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About Me


My name is Stace Branham and I have over 22 years in the Information Technology industry as a Systems Architect, and I specialize in Microsoft Enterprise Messaging.
My main focus is Microsoft Exchange/Exchange Online and I also have extensive experience with Microsoft Lync/Skype For Business/Teams and Directory Services (AD/Entra).

I hope my blog gives you some great information on Enterprise Messaging tips, tricks and fixes. Feel free to poke around and leave some comments so I can better help you! 

Resume

WORK EXPERIENCE

Microsoft (Contracted through Apex Systems)
Messaging Cloud Solution Architect
05/2024-present

- Provide Extended Delivery Support for 25+ commercial and GCC High tenants including Boeing, Tennessee Secretary of State, GoDaddy, HP, Intel, Dell, John Deere, Carrier, and Dow.

- Plan and deliver proactive and reactive support for M365 Messaging - Exchange on-premises, Exchange Online, Active Directory, Entra ID and Purview.

- Create and lead product training and support chalk-talks for customers.

- Collaborate with internal Microsoft support teams, account teams, product engineering, and service engineering teams to ensure an efficient customer support experience.

Baylor College of Medicine (Contracted Through Jupiter Group)
Lead Messaging & Collaboration Cloud Solution Architect
06/2023 - 05/2024

- Managed HIPAA/PII/PHI-compliant multitenant Exchange 2019/M365 Hybrid for 23,000+ mailboxes.

- Managed Teams environment of 24,000 internal users and 6,000 guests.

- Managed A1/3/5 Azure/Entra ID, SharePoint Online, OneDrive and Box of over 4 million files.

- Led migration from Proofpoint to M365 Purview/Exchange Online Protection (EOP) and DLP.

- Performed eDiscovery/litigation holds across the M365 stack and Box environment.

- Wrote and executed PowerShell scripts for system automation and management. 

- Managed a team of 4 M365 Collaboration Engineers.

- Provided tier 3 & 4 escalation support and troubleshooting through ServiceNow ticketing.

- Completed project-based enhancements & perform change management to improve user experience.

Schott North America (Managed Services 2016-2021, Full-Time Employee since 4/2021)
Enterprise Messaging Architect, Messaging Team Lead (REMOTE)
05/2016 - 06/2023
     
- Planned, designed, and installed greenfield Exchange 2016/M365 GCC Hybrid in a Resource Forest using MIM 2016 for Identity Management/DirSync, according to ITAR/DFARS security regulations.

- Managed AD & Exchange environment for 2,500+ mailboxes with a 99.9% uptime.

- Led migration from Lotus Notes to Exchange using Dell/Quest migration tools.

- Installed and managed Skype for Business/Teams Voice environment for 15,000+ global users.

- Managed SharePoint Online and OneDrive GGC environment.

- Wrote and implemented PowerShell scripts for system automation, maintenance, and management. 

- Managed a team of 8 Messaging Administrators as well as created documentation for support.

Lamparth Consulting Inc.
Enterprise Messaging Architect, Messaging Team Lead (REMOTE)
05/2016 - 04/2021

- Consulted for 5 clients on Enterprise Messaging engagements, including primary client Schott (above).

- Designed, configured, and led migration from Exchange 2016 and Skype for Business to O365 Hybrid.

- Repaired misconfigured Exchange 2016 Hybrid and led Office 365 migration.

- Designed/deployed Teams Direct Routing using AnyNode Session Border Controller (SBC) for 2 clients.

- Managed Lamparth in-house Office 365 Tenant (Exchange Online, Teams, OneDrive and Azure).

- Performed IMAP Migration for 20+ users from Gmail to Exchange Online.

- Created custom documentation and implementation, including presales/post-sales plans for consulting clients.

- Led and supervised Messaging Team as well as created documentation for support.

Harris Computer Systems
Enterprise Messaging Administrator (REMOTE)
03/2014 - 05/2016
 
- Designed, built, and administered Exchange 2007/2010/2013 environment of 5,000+ mailboxes.
- Led cross-forest migrations of 50 new business unit acquisitions to centralized Exchange environment.

- Managed OCS 2007/Lync 2010/2013/Skype for Business Enterprise Voice environment.

- Instituted Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to prevent PII/PCI leaks.

- Set up Enterprise Vault email archiving solution and later migrated from eVault to MS online archive.

- Supervised and trained Junior Network Administrators.

EDG Inc.
Senior Network Administrator
01/2013 - 10/2013

- Built and administered multi-site Exchange 2010 environment with an active/active Stretched DAG.

- Installed and managed multi-site Lync 2010/2013 Environment.

- Managed 70+ Servers and LAN Infrastructure of 700+ workstations.

City of New Orleans, through Geocent Consulting
Infrastructure Consultant
08/2012 - 01/2013
 
- Designed, built, and managed Exchange 2010/O365 Hybrid Environment for 8,000+ mailboxes.

- Led migration from Exchange 2003 to 2010 and Office 365 Hybrid.

- Designed, built, and migrated Lync 2010 on-premises to Lync 2013 Hybrid Environment.

- Performed daily eDiscovery, open records requests, and digital forensics.

- Provided presales and post-sales services and planning to other government agencies.

- Managed VMware ESX and HP SAN infrastructure and SharePoint 2010..

Texas A&M University Computing & Information Services
Senior Systems Administrator
07/2010 - 8/2012
 
- Designed and administered greenfield multi-domain Active Directory infrastructure consisting of 30,000+ users and Exchange 2010 organization consisting of 10,000+ mailboxes.

- Managed 800+ servers on Citrix XenCenter VMs and Xiotech Emprise 7000 SANs with 1PB+ storage.

- Assisted in migration of hosts and VMs from XenCenter to VMware ESX.

- Installed and maintained 8-node SQL 2008 R2 multi-site cluster. 

Texas A&M University Student Counseling Services
Microcomputer/LAN Administrator
03/2006 - 07/2010

- Designed and built HIPAA compliant greenfield Exchange 2003/2007 and Active Directory 2003.

- Migrated Pegasus/Mercury Mail Transport to Exchange 2003 cluster and then to Exchange 2007.

- Administered departmental LAN with 32 servers, 93 workstations, 9 VDIs, and 4 network printers.

- Managed departmental IT budget, procurement, and inventories; drafted operating procedures.

Texas A&M University Physical Plant
Microcomputer Specialist
08/2005 - 03/2006

- Administered GroupWise environment of 800+ mailboxes.

- Maintained network consisting of 700+ workstations.

- Supervised and trained student worker technicians.  

John Womack & Co. P.C.
Network Administrator
09/2002 - 09/2005

 - Designed and setup greenfield network of four Windows 2003 Servers, Exchange 5.5/2000, and a Linux Red Hat file server/firewall with 37 workstations using Microsoft Active Directory.

- Integrated Gigabit networking into LAN achieving an effective throughput of 700Mbps.

- Consulted for local city governments and public schools to provide migrations and server upgrades.

EDUCATION

Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Bachelor of Business Administration
08/1999-05/2004


CERTIFICATIONS

A+ Certified
06/2003
Network+ Certified
09/2005
Exchange 2010 MCSE (Expired)
08/2013
Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)