Gary Wendt Career
Early Education:
Gary’s fascination with computers began around the age of 10, when he enrolled in his first computer course. That early exposure sparked a lifelong interest in technology. By his early teens, he was programming in BASIC on a personal computer at home, experimenting with animated graphics and building a foundation in logic and creativity.
During his junior year of high school, Gary took an advanced programming course that solidified his passion and set the trajectory for his career in IT. Around that same time, he toured IBM’s Rochester facility with his local 4-H group—a formative experience that deepened his curiosity about enterprise computing and exposed him to the scale and sophistication of professional data systems.
These early experiences laid the groundwork for Gary’s technical discipline, problem-solving mindset, and enduring commitment to innovation.
College:
Gary earned his Associates in Applied Science (AAS) degree in Computer Programming from Alexandria Technical and Community College in Alexandria, Minnesota. His coursework provided a strong foundation in both technical and general education subjects. He received hands-on training in programming languages including Assembler, COBOL, SQL, C+, and RPG, while also studying the history of computing. His general studies included Public Speaking, Psychology, Business Law, Ethics, and Advanced Mathematics—skills that would later support his leadership and analytical capabilities.
While attending college, Gary participated in the school's work-study program, gaining early exposure to mainframe operations. Each night, he was responsible for monitoring and executing data backups on the school's AS400 system. His shift concluded with a graceful shutdown of the AS400 mainframe, reinforcing his understanding of system integrity and operational discipline.
Computer Operator:
Gary deepened his foundational expertise in mainframe and Novell system monitoring, batch processing, and operational workflows during his overnight tenure at Thomson Reuters, West Publishing at the time. In this role, he gained advanced proficiency across key operational domains including the Printroom, Tape Room, and Master Console, while mastering technologies such as JCL, CICS, ADABAS, and essential mainframe command sets.
Gary was responsible for managing batch job schedules supporting technology, financial, and Westlaw data updates—ensuring timely execution and resolving failures with precision. His duties included nightly monitoring and controlled restarts (“bouncing”) of the Westlaw system and CICS regions to maintain uptime and data integrity. In addition to mainframe operations, Gary supported Unix server environments, handling system monitoring, backups, and reboot procedures.
Gary also received targeted in-house training in ADABAS and CICS and began rotating through weekend shifts where critical system maintenance and upgrades were performed—further reinforcing his operational discipline and technical versatility.
Sr. Computer Operator:
As Gary continued to advance in mainframe and Novell system support, he was promoted to Senior Computer Operator and took on weekend operations, working both Saturday and Sunday overnight shifts. This role provided extensive exposure to mainframe maintenance procedures, including system shutdowns, IPL/IML sequences, and full system startups. He also developed expertise in DASD management, including moving disk packs between partitions—critical for optimizing system performance and resource allocation.
During this period, Gary began working with Windows-based servers as they emerged as the next-generation technology, expanding his technical versatility beyond legacy systems.
Gary’s leadership journey began with mentoring newly hired computer operators. Identifying gaps in the onboarding process, he proactively led a project to formalize and enhance training protocols. His initiative included documenting key milestones, creating standardized proficiency assessments, and establishing a measurable framework to track operator development. These efforts elevated the consistency and effectiveness of team readiness across shifts.
Toward the end of his tenure as Senior Computer Operator, Gary transitioned to the day shift, where he gained direct exposure to supporting both technology and business staff. This shift provided valuable face-to-face interaction and introduced him to user-facing challenges, broadening his understanding of operational impact and cross-departmental collaboration.
Lead Computer Operator:
Gary was promoted to Lead Operator, taking on expanded leadership responsibilities that included mentoring junior staff and ensuring seamless shift transitions. He was also entrusted with printing and sealing the bi-weekly employee payroll—a critical task that became a turning point when the payroll sealer failed permanently. Gary led the replacement initiative, partnering with an operations specialist to evaluate vendors and tour multiple data center printrooms to assess sealing technologies and workflows. He developed a comprehensive business proposal and presented it to the Data Center Manager, resulting in the successful procurement and installation of a new sealing system.
Recognized for his operational insight, Gary was selected to represent the Data Center on the Service Center Advisory Board during a corporate rollout. He played a key role in testing the new platform, providing team updates, and reporting bugs and enhancement needs to the installation support team and advisory board.
