Michael Box

Contact michaelbox@torrenttechnology.com

Executive IT leader with a broad range of experience. Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills; with the ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical groups. Extensive understanding of healthcare and finance functions. Focused on delivering technical solutions to business challenges through maximizing existing technology, constant review of emerging technologies, process and talent development.

Areas of Expertise: IT practices and processes, strategic planning, project and portfolio management, tactical implementation and integration of commercial software, delivery of custom software, financial management/forecasting, cost control/containment, leadership and talent development/management.

Experience

Globe Life

Divisional Vice President, IT: January 2022 - Present

  • Responsible for modernization and rationalization of legacy applications.
  • Partnered with AWS to evaluate cloud migration of legacy non-mainframe applications to the cloud.
  • Advise business leaders of risks and opportunities for emerging technologies and services.
  • Responsible for the overall strategy, performance and growth of the legacy line of business sales applications, Salesforce platform, and modern application transformation.
  • Serve as an IT Application representative for architectural decisions.
  • Assist our Business Partners to accelerate their business outcomes and digital transformations through building better software that takes full advantage of modern, design-led agile development approaches utilizing the latest mobile, web, cloud-native architectures and current technologies.
  • Manage budget, provide forecasting of capital expenditures and other expenses, and assist with vendor negotiations and management of relationship.
  • Lead effort to develop a cirriculum for IT staff for professional development.
  • Work with Strategic Partners to develop onshore, near-shore, and offshore pipeline to augment staff levels based upon demand. Serve as sponsor for partner lead activities on special projects and initiatives.
  • Developing an intentional approach to leveraging Generative AI into the engineering team to increase productivity, quality, and speed to market for value driven product enhancements.

    • Senior Director IT Applications : January 2019 - December 2021

  • Lead in the maturation of the architecture practices of the enterprise.
  • Planned and implemented API Gateway Platform for better manageability, monitoring, reusability and discoverability of enterprise services. Projected savings in development cost are estimated at 30-40%.
  • Advise business leaders risks and opportunities for emerging technologies and services.
  • Responsible for the overall strategy, performance and growth of the legacy line of business sales applications, Salesforce platform, modern application transformation and solutions architecture.
  • Serve as an IT Application representative on the Enterprise Architecture Committee, Salesforce Center of Excellence and chair the Solutions Architecture Committee.
  • Assist our Business Partners to accelerate their business outcomes and digital transformations through building better software that takes full advantage of modern, design-led agile development approaches utilizing the latest mobile, web, cloud-native architectures and current technologies.
  • Manage budget, provide forecasting of capital expenditures and other expenses, and assist with vendor negotiations and management of relationship.
  • Lead in creation and maintenance of succession plans and leadership mentoring.
  • Additionally, responsible for developing learning and development plans for leadership team and individual contributors, career planning, and overall talent management.
  • For year 2019, approximately 50% of my organization will obtain a LOMA Certification (Level 1, ALMI, FLMI). LOMA is an insurance (non-technical) certification.

    • December 2014 - Present
    Director of Application Development : August 2015 - December 2018

  • Responsible for the overall strategy, performance and growth of the legacy line of business sales applications, Salesforce platform, modern application transformation and solutions architecture.
  • Serve as an IT Application representative on the Enterprise Architecture Committee, Salesforce Center of Excellence and chair the Solutions Architecture Committee.
  • Created charter for Solution Architecture Practice. The team has now created patterns, practices and standards for the Enterprise Solutions. New solutions are created taking a cloud-first approach and are delivering highly scalable and available solutions.
  • Assist our Business Partners to accelerate their business outcomes and digital transformations through building better software that takes full advantage of modern, design-led agile development approaches utilizing the latest mobile, web, cloud-native architectures and current technologies.
  • Successfully lead the implementation of the first Salesforce instance with business partners and a strategic implementation firm to improve productivity for a captive sales agency.
  • Manage budget, provide forecasting of capital expenditures and other expenses, and assist with vendor negotiations and management of relationship.
  • Maintained budget guidance every year with nominal YoY growth for 4 consecutive years.
  • Funded new platforms and technology through optimization savings.
  • Additionally, responsible for developing learning and development plans for leadership team and individual contributors, career planning, and overall talent management.
  • Streamlined organization and created shared services team.
  • Reduced staff by 30%, through attrition, and increased productivity while expanding the portfolio.

    • Senior Applications Manager : December 2014 - August 2015

  • Develop strategy to convert legacy applications to current technology .NET platform.
  • Manage projects from discovery/evaluation to implementation.
  • Directly manage all development resources.

