Russell Samuels

RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 1 EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW As a seasoned IT professional with over 20 years of experience, I have a proven track record in leading and managing complex IT projects and teams. My expertise lies in developing and implementing innovative solutions using various technologies such as COBOL, Java, Powerhouse, and Sybase. I have successfully led teams in excess of 50 staff members, ensuring seamless operations and efficiency in application systems. In recent years, I have focused on data analysis, leveraging my skills in SQL, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Power Query to deliver actionable insights and drive business decisions. This has enabled me to create dynamic dashboards and reports that visualize data trends and performance metrics, contributing to improved operational efficiency and strategic planning. I am committed to continuous learning and professional development, currently pursuing a certification in Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate. My goal is to apply my extensive experience and technical skills to help organizations harness the power of data for informed decision-making and growth. CAPABILITIES Capability Level Years Solution Architecture 5 25 Software Development Management 5 15 Software Development 5 20 Data Analysis 4 20 People and Skills Management 5 20 Project and Program Management 4 20 Service Delivery Management 5 20 Competency Design and develop project solution architectures using a SOA, component based and legacy styles Application lifecycle management; Setup and lead development teams; Implement development processes; Team capacity management; In-house and out-sourced development Development in modern and legacy programming languages. Development in procedural and object orientated styles. Perform data migration, database abstraction, and develop systems for dynamic database access. Utilize data analysis techniques to drive business decisions and support strategic objectives. People risk and retention; Talent pipeline management; Skills and leadership development Manage project portfolio; Project demand management; project risk management and governance; Manage service desk and incident management processes; Business systems operational SLA reporting; Service Improvement; Deployment and release management TECHNICAL SKILLS SUMMARY Technology COBOL Java Powerhouse Perl Unix - Skill Level 5 3 5 4 4 Years- Last Used- Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 2 SQL DB2 Sybase Microsoft Excel Microsoft Power Query TurboImage 5 4 4 5 4 5 - - CAREER SUMMARY Company Position Start Date End Date Metropolitan Health Head: Correspondence Management October 2017 March 2025 Metropolitan Health Head: Legacy Systems December 2016 September 2017 Metropolitan Health Senior Manager: Claims Systems April 2013 November 2016 Metropolitan Health Senior Manager: Business Applications June 2012 March 2013 Metropolitan Health Development Manager: Java Business Applications January 2009 May 2012 Metropolitan Health Development Manager: Claims Systems August 2006 December 2008 Metropolitan Health Technical Lead: MPE to UNIX migration April 2004 July 2006 Metropolitan Health Senior Developer: Research and Development January 2003 March 2004 Metropolitan Health Senior Analyst Programmer June 2000 December 2002 Southern Life Analyst Programmer August 1996 December 1999 Southern Life Software Tester July1993 July 1996 Southern Life Insurance Clerk May 1989 June 1993 EDUCATION SUMMARY Type of Qualification Qualification Institution Completion Date Professional Certification Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate Microsoft In progress Postgraduate Post Graduate Diploma in Coaching (NQF 8) The South African College of Applied Psychology 2024 Postgraduate Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (NQF 8) University of Cape Town: Business School 2009 Diploma Diploma in Entry Level Programming WS&L 1996 Matric Matric South Peninsula High School 1987 - Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 3 CERTIFICATIONS Course Institution Completion Date SQL Programming and Database Administration for DB2 Platinum Education 1997 Business Focused Project Management University of Cape Town: Business School 2010 ITIL Foundation Quintica 2014 REFERENCES Name Job Title Company Contact No Email Frank Wiltshire Head: IT Metropolitan Health - - Pete Mathenjwa Operations Executive Momentum Health - - CAREER HISTORY HEAD: CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT (OCTOBER 2017 TO MARCH 2025) Reporting to: Operations Executive No of Staff: 63 Company: Momentum Health Responsibilities: Formulate business strategy with others in the executive team Design policies that align with overall strategy Implement efficient processes and standards Coordinate customer service operations and find ways to ensure customer retention Ensure compliance with local and international laws (e.g. data protection) Oversee the implementation of technology solutions throughout the organization Manage contracts and relations with customers, vendors, partners and other stakeholders Evaluate risk and lead quality assurance efforts Oversee expenses and budgeting to help the organization optimize costs and benefits Mentor and motivate teams to achieve productivity and engagement Report on operational performance and suggest improvements Conduct regular dialogues to ensure that all objectives are met, including the creation and implementation of Personal Development Plans HEAD: LEGACY SYSTEMS (DECEMBER 2016 TO SEPTEMBER 2017) Reporting to: CIO No of Staff: 17 Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: responsible for the implementation of the IT strategy supporting the management of the lifecycles of the Metropolitan legacy systems Develop insights into market, leading to effective market segmentation and development of strategies per targeted segment - Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 4 - Manage the roll-out of application and software development strategies and plans to internal clients Ensure that application and software development addresses the needs of the clients Present and discuss current and future versions of solutions to clients at a senior level Create and present professional proposals and presentations that respond to client needs Orchestrate internal resources and technology