Gary also led a Business Continuity Planning (BCP) initiative, managing a technical refresh across three critical sites: the main Data Center, the onsite Annex, and the remote Palo Alto, Texas facility. To streamline application consistency and configuration across locations, he developed a weekly script that synchronized favorites files, application lists, and other essential data from a local workstation to all systems. Monthly BCP scenario tests validated the resilience and readiness of the infrastructure.
Later reassigned to overnight operations for his training and support expertise, Gary identified a gap in Service Center reporting and inter-shift communication. With limited reporting tools and a backlog in new report development, he initiated and built a custom Shift Report system. Using MS Access, SQL scripting, and a VB-based web front end hosted on a network drive, Gary designed, tested, and deployed the solution for the Data Center Operations team. Among its key features was integrated vendor tracking—automatically logging arrival and departure times, flagging late arrivals, and alerting teams to missed schedules. This functionality supported not only the Data Center team but also provided valuable visibility for security staff across all corporate locations. He continued to maintain and enhance the tool for over a decade until its retirement.
Data Center Support Analyst:
Gary was promoted to Data Center Support Analyst, where he continued to deliver hands-on support for mission-critical infrastructure—ensuring system uptime, hardware reliability, and environmental stability. He maintained and enhanced key operational programs, including Business Continuity Planning (BCP) testing and the Shift Report system.
Expanding into application support, Gary began monitoring, maintaining, and updating Thomson Reuters newly acquired Finance & Risk (F&R) applications. He played a key role in supporting a newly acquired F&R tax application used by Fortune 500 clients, which required nightly restarts (“bouncing”) to ensure performance and stability. Twice weekly, he attended afternoon meetings to review F&R updates scheduled for deployment the following evening. Upon successful F&R update implementation, changes were documented in Lotus Notes, and the associated Service Center Change Requests were closed.
Gary also led efforts during major Power Distribution Unit (PDU) maintenance events, which temporarily reduced redundant power systems to a single point of failure. He coordinated pre-maintenance checks to ensure all systems with faulty or non-redundant power supplies were either replaced, powered down, or rerouted. During these high-risk windows, Gary was responsible for real-time monitoring, logging, and communication—tracking system and application status, milestone progress, and issuing start/end notifications to business, application, and infrastructure teams. Once all systems were restored to dual power, he issued the final “all clear.” This process was repeated for every PDU across all data center locations, reinforcing Gary’s role as a trusted technical lead in high-stakes operational scenarios.
Gary recognized that numerous data center projects were experiencing delays or stagnation due to a lack of structured oversight. To address this, he initiated and facilitated a monthly project status meeting, bringing visibility and accountability to all active initiatives. Each project team was required to report current status, key milestones, and next steps—creating a rhythm of progress and cross-functional alignment. As the cadence proved effective but not fast enough to meet delivery goals, Gary transitioned the meeting to a bi-weekly format, accelerating momentum and improving project completion rates. He continued to lead and evolve this forum for over a decade, up until the end of his tenure at Thomson Reuters, establishing it as a cornerstone of operational discipline and project transparency within the data center organization.
Data Center Shift Supervisor:
Gary applied and became Third Shift Supervisor, where he assumed full responsibility for shift operations, including staff scheduling, timesheet management, performance goal cycles, and hosting planned tours for law students, government officials, and dignitaries. He received a Leadership and Development Course of 10 class sessions at Thomson University, a cooperate training center where university professor ran classes on site. In his one-on-one sessions, Gary focused on project management and career development, identifying a key roadblock in advancement opportunities for his team.
To address this, he launched a mentoring initiative that paired his staff with Level 2 Support Analysts. Based on coverage and availability, leads and analysts would shadow Level 2 personnel to deepen their technical knowledge and broaden their career paths. This program not only enhanced internal skillsets but also expanded the candidate pool for Level 2 hiring managers. Within a year, Gary extended the initiative into a cross-shift mentoring program with India-based data center staff, fostering global collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Gary served as the Service Desk representative for the corporate rollout of Microsoft Office 365, playing a key role in the successful enterprise-wide migration. As a member of the O365 Beta Test and Advisory Board, he provided early feedback, collaborated on deployment strategies, and helped ensure a smooth transition for end users across the organization.
Through his involvement, Gary gained firsthand experience with new O365 features and capabilities, which he later leveraged to develop automation tools and monitoring dashboards for the Service Desk. His ability to translate emerging technologies into operational improvements reinforced his value as both a technical leader and a strategic contributor.
