ANDY POTANIN

Enterprise Business Transformation Leader who translates technology investments into measurable revenue growth and cost savings. Led Transact Campus from $193M to $480M revenue culminating in a $1.6B acquisition in 2024. Distinguished USMC Tactical Data Operations graduate with combat deployment experience who delivers enterprise-scale solutions that drive business value.

Uniquely combines military leadership discipline, enterprise transformation expertise, and financial value creation to deliver measurable results at scale. Advised Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation on digital sovereignty initiatives and secure financial infrastructure.

Contributed to 34% EBITDA improvement while transaction volume grew 4x
Delivered $10M+ annual labor cost avoidance (32.7% of Product Development budget)
Maintained 99.999% uptime for systems processing $65B+ in annual transactions, enhancing customer experience for 17 million users across 2,000+ institutions.
Achieved 10x industry-standard efficiency (2% vs. average 20%) across multiple verticals

Led enterprise-wide digital transformation that unified 10 distinct business units following Transact's separation from Blackboard, creating a scalable foundation that supported rapid growth and culminated in a $1.6B acquisition. Spearheaded strategic acquisitions of Hangry and Quickcharge.

Pioneered infrastructure automation that dramatically reduced operational costs while improving service quality, enabling business units to innovate faster while maintaining strict compliance with financial regulations.

Transact Campus (2018 - 2024)

Senior Engineering Manager, Cloud Automation Group and Equity Partner

Architected comprehensive security framework enabling PCI-DSS certification 40% faster than industry average. Implemented Hubspot CRM to organize 1,700+ institutional clients. Fully automated Web Application Firewall (WAF) configuration. Managed $5M Azure budget while reducing development environment costs by 32%.

Enterprise Security Transformation | 2018-2024

Established security framework with SOC 2, PCI-DSS Level 1, and NIST controls across multiple platforms and business verticals for software supply chains (via automation pipelines)
Oversaw SAST/DAST security tools that identified and remediated vulnerabilities across 1,400+ repositories across GitHub and Bitbucket, maintaining perfect security record
Facilitated functional team cross collaboration which culminated in cultural shifts and measurable results, such as 417 Pull Requests executed (across 52 unique tooling and automation repositories) in 2023
Built unified security model across Campus ID, Payments, and Campus Commerce platforms
Implemented Pipeline-as-Code with integrated control gates that assess risk posture, operational readiness, and compliance before deployment (provided each dev team with repos that they owned that ran all automation)
Established compliance controls for all deployments, reducing security incidents by 85% while maintaining exceptional deployment success rate and achieving <5% change failure rate (industry high-performers range: 0-15%)
Prevented ~40 additional hires for a 200-person team

Mobile Credential & Digital Payments Security | 2018-2020

Pioneered the first-ever digital campus ID system for Apple Pay (Mobile Credential as a Service/MCAAS), launched with Duke University
Designed security system protecting over 1 million student credentials, enabling secure building access and campus transactions
Created Transact IDX cloud-native stored value system, processing 2M+ transactions with 99.99% success rate and <30 minute time to restore service (DORA elite metric: 0.1 hours), while maintaining compliance standards
Delivered 7x performance improvement over previous solutions while maintaining security compliance standards
Architected secure API gateway for integration with payment processors and financial institutions, implementing comprehensive security controls for financial transactions

Cloud Transformation & Infrastructure Automation | 2020-2022

Architected enterprise-wide Pipeline-as-Code (PaC) infrastructure automation platform during Transact's major growth phase, achieving 60% reduction in deployment time and 40% reduction in infrastructure costs
Pioneered Docker containerization strategy that enabled elite-level deployment frequency (15,000+ annual deployments, averaging 10+ deployments per day) across 200+ microservices, placing in the top tier of DORA performance metrics
Deployed infrastructure automation framework that dramatically decreased cloud provisioning time and eliminated 90% of manual configuration errors
Designed and implemented High Availability/Disaster Recovery (HA/DR) solutions with automated failover across multiple cloud regions
Achieved elite-level change lead time by reducing deployment cycles from 10.15 hours to under 15 minutes (industry-leading 0.04 days for CAG PR vs. 0.62 days for non-CAG), while enforcing strict security controls
Achieved unprecedented DevOps to developer ratio of 1:50 (2% compared to industry average of 20%), enabling 200+ engineers across 10 formerly separate companies to deploy with confidence while operating with just 4 dedicated DevOps engineers - a 10x improvement over industry standards

