BTAG Leadership

 

Anthony Cioffoletti - Managing Director

Anthony Cioffoletti is Managing Director at the Business Technology Alignment Group, LLC (BTAG). He has over 25 years of experience in business and information technology. Anthony has worked with over one hundred companies. Many of those were involving M&A activities and the rationalization of technology to meet new business objectives. Mr. Cioffoletti provides strategy advice and support to help clients form new business initiatives and market development.

 

As an executive member of BTAG, he has extensive experience with helping his clients align their business and IT organizations. This allows them to better serve their customers and marketplace. In his role, he is engaged to lead strategy development and program management. Anthony is frequently called upon to assess, reorganize and manage complex initiatives which requires a great depth of experience.

 

Mr. Cioffoletti’s experience includes:

• Program Manager of a five-year, IT roadmap development for a large multi-national company
• PMO steering committee member for a Fortune 10 company
• Led a technical team in a IT architectural project for a top ten property and casualty insurance company
• Executive management of a team of over 25 consultants for a Fortune 10 North American large corporate restructure initiative
• Created a business strategy for outsourcing for one of the 25 largest, publicly traded companies in America
• Highly successful in providing management consulting for a select group middle market to "Blue Chip" companies
• Catalyst in developing business/IT strategy for several companies
• Acted as interim Chief Information Officer and has been instrumental in several business IT assessment and improvement projects for large multinational organizations
• Acted as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for top-tier reinsurance company
• Formulated an outsourcing strategy for operations of a top 5 insurance company Created a business strategy for outsourcing for a very large, complex company Implemented a shared services Strategy for a 11B dollar company
• Interim Director for a large accounting firm’s SAP consulting practice
• Implemented a submission system using CRM software for a top 20 insurance company

He also has extensive experience in leading engagements that involve integration and carve- outs with systems.  Tony has strong knowledge of the IT and IS components of M&A activity. And he has been part of the PMO and Steering Committees on numerous successful implementations involving ERP.

 

Anthony Cioffoletti attended the United States Air Force Academy and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aeronautical Engineering and completed graduate classes in Science and Business Management. He also attended IBM Executive training classes and the Wharton School of Project Management and Harvard School of Negotiation. He routinely participates as a speaker on transforming and measuring the effectiveness of technology in business.

, Pro-Kit, Microsoft Office Suite, MS Project, Project Workbench, Visual Basic, Access, S/36 Basic, System/36 Assembler, IBM 370 BAL, Script/GML, FORTRAN, PC Assembler, S/23 Basic, LISP, SPSS, WATFIV

 

Alexander Velinov, PMP, MCSD - Director of Enterprise Architecture   

Mr. Velinov is BTAG's Director of Enterprise Architecture and Managing Partner of System Fusion. Alex has over 20 years of experience in IT systems and software development and is a highly sought after consultant. Alex’s background includes substantial technical achievements in the areas of business intelligence, data warehousing, Big Data, Microsoft SQL platform and ETL tools and system integration. His projects have included significant data warehousing and system interface efforts with high degrees of complexity and scale.

 

Alex has been consulting for large corporations utilizing his business and IT skills. He has directed and implemented Business/IT alignment initiatives on several legacy system replacement projects. Alexander’s engagements have also included significant data warehousing and system interface efforts. He strives in helping clients achieve “single entry” systems. His previous experience includes founding several internet travel insurance companies.

 

Alex is a certified project manager (PMP) and an expert in system integration (ETL architect) using both cloud-based integration and server technologies. He also holds certifications in: MCSD, Microsoft Dynamics and as an IBM Certified Specialist. He also is a Licensed Insurance Agent for Life & Health and Property & Casualty from the College of Insurance.

 

In addition, Mr. Velinov has extensive experience with:

•  Financial applications – general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, cash management, fixed assets and external financial reporting
• Developed automated bank reconciliation software and bank interfaces
• Package implementation including – JD Edwards, Oracle Financials, Outlooksoft BPC, IBM Clarity, Salesforce, Seibel and Microsoft Dynamics

Alex has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science from New York University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from New York Institute of Technology. He also has is a Licensed Insurance Agent for Life & Health and Property & Casualty from the College of Insurance.

 

James Cassanelli- Director of Infrastructure

James Cassanelli is a Director and Senior Consultant at BTAG with over 25 years experience in IT systems. Jim is skilled at design and implementation of enterprise-wide networks in dispersed environments. He specializes in infrastructure; networking and communications, server hardware and operating systems, virtualization, security, monitoring and troubleshooting.

 

Mr. Cassanelli is highly skilled at design and implementation of enterprise-wide networks in multiprotocol environments. Jim has extensive experience with UNIX/Windows operating systems, Oracle/SQL databases, Cisco routing, Microsoft Active Directories and Exchange mail systems.

