open negotiate a low initial salary with specific performance based raises structured into the employment contract.

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