Grady Peterson
✉ grady@gradyp.com
🌐 www.gradyp.com
🔗 Linkedin
Infrastructure Engineering Leader
Enterprise Architecture | Digital Transformations | Cloud Strategy | Process Optimization
Professional Summary
Infrastructure leader who modernizes hybrid environments (on-prem + AWS/Azure), improves reliability and recoverability, and raises operational maturity through clear standards, automation, and pragmatic governance. Experienced leading large migrations, multi-site/platform integration, and security/compliance initiatives.
Key Achievements
- Infrastructure Modernization. Reduced operational complexity and lifecycle risk by replacing legacy VMware/SAN stacks with Nutanix HCI in multi-year modernization programs.
- Cloud & Hybrid Architecture. Enabled secure cloud adoption by designing hybrid AWS/on-prem architectures (EKS/Fargate + SD-WAN + zero-trust foundations).
- M&A Integration. Delivered post-acquisition integration by aligning domains, datacenters, and infrastructure standards across divergent legacy environments.
- Leadership & Governance. Served as acting infrastructure manager and architecture leader, guiding cross-functional teams through standards, decision frameworks, and delivery execution.
- Backup & DR. Improved recoverability by moving fragile backups to S3-based DR platforms and leading successful recovery after catastrophic failure.
- Remote Workforce. Delivered secure remote access at scale via Horizon VDI (1,100+ concurrent users).
- Security & Compliance. Reduced audit and operational risk through AD hardening, MFA, least privilege, and compliance delivery (PCI/HIPAA).
Career Experience
Senior Infrastructure Engineer | Howden RE | April 2024 – Present
Global reinsurance provider | Global Infrastructure Engineering
- Own U.S. infrastructure reliability and modernization priorities within global change control, reducing operational risk and improving consistency.
- Lead TigerRisk → Howden integration delivery (domain consolidation, standards alignment, migration sequencing) across cloud and on-prem services.
- Coordinate delivery with global engineering/network/security teams to converge legacy platforms into unified global patterns.
- Reduce knowledge silos by standardizing documentation, onboarding artifacts, and runbooks across regions.
- Serve as senior escalation point for U.S. infrastructure tradeoffs (risk, security, recoverability, and lifecycle).
Infrastructure Architect | Western National | April 2023 – November 2024
Property & casualty insurance carrier | Infrastructure & Cloud Architecture
Scope: ~100 services | AWS EKS/Fargate | SD-WAN/WAF
- Provided architecture assurance and delivery guidance for a ~100-service migration program by validating designs, surfacing risks, and defining staged execution standards.
- Supported pilot adoption of AWS patterns (EKS/Fargate) and workload placement criteria (EKS vs Fargate vs on-prem).
- Led containerization/integration networking changes end-to-end (SD-WAN, firewall, WAF) for new cloud services.
- Raised supportability by standardizing solution artifacts (diagrams, ownership/SRM, support steps, one-page system overviews).
- Built a usable knowledge system by designing a Confluence structure with consistent per-system documentation expectations.
IT System Engineer Lead / Acting Infrastructure Manager | Infinite Campus | February 2020 – April 2023
National K–12 EdTech provider | Infrastructure Engineering & Operations Leadership
Scope: 2 datacenters | ~4,000 VMs | active/active
- Reduced platform complexity and lifecycle risk by migrating ~4,000 VMs across two active/active datacenters from VMware/Cisco/SAN to Nutanix HCI.
- Enabled S3-based retention and backup modernization by building the company’s first internal S3 platform (Nutanix Objects), later scaled to petabyte-scale usage.
- Managed an 8-person infrastructure team as acting manager (9 months), setting priorities, coordinating roadmaps, and leading incident response.
- Influenced enterprise architecture standards (cloud policy, DR posture, lifecycles, service models) via Architecture Board participation.
- Led multi-week recovery of customer backup systems after catastrophic failure; secured and delivered the transition to S3-based DR.
Senior Technology Engineer | Twin Cities Orthopedics (Revo Health) | August 2016 – February 2020
Orthopedic healthcare provider | Systems & Virtualization Engineering
- Delivered a data center migration with validated DR by implementing VMware SRM failover and test workflows.
- Enabled secure clinical/corporate remote access by deploying VMware Horizon VDI for 1,100+ users.
- Improved data protection and audit posture by implementing Dell-based backup aligned to HIPAA requirements.
- Justified and delivered infrastructure upgrades by validating performance with VMware consultants and translating workload needs into an approved plan.
Senior Engineer | ShopNBC (Evine Live) | March 2012 – August 2016
National televised retail network | Systems & Virtualization Engineering
- Built a remote data center from scratch, delivering full-stack infrastructure design and implementation.
- Enabled PCI audit success by implementing a privileged admin environment and tiered AD security model.
- Supported secure remote operations by running a 200+ user Horizon VDI environment for call center staff.
Technical Competencies
- Cloud & Virtualization: Azure/Entra, AWS (EKS, Fargate), VMware (ESXi, Horizon, NSX), Nutanix
- Containers & Automation: Docker, Kubernetes, Ansible, GitLab CI/CD
- Security & Compliance: IAM/MFA, least privilege, HIPAA, PCI, zero trust concepts
- Networking & Edge: Cisco routing/switching/VPN, SD-WAN, Check Point firewall/WAF
- Storage & DR: Dell EMC, Nutanix Files/Objects (S3), SRM, DR planning
- OS: Windows Server, Linux (Debian/Ubuntu/CentOS/RHEL), macOS