Maxjohn Kelley

I'm

Who is Maxjohn?

Hello there! My name is Maxjohn Kelley and I am an IT professional who has been in the industry since 2010. My skillset is primarily focused on Systems Administration, IT Management and Cloud Infrastructure support. I have spent most of my years working with virtualization solutions like VMware, Hyper-V and new alternatives like Verge and Nutanix. I love the challenge of new technologies and learning the best way to implement a solution for a business. I have directly managed teams of Systems, Network, Security and IT architecture with as many as 18 direct reports at one time. My average term of employment has been over 5 years with a business. While it may seem I have not worked for many companies, I believe in bringing my best to any role I'm in and dedicate my full attention to the organization. I am familiar with all types of change management, project management, ITIL best practices and agile methodologies. I have worked in and out of datacenters and have hands-on experience maintaining dedicated datacenters including power and temperature management. I have been in an on-call support role for most of my career. I have experience with most IaC solutions, the ins and outs of cloud providers like AWS, Azure and GCP as well as containerization with Docker and Kubernetes. Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, live music, gaming, chainsaws and cinema.

Thought Leader, Innovator & Consummate Professional

  • City: Atlanta, GA
  • Email: admin@maxjohn.io
  • Employment: Available

Years in IT

Number of Companies worked for

Hours Of Support

Unsatisfied Employers

Resume

Here is a look at my resume details. You can also find a direct copy of my resume using the link below.

Summary

Maxjohn Kelley

Seasoned IT Manager with over 15 years of hands-on experience in leadership of in-person and remote teams, virtualization, server management, on-prem and cloud infrastructure, ERP, budgeting and project management. Developed Operational Readiness workflows, managed teams of over 15 direct reports including international team members, oversaw Systems and Network\Security teams maintaining hundreds of clients and corporate infrastructure, kept up to date with modern Infrastructure practices utilizing IaC and ITIL practices, supported large scale Enterprise environments including Healthcare and tech-focused industries, experienced with regulatory (HIPAA, SOC-2, ISO27001) auditing and compliance, deep expertise in VMware product-line as well as VMware alternatives like Verge or Nutanix, hands-on experience with cloud, on-prem and hybrid solutions. I am seeking another challenging management opportunity that will best utilize my skillsets.

Education

Bachelors of Computer Science

2008

ITT Technical Institute, Kennesaw, GA

Certifications

ITIL 4 Foundation

Expires 2028

PeopleCert.org

VMware Certified Implementation Expert - Datacenter Virtualization (VCIX-DCV6)

No Expiration

Broadcom

Professional Experience

MacStadium

Director - Engineering and Architecture
April 2024 - November 2025

Atlanta, GA

  • Directed cross-functional engineering teams in delivering robust Mac infrastructure solutions, aligning technical architecture with organizational objectives to support scalable, high-availability environments.
  • Led the Operations team in innovating new technologies to address fast paced needs of the business, including new virtualization platform for multi-tenant use.
  • Implemented agile and fl exible practices adopting a new Platform-as-a-Service model.
  • Delivered quality service to maintain SLAs and KPIs for customers and leadership teams.
Senior Engineering Manager
May 2020 - April 2024

Atlanta, GA

  • Led team of Systems, Network and Security Engineers across multiple regions in both US and EU.
  • Streamlined cross-regional operations by introducing unifi ed escalation protocols for major incidents, elevating response consistency and strengthening service reliability across all data centers.
  • Developed Operations Readiness procedures for new product solutions to ensure team training and materials for smooth implementations.
  • Maintained budgets for vendor-provided solutions and fi nding cost effective alternatives when needed.
Senior Systems Engineer
March 2018 - May 2020

Atlanta, GA

  • Built and maintained cloud provided Mac hardware alongside Cisco UCS server infrastructure.
  • Developed automated processes for Cloud Infrastructure deployment including fi rewalls, VMware environments, storage confi guration, IPAM and asset tracking.
  • Designed and implemented upgrade solutions for customer vSphere infrastructure to versions 6.5, 6.7 and 7.0.
  • Provided expertise of VMware and virtual cloud environments to assist customers maintain their infrastructure.

Wellstar Health Systems

Senior Systems Administrator
November 2014 - March 2018

Atlanta, GA

  • Key role in deployment of secondary datacenter for DR purposes at colocation datacenter.
  • Responsible for VMware View VDI infrastructure design and maintenance for 1500+ users using Horizon 6.
  • Virtualization SME for Systems Administrator team, doing confi guration and maintenance of 250+ ESXi hosts.
  • Maintained security policies and processes with server infrastructure regarding HIPAA compliance.

JBS

Systems Administrator
April 2010 - November 2014

Dallas, TX

  • Designed VMware SRM solution for DR site as well as designed SRM alternative utilizing PowerCLI scripts.
  • Responsible for VMware View VDI infrastructure design and maintenance for 1500+ users using Horizon 6.
  • Enabled Auto Deploy in VMware infrastructure to provide on-demand ESXi host confi guration for a more streamlined host ecosystem.
  • Maintained Citrix XenApp infrastructure for business critical applications.

