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Stephen G. Russo

Senior Systems Engineer · Infrastructure & Enterprise AI Architect

Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville / Prairie Grove, AR)
(479) 957-0455 · stephen@sgrusso.com · sgrusso.com
linkedin.com/in/stephen-russo-506b18

Executive Profile

Senior Systems Engineer and Infrastructure Leader with 20+ years of experience designing, modernizing, and operating high-availability datacenters across public-sector government and $1T+ institutional financial-services environments. Proven track record leading zero-disruption VMware vSphere and enterprise SAN migrations, internal PKI and supervised MDM architectures, cyber-resilient backup vaulting, hybrid Microsoft 365 messaging, and sovereign on-premises NVIDIA H100 enterprise AI infrastructure. Trusted escalation lead for executives, trading desks, and elected officials.

Core Technical Architecture

Enterprise AI & GPU NVIDIA H100 Multi-GPU Infrastructure, vLLM, Meta Llama 3.3 70B Instruct, Open WebUI, FLUX & ComfyUI, Python FastAPI, Redis Queues, Docker, Sovereign RAG, OpenAI-Compatible APIs
Virtualization & SAN VMware vSphere 8, ESXi, vCenter, vMotion, Dell PowerStore SAN, iSCSI Fabrics, Dell EMC Data Domain, Veeam Backup & Replication, Quantum Scalar i3 LTO-9 Tape, Synology NAS
Microsoft & Hybrid Cloud Windows Server, Active Directory DS, Group Policy, DNS/DHCP, Exchange Server 2019 CU15, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, AD CS / Enterprise PKI, SQL Server / SSRS, RDS, PowerShell
Security, PKI & Mobility NDES / SCEP, Proofpoint Essentials, Cisco ESA, SPF / DKIM / DMARC, Duo MFA, Ivanti Neurons & Sentry MDM, Apple Business Manager, DigiCert TLS, CrowdStrike, Netwrix, Incident Response
Networking & Platforms Cisco Routing/Switching, Cisco Meraki SD-WAN, Dark-Fiber Campus Interconnects, VLAN Segmentation, Firewalls/VPN, Cisco CUCM, Esri ArcGIS, CentralSquare, Karpel, KACE SMA/SDA

Selected Enterprise Architecture Highlights

Sovereign Enterprise AI Platform: Engineered on-premises NVIDIA H100 cluster serving Llama 3.3 70B (vLLM), FLUX/ComfyUI, FastAPI/Redis, Open WebUI, and Cisco CUCM voice prototypes.
vSphere 8 & PowerStore SAN Refresh: Redesigned iSCSI/vMotion fabrics and migrated dual-campus production workloads from legacy Dell EMC SANs to replicated Dell PowerStore arrays.
Zero-Trust PKI & Supervised MDM: Integrated Microsoft AD CS, NDES/SCEP, Ivanti Neurons/Sentry, Apple Business Manager, and Duo MFA for automated mobile certificate auth.
Cyber-Resilient Backup & Mail Defense: Architected Veeam + Data Domain + LTO-9 air-gapped tape DR; migrated Cisco ESA to Proofpoint Essentials with enforced SPF/DKIM/DMARC.

