Christopher L. Baird Résumé (PDF)

Christopher L. Baird

Systems administration, identity and enterprise applications

I keep Windows servers, directories and business-critical applications running, and I script away the repetitive work. 15+ years in manufacturing, utility and enterprise IT, based in Decatur, Illinois (Central US). I am looking for my next full-time role.

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Christopher L. Baird

Systems administration, identity and enterprise applications. Decatur, Illinois (Central US).

ChrislBaird@gmail.com  |  linkedin.com/in/christopher-baird-84a50649  |  github.com/chrislbaird

Summary

IT professional with 15+ years across end-user support, systems and server administration, identity and access management, cloud and virtualization, and enterprise application support, mostly in Fortune 500 manufacturing, utility and enterprise environments including Caterpillar, John Deere, Rivian and Ameren Illinois.

I own problems end to end: I take the escalation nobody else could close, work the data until the root cause shows, fix the cause rather than the symptom, and document it so the next person does not start from zero. I script repetitive work out of existence and turn recurring manual processes into automated workflows that people actually adopt.

Comfortable on a production floor, in a server room, or on the phone explaining a problem in plain language. Licensed Illinois educator with classroom technology teaching experience and an early adopter of AI tooling. B.S. and M.S. in Information Systems.

Experience

Mar 2026 to May 2026

Substitute Teacher, Technology

Peoria Public Schools District 150

  • Taught middle school technology coursework, turning technical concepts into terms students could follow and apply.
  • Supported classroom technology systems and student devices during instruction.

Oct 2025 to Mar 2026

HR IT Analyst

Caterpillar (contractor)

  • First point of contact and escalation for 1,000+ users across hardware, software, access and application issues.
  • Application support for Workday (HRIS) and integrated HR systems; triaged complex issues and escalated to vendors with full documentation.
  • Administered Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID: provisioning, deprovisioning, security and distribution groups, role-based access, SSO and MFA.
  • Owned the IT side of onboarding and offboarding, 15 to 25 a week; used SQL to validate HR records and isolate discrepancies.
  • Administered Microsoft 365 (Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive) and wrote the knowledge-base articles and runbooks.

Jan 2025 to Oct 2025

Field Support Representative

HCL Technologies (contracting at Caterpillar)

  • Deskside, break-fix and IMACD support across 500+ Windows and macOS endpoints at 95%+ first-contact resolution.
  • Imaged, configured and deployed workstations; managed enrollment and compliance through Microsoft Intune.
  • Handled inventory, loaner devices and warranty returns with vendors.

Nov 2023 to Apr 2024

IT Specialist

Ameren Illinois (contractor)

  • Supported 300+ users across desktop, server, application and cloud systems at a regulated electric and gas utility.
  • Provisioned and enrolled 300+ devices with Intune; reached 98% adoption through documentation and hands-on training.
  • Supported migrations, upgrades and cloud integrations; applied patching and endpoint security standards.

Mar 2023 to Nov 2023

MES Operations Analyst

Rivian (contractor)

  • Kept Manufacturing Execution Systems running on 100+ plant-floor stations at 99% uptime in a 24/7 production environment.
  • Primary contact between IT and Operations; used SQL and application logs to trace defects and validate production data.

Jun 2022 to Mar 2023

Server Administrator

Caterpillar (contractor)

  • Built and maintained physical and virtual Windows servers on VMware and Hyper-V at 99.5% availability.
  • Deployed Azure Virtual Desktop; administered Azure and AWS resources, Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS and DHCP.
  • Ran backups and restore drills, supported disaster-recovery planning, and wrote Python, PowerShell, SQL and batch automation for routine administration.

Dec 2021 to Jun 2022

Junior IT Analyst

John Deere (contractor)

  • Resolved tickets in ServiceNow at a 90% resolution rate.
  • Built a reporting automation that replaced a manual Excel process and removed about 40 hours of manual work a month.

Aug 2021 to Dec 2021

Field Support Technician

Caterpillar (contractor)

  • On-site first-contact support across plant-floor and office areas: installation, imaging and troubleshooting of workstations, printers and peripherals.

May 2016 to May 2018

Level 2 Customer Care Advisor

Conduent

  • Resolution owner for Tier 2 escalations in a high-volume 24/7 contact center, recognized in the top 1% for customer service.

Skills

Identity and access
Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Group Policy, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, provisioning and deprovisioning, role-based access, access audits.
Servers and cloud
Windows Server, VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox VE, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Azure Virtual Desktop, patching, backup and restore, disaster-recovery planning.
Service management and enterprise applications
ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday (HRIS), Manufacturing Execution Systems, incident and problem management, SLA management, ITIL practices, knowledge-base authoring.
Endpoints
Windows 11 and 10, macOS, Microsoft Intune, imaging and deployment, hardware diagnostics, asset management.
Microsoft 365
Exchange and Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive; licensing, permissions and delegation; advanced Excel with macros and VBA.
Automation and data
PowerShell, Python, SQL, JavaScript, batch scripting; Oracle and DB2 queries; browser automation with Playwright.
Networking and security
TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, LAN/WAN, VPN including WireGuard, firewall administration, endpoint hardening, security-event triage.

Education and certifications

Education

M.S., Information Systems, Illinois State University, 2020

B.S., Information Systems, Illinois State University, 2013

Certifications and licenses

CompTIA Security+, in progress

Illinois Professional Educator License, CTE endorsement in Information Technology (grades 5 to 12)

Illinois Substitute Teaching License

Working familiarity with ITIL practices (not certified)

What I am building

I run a home lab on my own hardware, where I practice the same things I do at work: virtualization, directory services, single sign-on, VPN, backups and restore drills.

I also write automation for the tedious parts of IT, and I use AI tools every day, including an AI-assisted workflow for my own job search. Security+ is next.

Contact

ChrislBaird@gmail.com

Email is the fastest way to reach me. I can share a phone number and references on request, and I am glad to schedule a video call at a time that works in your time zone.

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