offerings to help secure new business contracts Embark in on-going improvement initiatives that will enhance business applications and their integration, resulting in efficiencies for the organization Ensure synchronization between business applications, processes, user requirements and systems Staff development and management Ensure the development and enhancement of IT systems and processes Part of IT Manco - jointly responsible for setting of strategic objectives for IT business and the annual new business development plan Technologies: COBOL, Powerhouse, Sybase, Java, .Net SENIOR MANAGER: CLAIMS SYSTEMS (APRIL 2013 TO NOVEMBER 2016) Reporting to: Head: IT No of Staff: 15 Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Responsible for development, maintenance and management of the Claims Administration System Development of product vision and implementation of roadmap to future state Technologies: COBOL, Powerhouse, Sybase, Java, .Net SENIOR MANAGER: BUSINESS APPLICATIONS (JUNE 2012 TO MARCH 2013) Reporting to: Head: IT No of Staff: 50 Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Responsible for development, maintenance and management of the Line of Business Applications for medical aid administration. Technologies: Java, COBOL, Powerhouse, Sybase, .Net DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: JAVA BUSINESS APPLICATIONS (JANUARY 2009 TO MAY 2012) Reporting to: Head: IT No of Staff: 20 Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Responsible for development, maintenance and management of the Line of Business Applications for medical aid administration. Establishment of Java competency for business application development Technologies: Java, COBOL, Powerhouse, Sybase, .Net - Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 5 DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: CLAIMS SYSTEMS (AUGUST 2006 TO DECEMBER 2008) Reporting to: Head: IT No of Staff: 8 Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Responsible for development, maintenance and management of the Claims Administration System. Technologies: COBOL, Powerhouse, Sybase TECHNICAL LEAD: MPE TO UNIX MIGRATION (APRIL 2004 TO JULY 2006) Reporting to: IT Application Manager Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Lead the design and implementation of solutions to enable migration of systems from MPE to HPUX. Technologies: Java, Perl, PHP, MYSQL, HPUX, COBOL, Powerhouse, MPE, TurboImage, SENIOR DEVELOPER: RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (JANUARY 2003 TO MARCH 2004) Reporting to: IT Application Manager Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Research new IT technologies. Implement and operationalize new IT technologies. Technologies: Java, Perl, PHP, MYSQL SENIOR ANALYST PROGRAMMER (JUNE 2000 TO DECEMBER 2002) Reporting to: IT Application Manager Company: Metropolitan Health Responsibilities: Responsible for development, maintenance of Line of Business Applications for medical aid administration. Medical Aid Client web portal development and legacy system integration Technologies: COBOL, Powerhouse, MPE, TurboImage, ASP, HTML ANALYST PROGRAMMER (AUGUST 1996 TO DECEMBER 1999 ) Reporting to: IT Application Manager Company: Southern Life Responsibilities: Life Insurance line of business system development and maintenance Technologies: COBOL, CICS, DB2, VB, RPG SOFTWARE TESTER (JULY 1993 TO JULY 1996) Reporting to: Test Manager Company: Southern Life Responsibilities: Implemented test-plans and test-cases built on high-level and detailed design - Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 6 - Manual and automated testing INSURANCE CLERK (MAY 1989 TO JUNE 1993) Reporting to: Line Manager Company: Southern Life Responsibilities: Administration duties relating to reassurance processing and complex system configuration ACHIEVEMENTS/ SUCCESSES ACHIEVEMENT DESCRIPTION Real-time pharmacy Participated in a team to develop a secondary real-time pharmacy engine claims assessing engine in open source technology, allowing the launch of Pharmaceutical Benefit Management product at 99% uptime to pharmacy point of sale systems; enabled new revenue growth and scalability without large capital investment in infrastructure. This technology enabled Metropolitan Health to execute on its strategic objective to become the largest and most affordable Administrator. MPE Migration As Technical Lead of a dedicated team that drove the system data migration from the end of life HP MPE hierarchical database platform to Sybase relational database platform on UNIX. This enabled business to mitigate its end of life platform risk. The project milestones included but not limited to the following: • Automated the generation of migration process and programs to ensure changes to production environment were in sync during the 2 year project; • Developed database abstraction layer to facilitate seamless migration from TurboImage to Sybase with minimal changes to existing code base. • Designed and developed systems to dynamically generate database access modules from database schema Java competency File distribution System - In an attempt to modernize the application, the organization chose Java as its second core language. A dedicated R&D team developed a new framework that enabled development of Java business applications. The competency did not exist before, therefore the processes associated had to be set up which included; SDLC, Change Control and employment of suitably qualified Java professionals Developed bespoke, configurable file distribution system using adaptors designed to communicate across various protocols. The benefit to the organization includes amongst other that the high touch Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa RUSSELL SAMUELS PAGE: 7 ACHIEVEMENT Claims Management DESCRIPTION legacy system became transparent with sophisticated detective controls. Tasked to establish a Claims team that was responsible for the payment of claims to the value of over R30bn per annum. My responsibility included creating succession planning, setting up an automated regression environment to mitigate the business’ financial risk as well improve overall SDLC processes. The Claims environment is complex and domain knowledge dependent therefore I had to implement a robust recruitment framework and processes to ensure we attract and retain the right skills - Mama Ncedi’s, Misson Land, Zithulele Village, Mqanduli, 5080 South Africa