 

Jim has detailed expertise and extensive experience with Microsoft , Cisco, Citrix, UNIX, Linux, Oracle, Apple and other technologies, including:

• Operating systems - All Microsoft variants, UNIX/Linux/OS X
• Networking-routing - switching (Cisco, HP), security (Cisco, Fortigate, Sonicwall), Microsoft Active Directories
• Virtualization - MS Hyper-V, VmWare, Terminal Services, Citrix
• Protocols, etc. - TCP/IP (DHCP, BootP, DNS, PPP, PPTP, IPsec, WINS), NFS, Samba, SDLC, SNA, SNADS, APPC
• Communications - IDE, MPLS, T1/T3, DDS, Frame Relay, PRI, ISDN, CSU/DSU, Sync., Async., DSL, and cable
• Cable Plant - UTP, STP, coax, Twinax and fiber; Ethernet, token ring, and wireless Hardware - storage, servers, PC’s, workstations, printers, thin clients
• Software - MS Exchange & Lotus Notes, Oracle & MS SQL, SharePoint, numerous backup and anti-virus packages.
• Network analyzers (Scrutinizer, NetXray, Network Observer, PRTG/MRTG) and monitoring AS/400 – OS/400, CL, Client Access, RUMBA, configurations (Line, CTL, & Dev.), remote workstation controllers

 

Jim is a graduate of the Fairfield University with a BS in Math and Engineering. He also has participated in numerous certification and continuing education programs in technology.

 

Stephen Simas - Managing Director Fusion MTI

Mr. Simas through Fusion Management and Technologies brings over 30 years of combined Operations Management, Process Improvement, and Technology Solutions to the forefront of any business seeking to improve its overall operational effectiveness and cost control/reduction.

 

Stephen wealth of knowledge and experience is both in operational improvement and business development. He has held senior executive positions in numerous large corporations as well as started successfully two small business surrounding document management solutions. His previous jobs prior to starting Fusion MTI were:/p>

• Vice President of Business Development at ICAS
• President at Vandalay Building Industries
• President Virtudocs, Inc.

Stephen has an MBA in Business Management from Saint John's University and a BS in Business Management from Saint John's University

 

 

Andrew McQuire - Director of Insurance Systems

Mr. McQuire is a Director of Insurance Systems and Managing Partner of System Fusion. Andrew has spent 20 years in information technology for the insurance industry. He brings a unique blend of technical and management experience to the company. Before joining System Fusion, Andrew was the Chief Information Officer for the Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Companies of America. Under his direction, Yasuda successfully acquired, customized, and implemented the insurance processing system. Andrew was responsible for bridging systems in New York and Tokyo while managing the complex insurance system implementation. He had the responsibility for reporting development progress to Yasuda’s Board of Directors. Andrew served as a board member of the User Group. Andrew managed a large staff and a budget of $4 million. Prior to Yasuda, Andrew spent 5 years at Reliance National Insurance. He had responsibility for all system interfaces and managed aspects of large-scale data warehousing initiatives. Andrew also spent time as a project leader and developer at Western World Insurance Group, St. Paul Reinsurance, and Prudential Reinsurance. Andrew's technical background includes experience with IBM AS/400, COBOL, and extensive knowledge of several insurance packages.

 

Sanjay Chitale - Managing Director Keeneeto, LLC

Sanjay Chitale brings more than 21 years of experience in business leadership, strategic planning and technology management for large companies and start-up ventures. Among them is Savant Consulting Group, a technology consulting company, he co-founded and served as a president, was acquired by Hands on Ventures, LLC in 2002. Post Savant, as a partner at Hands on Ventures, LLC, he helped build a portfolio of companies in financial and Insurance services. The combined portfolio of acquisitions was taken public in 2006 on NSE in India, under the name of HOV Services (HOVS.NS). Sanjay remained Promoter of the public company till 2010. He was also COO of Sahara One Media and Entertainment, a leading media and entertainment public company, based in India. Along the way, Sanjay has started several software, media and education business ventures. Sanjay is passionate about Arts and Education, and as a result he is actively developing an online Art, Culture and Entertainment education company, ACE OPEN UNIVERSITY (www.aceopen.com). Sanjay Chitale's academic credentials include a Masters in Computer application from India.

 

Gary Jacobs - Senior Advisor of Enterprise Systems

Mr. Jacobs has over 25 years of experience as a business and technology professional. He was the BTAG Director of Enterprise Systems prior to joining Alvarez and Marsel where is currently a Senior Director. Gary has held senior management level positions with top tier Audit, Accounting & Consulting firms, and executive level financial, operational and technical positions within the media, entertainment and consumer goods industries. Gary’s background includes, but is not limited to:• Restructuring, M&A Integration, Divestitures and Carveouts• Business Performance Improvement Hyperion & JD Edwards)• Business Intelligence, Executive Dashboards and KPI’s (with Cognos, Business Objects, Essbase & SQL)• Financial Planning, Analysis, Reporting and Compliance• Accounting Operations - GL, AR, AP, FA• Supply Chain Management & Procure-to-Pay• Sales and Operations Planning & Order-to-Cash• Warehousing & Logistics• Agile Project Management with Scrum Gary started consulting to small businesses in 1989, part time, while he was a corporate VP and Controller in industry. He started consulting full time in 1994, and in 1996 lead a NYC Solutions Delivery Practice for Coopers & Lybrand Consulting / PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In 1998, Gary left PriceWaterhouseCoopers to form JEM (Jacobs Enterprise Management) Consulting. Gary has a BS in Accounting from the State University of New York and an MBA from Adelphi University. He also studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, and continues to study New Media Management at New York University.