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Mike Reams

About

I'm an enterprise architect with twenty-six years inside the systems large organizations run on — directory services and PKI, cloud platforms, ServiceNow, and the configuration management databases that are supposed to describe all of it. My work is making those systems legible, governable, and safe to change.

I started by offering to work for free, which tells you most of what you need to know about how I feel about technology. Since then I've led enterprise architecture for one of the largest privately held companies in the country, built an EA program and team from nothing at a healthcare revenue-cycle firm, and co-founded two companies. Along the way: cloud (Azure Solutions Architect Expert), cybersecurity, identity, blockchain, and a farm-kid work ethic that turned out to matter less than learning how people actually make decisions.

I write because most enterprise knowledge dies in email threads. The posts here are the notes I wish someone had handed me — exact steps, honest trade-offs, and the occasional opinion about legacy systems. When I'm not doing that, I'm mentoring the next set of architects and poking at whatever emerging technology is currently overpromising.

Experience

Download résumé (PDF)

  1. Oct 2023 – present

    Principal Lead Enterprise Architect

    Sherwin-Williams · Cleveland, OH

    Technical architecture lead across the enterprise platform estate: ERP and SaaS finance, procurement, integration and data management, CRM, ServiceNow ITSM/ITOM and CMDB governance, API management, security architecture, operational technology, and observability.

  2. Feb 2023 – Oct 2023

    Practice Director, Security and Cloud Infrastructure

    Bennett Adelson Consulting · Cleveland, OH

    Owned delivery for the Microsoft Azure and AWS practice — scoping engagements, writing the technical content of statements of work, and running a portfolio of concurrent client engagements across private companies, federal government, and state agencies.

  3. Jan 2022 – Jan 2024

    Co-Founder and CTO

    Creative Social (concurrent venture) · Cleveland, OH

    Built and closed alongside a full-time architecture role. A global e-commerce marketplace for creators on Web3 — blockchain-backed buying and selling of physical and digital goods, with creator collaboration as the differentiator.

  4. Jun 2019 – Nov 2022

    Director of Enterprise Architecture

    Quadax · Cleveland, OH

    Built the Enterprise Architecture program for a healthcare revenue-cycle company and led an eight-architect team through its cloud transition.

  5. Jul 2006 – Jun 2019

    Lead Enterprise Architect

    Cox Enterprises · Atlanta, GA

    Thirteen years, six roles — Systems Administrator to Lead Enterprise Architect — ending with ownership of the EA program guiding 50+ technology and business strategies across the enterprise portfolio.

Earlier: Porsche Cars North America, NASCO, American Cancer Society, The EPI Companies, and IBM Global Business Services (1999–2009).

Certifications

Recognition

  • Patent holder — blockchain technology in healthcare

    Granted patent covering blockchain applied to a healthcare use case.

  • 1st place, Microsoft/TAG HackATL

    2018

  • 3rd place, FinTech/FinServ Hackathon

    2018

Publications

    Education

    • Troy University

      Global Business Management, Business/Managerial Economics

    • Kennesaw State University

      Computer Information Systems

    • Valdosta State University

      Computer and Information Systems Security / Information Assurance

    • North Florida Community College

      Associate's, Business Administration and Management