Enterprise Integration & Microservices Architecture | 2022-2024

Designed Enterprise API Gateway & Integration Hub (TREX) enabling seamless integration between ERP systems, partner platforms, and on-premises systems
Built enterprise-wide Service Mesh & Microservices Orchestration Platform with Istio and Envoy, implementing network segmentation and mutual TLS authentication
Developed Data Analytics & Reporting platform (DARR) providing real-time business intelligence across all product verticals, achieving 65% reduction in transaction latency
Created a data discovery tool that collects SDLC evidence and generates visualization dashboards from millions of weekly event points across GitHub, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, Artifactory, Jira, and other systems, processing 6,000+ monthly pull requests with 400+ merged PRs monthly, providing data-driven insights to leadership
Built enterprise observability platforms with Elasticsearch, Prometheus, Grafana, and Azure Monitor, enabling real-time security alerting and distributed tracing
Successfully standardized 10 different technology stacks from formerly separate companies into a unified, proven DevOps framework that was replicated across all teams following Transact's separation from Blackboard
Supported EBITDA improvement from 25.4% to 34% through technology transformation
Drove enterprise value growth from $800M to $1.6B in 5 years through strategic technology investments and operational excellence

Transact Team Leadership:

Managed core team of 15+ cloud automation specialists including Principal Architects and Lead Engineers
Established standardized deployment processes achieving enterprise-scale automation with comprehensive security controls
Unified security controls across development teams while maintaining compliance standards
Developed software factory model serving 1,800+ institutions and growing user base from 12M to 17M students (42% increase), implementing 176 GitHub workflow files and optimizing step templates from 31 to 24 while managing over 11.9M lines of code changes
Scaled team with 95% retention rate through effective mentorship and career development
Created culture of excellence that balanced compliance with accelerated development velocity

Usability Dynamics / UDX (2004 - Present)

CEO & Founder

Founded and lead digital solutions company specializing in AI, automation, and web technologies with enterprise security implementations. Developed platforms for education, entertainment, real estate, and manufacturing sectors. Built open-source solutions with 1M+ installations and systems with 99.99% uptime during peak transaction periods. Managed 800+ repositories with over 209,000 lines of code changes across multiple technology stacks.

Enterprise Security Architecture | 2015-Present

Built security frameworks for Lockheed Martin with sophisticated access controls spanning multiple security layers
Architected SOC2 compliance automation system, reducing audit preparation time by 65% and ensuring continuous compliance
Developed secure cloud infrastructure that successfully defended against numerous DDoS attacks, maintaining system integrity while depleting attacker resources
Designed resilient systems that scaled automatically during attack conditions, ensuring business continuity while minimizing financial impact

Cloud Transformation & DevSecOps | 2015-2018

Pioneered cloud automation with wpCloud and rabbit.ci platforms, implementing DevOps security practices with automated vulnerability scanning
Created Docker-based deployment systems and CI/CD pipelines with integrated security controls
Developed reusable infrastructure-as-code templates that reduced provisioning time by 85% while ensuring security compliance

Defense & Government Consulting | 2010-2015

Developed cloud-based interface for SBIR/STTR programs that secured Lockheed Martin as flagship client
Leveraged experience at Northrop Grumman's Technical Engineering & Assistance Team (TE\&AT) for US Marine Corps logistics to enhance enterprise offerings
Applied military security protocols to civilian infrastructure, establishing reputation for high-reliability security implementations

UDX Team Leadership:

Built and scaled a global technology company serving 200+ clients across education, entertainment, real estate, and government sectors
Transformed UDX from WordPress plugin development to enterprise DevSecOps for billion-dollar fintech companies and government clients
Established international team structure with offices in multiple countries, applying USMC leadership training to foster team excellence
Created company culture based on 10 core leadership principles including integrity, collaboration, and continuous learning
Mentored and developed technical talent, with multiple engineers advancing to senior and leadership positions
Secured H1B1 visas for key team members and facilitated international relocation when needed to retain top talent
Maintained 90%+ team retention rate through effective leadership during periods of rapid growth and market changes
Guided company through multiple technology transitions while preserving client relationships spanning over a decade

Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (2022 -2025)

Technical Advisor, Cybersecurity Initiative

Provide strategic guidance on cybersecurity standards and cloud automation for Ukrainian government digital transformation initiatives, focusing on secure cloud architecture and digital sovereignty. Collaborated with Microsoft to strengthen critical digital infrastructure against sophisticated threats.

