Leading leaders
15–25 direct reports (IT managers, engineering teams and analysts) and 25–55 people including global contractors and vendors, across three regions.
Global IT Executive
Lonnie Thomas
Shared Services · Cybersecurity · ERP · M&A · AI Governance
28 years in IT, from developer and DBA to leading enterprise IT at TriMas, a NASDAQ-listed $1B+ multi-business company: reporting to the CEO and CFO, presenting to the Board, and building global IT shared services across 13 countries.
#1Rated the #1 leader/manager among all TriMas managers in Gallup employee surveys, multiple years running, with zero voluntary team turnover.
Open to CIO, VP, Head of IT, Director-level IT and AI leadership roles
Impact at a glance
- 13countries supported
- 3,900+employees served
- 45–70sites worldwide
- 8M&A transactions led for IT
- $1.45BAerospace divestiture, IT lead
- 99%+uptime, follow-the-sun
- 5 → 1helpdesks consolidated
- <10vulnerabilities per device
Career timeline · 1998 – 2026
From the help desk to the boardroom.
Every role built the next one: support, networks, databases, ERP code, and then the whole enterprise.
-
Now · Books in progress
IT in Overdrive
Author, IT in Overdrive book series
Writing a six-book series spanning AI, cybersecurity, cloud, software delivery, data and emerging tech. See the series →
-
2020 – Sep 2026 · Alongside and after TriMas
Modern Tech Solutions
Founder & Owner · IT consulting · Broken Arrow, OK
Founded an IT consulting firm that brings enterprise-grade infrastructure, security and cloud practice to small and mid-sized businesses. Led IT for a concrete construction company: Exchange migration from SBS to 2016 to 2019, Cisco Meraki, Barracuda, GoDaddy DNS and certificates, and security incident response. Also built the AI-made website and web app for Thermal Dynamics Calibration. See the work →
-
Aug 2014 – Jan 2026
TriMas Corporation
Global Director of IT Operations and Service Delivery
Led enterprise IT for most of tenure, reporting to the CEO and CFO, at a NASDAQ-listed $1B+ multi-business company spanning aerospace & defense, packaging, medical/life sciences, energy and industrial specialty businesses. Presented IT strategy, cyber risk, AI governance and SOX results to the Board of Directors and Audit Committee.
- 2014–2017 · Division years. Joined through Arrow Engine in Tulsa as division IT Director. Owned SOX evidence from day one, carried Arrow through the oil-and-gas downturn (cutting monthly IT spend by more than half while keeping SOX compliance), automated the daily plant flash, and joined the 3-member IT Council.
- 2018–2020 · Security build-out and Lamons. Stood up 24/7 security operations with an MSSP and SIEM, put incident-response plans in place, and moved to Houston as Interim Head of IT / VP of IT for Lamons through its divestiture.
- 2021–2022 · Acquisitions and compliance. Integrated two medical acquisitions, mapped controls to NIST 800-171, kept the cyber risk register, and ran EY SOX and security audits.
- 2023–2024 · Global shared services at scale. Five helpdesks into one, about ten businesses into one Microsoft 365 tenant, the Aerospace helpdesk go-live, the India Center of Excellence, and a Deloitte GITC audit with all 33 items closed.
- 2025 – Jan 2026 · Deals and go-lives. Arrow Engine carve-out, GMT Germany integration, Infor LN and Epicor go-lives, Portnox plant-floor segmentation, and IT lead for the $1.45B Aerospace divestiture's separation planning.
-
Feb 2014 – Aug 2014
Matrix Service Company
Senior Programmer Analyst · Catoosa, OK
Went from new hire to lead programmer and Scrum Master within months: ran daily scrums, owned requirements and the full SDLC for large projects, and mentored junior developers on standards and code quality.
-
May 2010 – Feb 2014
Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers
IT Programmer / Analyst II · Catoosa, OK
Learned ERP from the inside as Infor SyteLine administrator, developer and SQL Server DBA, leading the SL6 → SL8 upgrade. Built shop-floor and workflow apps integrated with ERP, and reprogrammed laser-cutter nesting logic to cut scrap from over 50% to 5–10%.
-
Dec 2007 – May 2010
Airgas
Database Administrator / Web Developer · Tulsa, OK
SQL Server DBA and web/SharePoint developer for an S&P 500 industrial gases and distribution company. Built document imaging with fast search across millions of invoice images and bulk-tank software tracking trucks and cylinder levels, and supported the Airgas SAP implementation.
-
Aug 2005 – Nov 2007
Pacesetter Claims Service
IT Coordinator · Catoosa, OK
Disaster-response IT for insurance catastrophe claims. Followed hurricanes, fires, tornadoes and ice storms, arriving at Hurricane Katrina the same day, to stand up command centers and call centers for State Farm, Farmers and American Family claims work.