Project Work

Below are some examples of the work projects I have accomplished.

  • All
  • Management
  • Automation
  • Cloud Support

Management-1

Operational Readiness process for new solution intake

Automation-1

Nautobot Asset Management tooling and streamlining asset generation

Cloud Support-1

Deployment scripts for custom cloud solutions including Firewalls and VMware infrastructure

Management-2

Hardware bakeoffs to choose the best solution for a hardware refresh

Automation-2

VMware SRM with custom-scripts for automated failover

Cloud Support-2

Verge.io for multi-tenant access and VMware alternative

Management-3

Applying ITIL 4 Foundations knowledge to an up-and-coming startup

Automation-3

Custom Pi-KVM solution for Apple hardware

Cloud Support-3

Omnissa Horizon deployment for hundreds of medical workers

Skillsets

IT involves so many different technologies and solutions that expand all the time. Here is a small listing of the tools I have engaged with so far in my career.

Servers and Virtualization

HPE Blades, Cisco UCS, Dell PowerEdge, Supermicro Hyper, Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, Verge.io, Nutanix, XenServer, Fedora CoreOS, MacPros, MacMinis

Operating Systems, MDMs and VDI

Ubuntu, Windows 10 and 11, Windows Server 2013-2025, RedHat Enterprise Linux, ESXi, MacOS, JAMF, Kandji, InTune, Omnissa Horizon, Citrix Desktop, Citrix XenApp, Apple ABM

Coding and Automation

Github, Powershell, PowerCLI, Ansible, Terraform, Cloud Formation, REST APIs, Docker, Kubernetes, VMware Tanzu, Ansible Tower, Gitlab

Administrative Software

Salesforce, Nautobot, Netbox, Jira Confluence, ServiceNow, Monday, Snowflake, Chargebee, Duo, SAP, Epic Health, Zoom, Slack, Office 365, NetSuite, Sharepoint, Remedy, Rapid7, NLyte, Tuxcare, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspaces

Cloud and On-Prem Solutions

AWS, GCP, Azure, Verge.io, VMware VCF, VMware Aria, Veeam, MFA and SSO implementations, VMware vSAN, NetApp, DataDog, Prometheus, Grafana, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange

Network and Security

Cisco Datacenter Network Manager, Cisco Secure Cloud Control, Cisco ISE, Cisco ASA, Palo Alto FWs, Cisco Meraki, VMware NSX, SOC-2, ISO27001 and HIPAA compliance experience

Testimonials

After all that, you still might not be convinced I'm the right pick for your business. Well, you don't have to take my word for it. Check out these totally legitimate testimonials.

Maxjohn is a top-tier engineering leader who pairs deep technical expertise with empathy and accountability. He consistently drives meaningful results while fostering a collaborative, supportive environment. His ability to simplify complexity and execute large-scale operations with precision makes him a valuable asset to any team.

Cody Covington

Senior Project Manager at MacStadium

Maxjohn Kelley is a standout engineering leader who reported to me as SVP and COO at MacStadium - he excels at putting his people first, masterfully delegating responsibilities while maintaining strong accountability and cutting through complexity to prioritize what truly drives results.

Paul Benati

COO and SVP of MacStadium

Maxjohn joined our team out of college, moving up from desktop support onto the corporate server team, then leading company-widce server virtualization efforts. From scratch, he architected and built a sustainable VMware environment with 1000s of servers, including data center consolidation and disaster recovery. He has supported demanding, high-uptime manufacturing facilities, exceeding both their business requirements and demands. Maxjohn is an excellent team leader and member; he works extremely well alongside others and is not afraid to step into leadership roles, both technical and managerial. I would highly recommend hiring him for immedaite positive impact on your organization.

Aaron Ayers

Senior Director of IT at JBS

Maxjohn is a leader at heart. He always goes above and beyond for his team, ensuring no one is left behind. His depth of IT expertise is matched only by his williness to share that knowledge freely. No matter the challenge, Maxjohn executes with clarity, structure and confidence. Under his leadership, there was never a problem we couldn't overcome, and having that level of trust in your senior makes the work not only easier but geniunely enjoyable.

Alexander Kingston

Systems Manager at MacStadium

I've been listening for years to the way he pays careful attention to what his teams are struggling with, how he enables his reports to grow, and how he's unafraid to tell leadership about when they've failed to notice crucial risks. If you're looking for someone that will work hard, pay close attention, and speak honestly about the opportunities and challenges facing your business, you should hire him.

Brit Butler

Engineeering Manager at InvestNext & the King of Cons

I'd trust Maxjohn in playing Halo co-op on Legendary difficulty, so you'd better believe I'd trust Max to successfully lead your Engineering/Infrastructure/Automation team.

Matthew Steinberg

Senior AWS Automation Consultant

I've never heard of Maxjohn but he sounds like a swell guy. I'd trust him with all of my IT needs.

Nicolas Cage, probably

Actor, paraphrased

Contact

You can reach me via email at admin@maxjohn.io or by clicking the button below