Authored DevOps manual (udx.io/devops-manual) establishing standardized security practices for 400+ government information systems
Implemented DevSecOps practices enabling rapid deployment of secure cloud infrastructure in under 40 minutes
Created cloud-agnostic security framework and migration guidelines for critical government systems
Secured Diia (digital citizen platform) and Trembita (interoperability system) e-government platforms, resolving hardware security module latency issues

Engility Corporation (2010 - 2012)

Lead Systems Engineer & Developer

Led development of mission-critical systems for the US Marine Corps, implementing enterprise-level security protocols for sensitive logistics operations. Designed and deployed the first cloud-based ERP system for the Technical Engineering & Assistance Team (TE\&AT), establishing new standards for military logistics management across multiple operational theaters with perfect security record.

Pioneered USMC's first cloud-based ERP system for Technical Engineering & Assistance Team (TE\&AT) supporting logistics operations
Established robust security controls for sensitive logistics data across multiple operational theaters
Developed web-based platform integrating help desk, asset management, and business intelligence capabilities with role-based access controls
Created real-time inventory tracking system for operations across Camp Lejeune, Camp Pendleton, and Okinawa with perfect security record

2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, USMC (2005 - 2010)

Data Chief

Served with distinction in the elite 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, managing mission-critical communications and security systems for classified operations. Held Top Secret security clearance while implementing innovative security solutions for sensitive operations, maintaining perfect security record in hostile territory while supporting joint operations with special forces units.

Combat Systems & Security Leadership

Distinguished Graduate (First in Class), USMC 0656 Tactical Data Operations
Led team supporting 300+ special operations personnel in high-security environments
Deployed to Fallujah, Iraq (2007-2008) with 2nd Recon Bravo Company
Engineered tactical networks with encrypted protocols for classified operations
Designed encrypted communications for joint operations with Navy SEALs
Built battlefield communications with 99.9% uptime during combat operations

Advanced Security Operations

Identified and contained sophisticated cyber threats including early variants of military-grade malware, implementing manual patching protocols that prevented proliferation across networks
Developed and executed comprehensive security procedures for field equipment that protected sensitive intelligence from advanced persistent threats
Implemented comprehensive security controls from physical hardware to application security
Built PHP application tracking detained personnel during deployment with AES-256 encryption
Established secure protocols for classified intelligence transmission in combat environments
Maintained perfect security record during deployment in hostile territory

Technical Expertise

Not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the key technologies and tools I have world-class expertise with:

Security & Compliance: SOC 2, NIST 800-53, RBAC, Security Automation, SAST/DAST/IAST
Cloud & Infrastructure: Azure (Service Bus, Key Vault, Cosmos DB, Event Grid, Event Hub, App Service, Logic Apps, Functions), AWS (Lambda@Edge, CloudFront, S3), GCP (Cloud Run, BigQuery, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage), Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker, Multi-Region Architecture, Service Mesh
DevSecOps: Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Octopus Deploy, GitOps, Pipeline-as-Code, Infrastructure-as-Code, GitHub API
Data & Analytics: SDLC Metrics Collection, Data Visualization, Sankey Charts, Business Intelligence, Real-time Analytics
Development: Node.js, PHP, Python, Bash, Golang, TypeScript, GraphQL, RESTful APIs
Languages: English (Native), Russian (Professional)
Certs: Security+, Network+, A+, Fiber Optic Installer

Education

UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
Executive MBA, Business Administration with focus on Technology Leadership

Webster University
Advanced Studies in Business Administration, Procurement, and Acquisitions

Campbell University
BS, Information Technology Management & Security

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Andy Potanin Resume v2025