Gary also led a comprehensive documentation cleanup across the data center. This multi-phase project involved cataloging over 2,000 documents and 200 knowledgebase articles, classifying them as policies, processes, knowledge, unknown, or obsolete. He assigned subject matter experts (SME) from his team to collaborate with Level 2 staff for accuracy reviews. Once validated, Gary published the updated content to the Data Center SharePoint, creating a centralized and reliable knowledge repository.
As the Data Center’s representative on the ServiceNow Advisory Board, Gary played a pivotal role in the transition from Service Manager to ServiceNow, including the integration of the Remedy ticketing system used by Finance & Risk teams. He conducted side-by-side testing, logging identical tickets in both platforms to identify discrepancies and report issues. His collaboration helped align Data Center requirements with broader organizational needs, driving consensus on enhancements, ticket severity levels, and required fields.
To improve visibility and accountability, Gary developed a metrics dashboard using Excel, pulling data from ticketing system reports. The dashboard tracked key performance indicators such as calls handled, first-response resolution rates, change tasks completed, incidents created, and incidents resolved. His reporting framework was adopted across all shifts, and Gary consolidated the data for presentation to Data Center managers and directors—reinforcing his commitment to operational excellence and continuous improvement.
Senior Supervisor:
Gary was promoted to Senior Supervisor on the day shift, where he oversaw not only his own team but also provided leadership and guidance to other shift supervisors. During this period, the department transitioned from a traditional Data Center Operations model to a Service Desk structure. To better align with the new framework, Gary pursued and earned ITIL certification, deepening his understanding of service management principles and enhancing his ability to lead within the evolving organization.
Following the acquisition of the St. Louis Data Center, Gary was tasked with leading a six-week cross-training initiative between his team and the newly integrated St. Louis staff. Partnering with the St. Louis supervisor, he coordinated daily one-hour training sessions led by subject matter experts (SMEs), each focused on a specific process. Once trained, staff from each location would execute the processes under SME or senior staff supervision. Through disciplined scheduling and collaborative oversight, Gary successfully completed the cross-training within the designated timeframe, ensuring operational consistency across both sites.
Gary expanded his technical scope by setting up dashboards for AWS Cloud Monitoring, enabling real-time visibility into system performance and infrastructure health. To deepen his cloud expertise, he completed Amazon’s AWS Cloud Immersion Course, gaining hands-on experience with core services and cloud architecture principles.
As part of the company’s cloud transformation initiative, Gary served as the Service Desk representative during the migration of on-premises applications to AWS. In this role, he acted as a liaison between support teams and cloud architects—ensuring operational readiness, aligning service desk processes with cloud workflows, and contributing to a smoother transition for end users and support staff alike.
As the SharePoint administrator for his team, Gary expanded his technical scope by learning to manage the St. Louis team's website and gaining hands-on experience with GitHub. This included creating and updating web pages, then migrating them to an SQL server. Gary requested and configured a dedicated SQL server for the Eagan Data Center, completing all necessary settings and application installations. He successfully transferred and relaunched the website and continued to maintain and enhance it as part of his ongoing responsibilities.
Gary and the other supervisors were occasionally needed to help cover the Major Incident Management team. As Major Incident analyst the focusing on facilitating the bridges, including all the needed support, driving the issue to resolution and communicating the incident progress towards resolution.
IT Service Desk Manager:
With the offshoring of second and third shifts and the arbitration of their respective teams, Gary was promoted to IT Service Desk Manager, assuming full operational responsibility for both the IT Service Desk and Data Center environments. He also took on co-leadership of the First-Level Network Support team, fostering collaboration and resource sharing across functions to maintain service continuity.
In response to staffing reductions, Gary implemented a targeted cross-training initiative between the Service Desk and Network teams, enhancing coverage flexibility and broadening technical competencies across roles. His proactive approach ensured operational resilience during a period of significant organizational change.
During a month-long leave of absence by the department director, Gary stepped in as acting leader—overseeing all Service Desk staff (both local and offshore), managing Data Center operations, and coordinating all related activities. His leadership during this period reinforced his ability to manage complex, multi-site teams and maintain high service standards under pressure.
Following the merger of Thomson Reuters with Blackstone, Gary once again initiated a cross-training program—this time delegating execution to two of his Lead Analysts while he focused on strategic initiatives. The program maintained continuity and enabled seamless knowledge transfer across newly integrated teams.
