Case Ghafour

I’m a working professional with 22+ years of work experience, 19 of which in the IT field. Currently employed as Systems Administrator-Manager at the Washington DC headquarters of Chemonics International, an international development company operating worldwide under USAID funded programs. My background in IT project management, systems administration and technical support will allow me to make numerous contributions to your company’s success.

As Systems Administrator-Manager at Chemonics International, I have implemented, configured, managed and maintained 7000+ user accounts, mailboxes, guest accounts, domain controllers, exchange server, AD Connect Sync, windows server virtual machines, Admin portals, PowerShell scripting, AD/Entra ID, exchange online and exchange on-premises, SharePoint permissions, email backup, security compliance, email delivery issues, all that while acting as tier 3 support to our Infrastructure and Access Management department in DC and international project offices around the world. I (setup/configured/managed) Microsoft’s various platforms to empower our global team to seamlessly coordinate and collaborate across the world.

I have provided comprehensive cloud support, including Azure registered applications, certificate creation and installation, enterprise applications, dynamic distribution and security groups, group licensing, SSL certificate issuance and renewal, domain registration, Azure storage accounts, Azure automation accounts, M365/D365 licenses, server patching, VM/disk snapshots, Azure subscriptions, vCPU quota increases and create images using Azure compute galleries. Additionally, my expertise in Microsoft Azure has enabled me to train department staff to become highly cross-functional, significantly enhancing IT efficiency at Chemonics International. I am now eager to bring similar contributions to your company.

I am a detail-oriented team player demonstrating initiative, professionalism, and flexibility in all situations. I work well under pressure and interact effectively with managers and system users to resolve IT problems rapidly and efficiently.

Proficiency in administration of Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Entra ID), Exchange Online and Microsoft 365 admin portal. Proficiency in PowerShell scripting/coding. Proficiency in administration of Windows Server and Active Directory including the use of Organizational Units (OUs), group policies, file and folder security, logon scripts, and other general functions of Active Directory. Manage Microsoft SharePoint permissions based on information security framework. Experience with Veritas EV cloud for email backup. Experience with Microsoft’s security and compliance portal for allow or deny specific email address or domain. Update inbound default policy. Troubleshoot email delivery issues using message trace and/or threat explorer, locate the quarantined message and if safe/approved by Cybersecurity release the message to the intended recipient. Create Azure registered applications. Create secrets and/or certificates and install certificates on Virtual Machine’s certificate store and upload certificate to azure registered app. Setup/manage/configure/update/upgrade Azure virtual machines, access control IAM as well as network security rules. Setup/manage Azure guest accounts as well as AD synced and cloud only user accounts and mailbox. Setup/manage/configure Exchange on premises and Exchange Online, both synced and cloud only mailboxes, shared mailboxes, user mailboxes, resource room mailboxes. Configure quota/size limit, message delivery size limit, delegations, message delivery restrictions and auto reply. Create Azure enterprise applications. Create/manage/configure Exchange dynamic distribution list as well as Azure dynamic security group, O365 dynamic groups, group-based licensing. Issue/reissue/renew SSL certificate for domains and subdomains. Add domains to M365 and add records like MX, CNAME and others to registrar like Network Solutions. Setup/manage/configure Azure Storage Account like containers, Blob, File share, queue, their network security rules and access control IAM. Setup/manage/configure Azure Automation Accounts and their access control IAM, create hybrid worker groups, add hybrid worker extensions to VMs and runbooks. Familiar with Azure Logic Apps. Manage M365/D365 licenses. Patch/update servers monthly, restart, and confirm all servers are up and all services are running and set to automatic and no application errors in windows logs. Create snapshots from existing VM and then deploy new VMs from the snapshot for faster VM deployment. Create new azure subscriptions. Increase vCPU quota for VM sizes. Create images using Azure compute galleries.

Certificate: Microsoft Certified Azure Identity and Access Administrator, SC-300, 2024. Microsoft Certified Azure Fundamentals, AZ-900, 2024. VMware Certified Associate – Data Center Virtualization, Maryland, 2015. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring. Maryland, 2011. Certificate: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Windows 7 configuration, (Washington DC, USA), 2011. Certificate: Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST), Washington DC, USA, 2009. Certificate: Hewlett-Packard (HP) Certified Accredited Platform Specialist, Washington DC, USA, 2009. Training courses: Azure Administrator AZ-104, 2024. CCNA Routing and Switching, 2014. Symantec Altiris 7.1 CMS Administration, 2013. Windows Server 2008 System Administrator, 2012. Chemonics International: SharePoint Rollout Support, 2010. Project Management for IT projects, 2009; USAID 101, 2009. Education: B.S., Computer Science, Baghdad University (Baghdad, Iraq), 2002.