Professional Experience

Russo Technology Consulting — Prairie Grove, AR 2026 – Present
Founder & Principal Technology Consultant
  • Lead independent infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity hardening, backup resiliency, and cloud advisory engagements for regional organizations from architectural discovery through documented handoff.
  • Design and deploy production web properties utilizing Git-based deployment pipelines, custom DNS governance, and modern TLS lifecycle management.
Washington County Government — Fayetteville, AR 2022 – 2026
Systems Administrator & Infrastructure Lead
  • Administered and modernized mission-critical infrastructure across two campuses supporting 350+ employees across Courts, Law Enforcement, Detention, Finance, GIS, and Public Services.
  • Architected and deployed a sovereign on-premises enterprise AI platform built on NVIDIA H100 GPUs running Meta Llama 3.3 70B (vLLM), FLUX/ComfyUI, FastAPI/Redis orchestration, Open WebUI, internal RAG architecture, and Cisco CUCM voice-assistant / ArcGIS deep-learning prototypes.
  • Directed a dual-campus VMware vSphere 8 cluster modernization and live SAN migration from legacy Dell EMC storage to Dell PowerStore with cross-campus replication and zero unplanned downtime.
  • Engineered internal enterprise PKI (AD CS, NDES/SCEP) integrated with Ivanti Neurons for MDM, Ivanti Sentry, and Apple Business Manager for supervised iOS enrollment and certificate-backed ActiveSync.
  • Maintained Exchange Server 2019 (CU15) and hybrid Microsoft 365 / Entra ID; migrated email gateway security from Cisco ESA to Proofpoint Essentials with strict SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and DigiCert TLS governance.
  • Modernized backup and disaster recovery across Veeam Backup & Replication, Dell EMC Data Domain, Synology NAS, and Quantum Scalar i3 LTO-9 tape libraries; administered dark-fiber campus links and Meraki SD-WAN.
  • Built and supported dedicated environments for Esri ArcGIS, CentralSquare financial systems, Karpel cloud case-management migration, SQL Server/SSRS, and KACE endpoint deployment.
  • Formally recognized by County Judge Joseph Wood for frontline technical leadership on the Cybersecurity Incident Response Team during the 2022 countywide security incident.
Edge Technology Group — Greenwich, CT 2017 – 2021
Team Lead & Senior Escalation Engineer
  • Served as senior technical escalation point at a premier financial MSP supporting 500+ hedge funds, private equity firms, and institutional trading desks managing over $1 trillion in combined assets (~30% YoY growth).
  • Conceived and spearheaded development of “Client Viewer,” unifying critical client topology and operational runbooks for 200+ engineers—significantly reducing human error and escalation MTTR.
  • Partnered directly with portfolio managers, CTOs, and executive teams to resolve complex datacenter, server, and network escalations and plan scalable infrastructure expansions.
Jennison Associates — New York, NY 2014 – 2017
Senior Service Technician / Systems Lead
  • Administered systems and high-touch support across 430 servers and 500 workstations within an active institutional asset management environment ($189B AUM).
  • Led 400+ user migration from legacy BES to MobileIron iOS MDM, directed a 300+ workstation SSD/RAM hardware refresh, and deployed Acronis disaster recovery across 250 endpoints.
  • Engineered custom Windows Server 2012 R2 developer images and reconciled configuration drift across Active Directory, DNS, GPO, VMware, SEP, and LDMS.
K2 Advisors (Franklin Templeton) — Stamford, CT 2007 – 2014
Assistant Vice President of Information Technology
  • Maintained 99%+ uptime across 90 virtual servers, 11 ESXi hosts, and 9 EqualLogic SANs supporting global offices in the US, UK, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Australia during AUM expansion from $7B to $10B+ and acquisition by Franklin Templeton.
  • Led full P2V datacenter consolidation on VMware vSphere and HP Blade Systems, managed 20+ enterprise vendor relationships, and implemented IDS/IPS, RSA SecurID, WebSense, and Dell KACE security controls.
J. Brown Advertising / G2 Promotional Marketing — Stamford, CT 2004 – 2007
IT / Network Administrator
  • Supported 150 users across Stamford, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Dallas; led cross-platform migration from Mac OS 9 to Windows Server 2003, Active Directory, and Mac OS X Server through Grey Worldwide acquisition.

Certifications & Education

CompTIA A+ Certified CE Active Continuing Education Certification (2023)
Associate of Science in Computer Science Gibbs College, Norwalk, CT · 3.9 GPA · Dean’s List Award
Computer Science & Ethics Coursework University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT
Microsoft Windows Server & Active Directory New Horizons Technical Training, Trumbull, CT