-
Jul 2004 – Aug 2005
InfoTouch
Network Analyst
Remote support and monitoring for 500+ retail point-of-sale sites, guiding field installs and recovering circuit outages in real time.
-
2003 – 2004
Creative Labs / 3DLabs
Tech Advisor Tier II/III
Ranked the top U.S. tech support advisor; his training material became the company standard. Presented products at CES and tested new devices before launch.
-
1998 – 2001
Stan Johnson Company
IT Analyst
First IT job: the whole IT department for a commercial real estate firm. Built business applications, databases and reporting, and used broker data to generate new client leads.
TriMas deep dive · Aug 2014 – Jan 2026
Over a decade leading IT for a multi-business company.
Aerospace & defense, packaging, medical/life sciences and specialty/energy businesses, from siloed division IT to one global shared-services function.
01Siloed division ITEach business ran its own IT and helpdesk
02IT CouncilOne of 3 members driving standards across all sites
03Global shared servicesOne ITIL-aligned platform for every business
Aerospace
Eight AS9100D/NADCAP plants in the U.S., Canada and Germany supplying Boeing 787, Airbus A320/A350/A220, T-7A and AH-64 programs.
Packaging
About 2,200 people at 26 locations in 11 countries making dispensers, closures and bag-in-box systems for global consumer brands.
Life Sciences
FDA-registered, ISO 13485 medical-device sites with ISO Class 8 cleanrooms.
Specialty & Energy
Norris Cylinder high-pressure cylinders, Arrow Engine wellhead engines, and Lamons gaskets and bolting.
Stretch role · Houston, TX
Interim Head of IT / VP of IT, Lamons
Moved to Houston to run IT for TriMas's energy business through its divestiture, then was offered the permanent Head of IT / VP of IT role and chose to stay with TriMas.
- ~220,000 sq ftHouston headquarters plant, billed as the world's largest metallic-gasket plant, with a 3.5-acre American flag on its roof
- 8–12Houston-area sites, plus branches in Canada, Belgium, Spain, Thailand, Singapore and India
- Refining & petrochemicalGaskets and specialty bolts for customers including ExxonMobil, Dow, BP, Valero and LyondellBasell
- Carve-outLed IT through the separation, one of the three divestitures in his M&A record
Modern Tech Solutions · Founder & Owner · 2020 – Sep 2026
Enterprise IT, small-business scale.
His own IT consulting firm in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, built on one belief: every business, whatever its size, deserves IT that just works. For a concrete construction client he modernized servers, email, network and security hands-on.
ClientConcrete construction company
RoleIT consultant, end to end
ScopeServers · Exchange · Network · DNS · Security
Featured work · Thermal Dynamics Calibration
Built with AI under Modern Tech Solutions: a public website and an interactive aerospace-compliance app concept.
tdccalibration.com
Website for Thermal Dynamics Calibration (TDC), an Oklahoma-based field pyrometry service. It covers instrument calibration, system accuracy testing, temperature uniformity surveys and recurring service programs, plus a scope-first project request that drafts an email instead of storing visitors' data.
Visit the site ↗
TDC App: aerospace compliance workspace
An interactive app concept running on sample data. It has an equipment register, a test workspace for TUS, SAT and calibration workflows, reports and technical review, and thermocouple tracking. Drafts stay in the browser, and it's labeled clearly as a demo, not a compliance determination.
Open the app ↗
Leadership & people
People first. Results follow.
Rated the #1 leader/manager among all TriMas managers in annual Gallup employee surveys, multiple years running.
With zero voluntary team turnover over a decade at TriMas.
Building the bench
Hired to fill capability gaps for the shared-services build-out and promoted several staff into senior and lead roles, with full talent authority from recruiting to performance and career paths.
Operating rhythm
Daily IT round tables with every direct report, a weekly Change Advisory Board, and KPIs and executive dashboards in ServiceDesk Plus and Power BI.
Executive partner
Reported to the CEO and CFO, briefed the Board and Audit Committee, and partnered with the Presidents of the Aerospace, Packaging, Life Sciences and Specialty businesses.
Teaching
Ran AI training sessions and global security-awareness training himself, including on-site sessions at plants.
Speaking
Presented "TriMas IT Security and Infrastructure" at the Chicago IT Summit (2023), plus IT Council strategy decks and IT updates at leadership and finance conferences.
Book series · Lonnie Thomas, Author
IT in Overdrive by Lonnie Thomas
A six-book series, now being written, spanning AI, security, cloud, delivery, data and emerging tech.
Tech stack & tool wall
Executive scope, hands-on depth.