As arbitration reduced the management ranks, Gary and the Network Manager became the sole leaders available to handle overflow from Major Incident Management. Recognizing a surge in incidents post-merger, Gary proactively trained his Lead Analysts to assist with incident intake. Their responsibilities included gathering initial data, contacting appropriate support and leadership, and facilitating the incident bridge. Once established, the bridge was handed off to the Level 2 Incident Manager.
This foundational training evolved into a broader initiative: Lead Analysts began managing internal Major Incidents end-to-end, from declaration to resolution, following ITIL best practices. Bridges impacting external customers were still escalated to Level 2, but internal incidents were fully owned by Gary’s team—demonstrating his ability to scale incident response and empower frontline leadership.
In early March 2020, Gary was informed that the U.S.-based Service Desk and First-Line Network Support teams were being offshored, and their roles would be eliminated. He and the Network Manager facilitated a team meeting with staff, the IT Director, and Human Resources to communicate the decision and address questions with transparency and empathy. Gary and his team were laid off approximately one week before the COVID-19 lockdown began—closing a chapter marked by resilience, transformation, and unwavering leadership.
Client Services Incident Team Developer:
Gary served as a contractor through Fits Consulting, assigned to Broadridge Financial to build and lead a Client Service Incident Management team focused on resolving client-facing incidents. Collaborating with four associates, he helped define the scope of the initiative and strengthened the connection between support teams and external clients. Gary played a key role in developing policies and procedures from the ground up, documenting them in Confluence to ensure a solid foundation for the incoming team.
In addition to team development, Gary and his fellow contractors managed the Code Red (Major Incident) process—including group paging, detailed notetaking, and all technical and business communications with internal and external stakeholders. He demonstrated exceptional commitment by working every other weekend and volunteering for overtime from 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM on weekdays. To stay ahead of potential disruptions, Gary regularly attended two change management meetings each week to monitor upcoming maintenance that could trigger Code Red scenarios.
During the early stages of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) rollout, Gary worked closely with support teams to advocate for its importance, assist in data population, and validate entries within Archer. His efforts helped lay the groundwork for a more structured and reliable configuration environment.
Gary also served as the primary contact for external users experiencing Jira login issues. He handled account unlocks, ensured proper email notifications were sent, and logged development-related issues within Jira. Acting as a liaison, he facilitated meetings between client leadership and support staff to resolve ongoing concerns and close out outstanding tickets.
At the conclusion of his one-year contract, Gary was asked to extend his engagement by three months. He accepted and continued to provide Major Incident support while tying up loose ends—ensuring a smooth transition and leaving behind a well-documented, resilient incident management framework
Client Services Response Analyst:
Gary contracted with Abbott Laboratories through Mindlance Consulting as a Client Services Response Analyst, specializing in Major Incident Management for business-critical outages triggered by technical failures. His role demanded rapid assessment and decisive execution: upon identifying an incident that met escalation criteria, Gary would declare the Major Incident, promote the ServiceNow ticket, and launch the support bridge—all within 15 minutes of detection.
He immediately communicated bridge details, alerted support teams, and distributed both technical and business notifications through ServiceNow—maintaining strict adherence to the 15-minute response window. Within 30 minutes of declaration, Gary personally contacted the Support Group Manager, Country Manager (CM), and Business Relationship Manager (BRM) to ensure their engagement on the bridge.
Throughout the incident lifecycle, Gary collaborated hourly with the Support Group Manager and BRM to draft and send business updates via ServiceNow. He remained at the helm of the recovery effort, coordinating technical teams, escalating as needed, and driving resolution until full-service availability was restored.
In parallel, Gary managed post-incident problem tracking. He created and assigned problem tickets in ServiceNow, followed up with technical support, problem owners, and BRMs to ensure accountability, and drove Root Cause Analysis (RCA) efforts. He maintained a detailed Excel tracker of all open problems and regularly engaged with participants and the Problem Manager to push resolution forward.
Outside of active incidents, Gary staffed the Major Incident hotline. If a call met escalation criteria, he followed the full Major Incident protocol. Routine issues such as password resets were redirected to the Help Desk, while serious but non-MI calls were triaged and supported accordingly. He also reviewed predictive intelligence alerts for high-severity tickets, promoting them to Major Incident status or tagging them as non-MI based on impact assessment.
Gary’s disciplined approach, real-time coordination, and proactive stakeholder engagement ensured swift recovery, clear communication, and minimal disruption—reinforcing his expertise in ITIL-based incident and problem management.