Phillip Rucker
About
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IT Operations & Infrastructure Executive | M&A Integration | Cloud Governance | ITSM Maturity | PE-Backed Transformation | AI Enablement
Houston, Texas, United States
Résumé
Jobs
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Head of Platform OperationsEverCommerceJan 2026 - Current (8 months)Earned opportunity to build and lead a new Platform Operations / SRE function inside EverCommerce’s EverHealth business unit, supporting EHR/EMR healthcare SaaS platforms. Responsible for scaling the team, establishing SRE practices and operational discipline, and leading consolidation to a self-hosted Grafana observability stack. Key accomplishments: —Leading 12-member Reliability team responsible for observability, performance monitoring, backups, patching, product support, and root-cause analysis for 8 healthcare SaaS products. —Built a new Platform Operations / SRE function to improve reliability, incident visibility, observability, and operational discipline. —Leading AI-enabled automation initiatives to expand DevOps / SRE capacity,- Head of Platform Operations (Site Reliability Engineering)EverCommerceJan 2026 - Current (8 months)
- Head of IT and InfrastructureEverCommerceNov 2024 - Jan 2026 (1 year 3 months)Recruited by a multi-product B2B software company to transform cloud engineering and IT operations through strategic technology initiatives, cloud and infrastructure modernization, AI-enabled IT operations, and overdue integration of disparate SaaS / PaaS environments from prior M&A transactions. Key accomplishments: —Led corporate IT and infrastructure across AWS/Azure, Microsoft 365, IAM, Atlassian, and Service Desk; oversaw 4 teams / 4 managers / 30 total people across cloud engineering, systems, IAM, and L1/L2 support. —Served as accountable IT owner for acquisition and divestiture work, including diligence, TSA negotiation, migration planning, and execution. —Led IT integration strategy for one acquisition and one divestiture across
- VP of Platform Engineering - Reliability & ITNet HealthDec 2022 - May 2024 (1 year 6 months)Led transformation of IT Operations, Site Reliability Engineering, DataOps, and platform operations for a healthcare software company supporting proprietary EHR/EMR SaaS products. Focused on improving compliance, performance, stability, service management, cloud operations, and infrastructure maturity across AWS, Azure, VMware, Hyper-V, and Microsoft 365 environments. Managed 3 functions and 6 people managers, totaling 25 staff. Key accomplishments: —Built initial AIOps capability, reducing manual toil, improving service workflows, and avoiding incremental headcount while saving $600K in OpEx. —Co-led implementation of platform engineering practices, including Ansible, Terraform, IaC, and standardized CI/CD in Azure DevOps, reducing depl
- Cloud & SaaS Technology AdvisoryUpworkJun 2022 - Current (4 years 3 months)—Strategic and technical hands-on consulting services on Azure Cloud, Microsoft 365, and Jira. —Primary services include: AzureAD/Entra Identity and Access Management (IAM) administration, Azure Cloud costs optimization & migration, Office 365 Tenant consolidation & migration, Jira support. —Providing guidance on IT Service Management (ITSM), including ITIL Incident/Change Mgmt.
- Cloud & SaaS Technology AdvisoryUpworkJun 2022 - Nov 2024 (2 years 6 months)Selective advisory and project-based consulting across Azure, Microsoft 365, Jira/JSM, tenant consolidation, cloud cost optimization, IAM, and SaaS administration.
- Director of Information TechnologyCorsearchJan 2021 - Jun 2022 (1 year 6 months)Recruited to integrate and scale IT and Platform Support for a global intellectual property protection SaaS provider while executing simultaneous M&A IT integrations and standardizing cloud, on-prem infrastructure, collaboration platforms, and end-user support. Key accomplishments: —Rebuilt and scaled global IT team from 3 to 21 while implementing Scrum, ITIL ITSM, and stronger service practices. —Completed 4 M&A IT integrations in 16 months, including Azure/AWS infrastructure, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and identity/service consolidation. —Co-managed $3M budget and improved vendor leverage, platform governance, and service consistency. —Saved $150K OpEx through vendor consolidation and strategic contract renegotiation. —Reduced ave
- Information Technology Engineering ManagerAGRO Merchants GroupMar 2020 - Jan 2021 (11 months)Led stabilization and modernization of global cloud, data center, network, virtualization, and collaboration infrastructure for an 18-location international logistics company during the COVID-19 operating environment and acquisition preparation. Key accomplishments: —Led transition into AWS hybrid-cloud architecture, upgraded VMware hosts, and replaced 90+ Cisco routers/switches with Ubiquiti. —Delivered 4 complex infrastructure and Citrix VDI projects one month early and $27K under budget. —Orchestrated WAN migration to VeloCloud SD-WAN and Microsoft 365, reducing OpEx by $100K. —Deployed SolarWinds monitoring, reducing Zendesk incident ticket volume by 40% and enabling proactive issue detection.
- IT ManagerEmerald Performance MaterialsSep 2017 - Sep 2019 (2 years 1 month)Promoted to lead global IT modernization across infrastructure, end-user computing, service desk, cloud, network, and ITSM for a 13-location specialty chemical manufacturer. Key accomplishments: —Reorganized IT into a hybrid operational model with internal engineering, helpdesk, and MSP support, saving $120K in OpEx. —Executed Azure migration, ServiceNow ITSM implementation, and Cisco Meraki SD-WAN upgrade while reallocating $100K in legacy MPLS savings to fund the work. —Consolidated Microsoft 365 tenants, Active Directory domains, networks, and file servers as part of 2 M&A transactions. —Achieved 24 consecutive months of zero unplanned downtime across JDE ERP, VMware, and Hyper-V. —Renegotiated vendor agreements, reducing OpEx by $600K
- Technical AnalystEmerald Performance MaterialsApr 2015 - Sep 2017 (2 years 6 months)Supported enterprise server, network, voice, virtualization, infrastructure, procurement, and Microsoft enterprise licensing across 13 global sites. Key accomplishments: —Project-managed infrastructure transition work across 3 M&A transactions. —Established infrastructure and PC hardware standards that reduced support complexity. —Supported Symantec Endpoint Protection across 1,100+ endpoints. —Built and maintained Hyper-V and VMware environments supporting critical manufacturing systems.
- Desktop Support EngineerFujitsuJul 2011 - Jun 2014 (3 years)Provided ITIL-based level 3 support to 1,300 globally dispersed users across endpoint, mobile, identity, application, and end-user support environments.
- Junior Systems AdministratorPanther Expedited ServicesMay 2008 - Jul 2011 (3 years 3 months)Supported Windows server, Active Directory, Exchange, terminal services, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, endpoint, and Level II support environments for a domestically dispersed user base.
- Technical Support SpecialistUniversal ElectronicsJan 2006 - Apr 2007 (1 year 4 months)Early-career technical support role supporting end users, endpoint technology, and customer-facing technical operations.
Education
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- Master of Business Administration - MBA, Business Administration and Management, GeneralKent State UniversityAug 2016 - May 2018 (1 year 10 months)
- Bachelor of Science - BS, Computer and Information Sciences and Support ServicesDevry UniversityDec 2009 - May 2013 (3 years 6 months)
- Bachelor of Science - BS, Computer and Information Sciences and Support ServicesDeVry UniversityOhioDec 2009 - May 2013 (3 years 6 months)