Platforms he has led, run, or built on, from the boardroom down to the SQL.
Microsoft platform
- Microsoft 365 / E5
- Entra ID & Conditional Access
- Exchange Online
- Teams & Teams Phone
- SharePoint
- Intune
- Defender for Endpoint
- Copilot
- Copilot Studio
- Power Automate
- Power BI
- Azure
- Azure DevOps
ERP & business apps
- Infor SyteLine / CSI (8, 9, 10)
- FactoryTrack
- Infor LN
- Infor CPQ
- Epicor + MES
- JobBOSS
- IQMS
- proALPHA
- Dynamics 365
- Laserfiche
- Kronos
- ADP
Finance & consolidation
- SAP BPC
- BlackLine
- Workday Adaptive Planning
- OneStream (migration planning)
Security
- Darktrace
- CrowdStrike
- CyberArk
- BeyondTrust
- Duo MFA
- Portnox NAC
- Cisco Umbrella / OpenDNS
- Qualys
- AlienVault / LevelBlue
- Verkada
- Keeper
- Bitsight
- M365 DLP
Infrastructure & cloud
- Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
- Fortinet
- Dell
- HPE Nimble
- VMware
- Hyper-V
- Veeam
- Private cloud (3 cities)
- Starlink failover
- BitTitan
- Cloudflare
- SolarWinds
ITSM & delivery
- ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
- Endpoint Central / MDM
- Lansweeper
- ITIL
- monday.com
- MS Project
- Jira
- Smartsheet
- Kanban & Scrum
Plant & supply chain
- FreightPop TMS
- EDI
- Shoptrak / LakeCo
- StAIn+
- OptiSigns
- SOTI MobiControl
Data, code & AI
- SQL Server
- SSIS
- SSRS
- Oracle / Hyperion
- T-SQL
- Python
- PowerShell
- C#
- VB.NET
- GitHub
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Gemini
- Grok
Consulting · Modern Tech
- Exchange 2010 / 2016 / 2019
- Windows Server AD & DFSR
- Group Policy
- Cisco Meraki MX
- Meraki content filtering & IDS/IPS
- Barracuda
- GoDaddy DNS
- SPF / DMARC
- SSL certificates
- Sophos
- Microsoft Defender
Frameworks
- SOX 404 ITGC
- NIST SP 800-171
- NIST CSF
- CMMC readiness
- ITAR / DFARS
- GxP / 21 CFR Part 11
- GDPR
- NIST AI RMF
- ISO/IEC 42001 (aligned)
- MITRE ATT&CK
Industries served
Regulated, 24/7, global.
Each industry shown with the employer where he worked in it.
Aerospace & defense
TriMas Aerospace
AS9100D/NADCAP plants; ITAR/DFARS and NIST 800-171.
Packaging
TriMas Packaging
Food, beverage and consumer goods; 26 locations in 11 countries.
Medical devices / life sciences
TriMas Life Sciences
FDA-registered sites, ISO 13485, GxP / 21 CFR Part 11 validation.
Energy / oil & gas
TriMas: Arrow Engine, Lamons
Wellhead engines and compressors; gaskets and bolting for refiners.
Industrial specialty
TriMas: Norris Cylinder
High-pressure seamless steel gas cylinders.
Industrial gases & distribution
Airgas
S&P 500 distributor growing through acquisitions.
Heat exchangers
Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers
Engineered industrial heat-transfer equipment.
Insurance (catastrophe claims)
Pacesetter Claims Service
Disaster-site claims operations for major carriers.
Retail POS support
InfoTouch
Remote support for 500+ point-of-sale sites.
Computer hardware
Creative Labs / 3DLabs
Consumer audio and professional graphics.
Construction (concrete)
Modern Tech Solutions client: a concrete construction company
Servers, email, network and security for a concrete business.
Field pyrometry & calibration
Modern Tech Solutions: Thermal Dynamics Calibration
Website and aerospace-compliance app concept.
Commercial real estate
Stan Johnson Company
Broker data, applications and reporting.
Education & certifications
Foundations.
Oklahoma State University
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Management Information Systems
Tulsa Technology Center
Programming, website design and multimedia applications · Broken Arrow, OK · 1996–1998
Certifications
- MCSE
- MCSA
- MCDST
- MCP
- Dell Technician Certification
Professional development (coursework)
MIT Open Learning: AI, computer science and Python, algorithms, data science, systems and network security, cryptography · CIO Open Learning: executive IT leadership and technology strategy · TriMas Leadership Immersion Program
Recent work (2026): built a live website and aerospace compliance web app for Thermal Dynamics Calibration with AI. See featured work →
Contact
Let's talk about what's next.
Open to remote, hybrid or relocation, and willing to travel.