    • Exela Technologies (formerly BancTec)

    Director, BPO Applications : June 2012 - December 2014

  • Perform strategic planning, coordination of product roadmaps, development, construction, and implementation plan to address the software platform for the organization. Plan, lead, assign, supervise, and control activities related to application design, development, testing and deployment.
  • Assisted with technology concerns in mergers and acquisitions of companies and software platforms.
  • Served as the Vice-President's representative on all custom application development projects, working with the sales team, project management team, and business analysts to ensure seamless transition of new and existing clients in all aspects of IT and business operations. Establish software development processes and metrics that measure and improve team performance
  • Establish a Process Framework for all Development enhancements, projects, & releases.
  • Ensure adherence to consistent processes, standards, and total quality practices.
  • Conduct regular status meetings with the development teams and departmental teams.
  • Conduct performance evaluation and reviews.
  • Manage all day-to-day personnel issues & hiring of the development team while fostering an environment of dedication to the success of releases.

    • June 2008 - December 2014
    Senior Manager, BPO Applications : July 2010 - June 2012

  • Perform tactical planning, coordination of product roadmaps, development, construction, and implementation plan to address the software platform for the organization. Plan, lead, assign, supervise, and control activities related to application design, development, testing and deployment.
  • Served as the Vice-President's representative on all custom application development projects, working with the sales team, project management team, and business analysts to ensure seamless transition of new and existing clients in all aspects of IT and business operations. Establish software development processes and metrics that measure and improve team performance
  • Establish a Process Framework for all Development enhancements, projects, & releases.
  • Ensure adherence to consistent processes, standards, and total quality practices.
  • Conduct regular status meetings with the development teams and departmental teams.
  • Conduct performance evaluation and reviews.
  • Manage all day-to-day personnel issues & hiring of the development team while fostering an environment of dedication to the success of releases.

    • Lead Developer/Application Architect, BPO Applications : June 2008 - July 2010

  • Full lifecycle developer and architect for all major BPO service offerings. Plan, lead, assign, supervise, and control activities related to application design, development, testing and deployment.
  • Ensure adherence to consistent processes, standards, and total quality practices.
  • Provided guidance to technical delivery team and support to the sales organization.

    • Torrent Technology LLC

    Owner/Sole Proprietor

    Torrent Technology LLC is a Texas based Information and Technology Services company focused on helping small businesses create a web presence and providing professional IT services at an affordable rate. Services include custom website and software development, network/infrastructure planning and implementation, e-Commerce planning and implementation, and process (re)engineering as well as web-enabling the small business workforce.

    June 2008 - Present

    HD Vest Financial Services

    Software Engineer IV

  • Primary developer role for internal operational Clipper applications.
  • Lead migration from Clipper/DBase application platform to Microsoft web technologies and SQL Server.

    • March 1997 - September 1998

    HealthMarkets (formerly UICI)

    Software Engineer V

    In my 17 year career, worked in many roles within the company. The following is a brief summary:

  • Field Support: Designed and developed the second generation of the agents rating system. Provided technical support for all of the Region, Division managers computer's and software.
  • Distributed Application Team Lead: Lead a team of 6 developers designing and developing several business intranet applications to include a Legal Tracking System, Content Management System, Corporate Fitness Site, Inventory Management System, and many other business applications.
  • Project Manager: Managed implementation of a Nortel based IVR system.
  • Senior Application Developer: Designed and developed the initial customer self-service site, Long-Term care LOB interface, Medicare LOB maintenance system.

    • November 1991 - June 2008

    Military Service

    Sergeant (E-5) Highest Attained Rank, Honorably Discharged

    US Army Reserves : 11B April 1997 - March 1998

    • Commendation Letter

    Texas Army National Guard : 11C August 1990 - August 1993

    • Awards: Texas Adjutant Generals Individual Award, Texas Cold War Medal

    US Army : 11C August 1987 - August 1990

    • Expert Infantryman Badge, Army Achievement Medal (3rd Award), Good Conduct Medal, National Defense, Humanitarian Service, Army NCO Professional Development, Army Service.

    November 1991 - June 2008

    Education

    Western Governors University - Texas

    Master of Business Administration (MBA)
    Information Technology Leadership
    2016 - 2018

    University of Texas at Arlington

    Bachelor of Arts
    Interdisciplinary Studies

    Magna Cum Laude

    1993 - 2008

    Tarrant County College

    Associate of Arts
    Computer Science
    1990 - 1993

    Skills

    Leadership/Strategic
    • Strategic Technology Planning
    • Business & IT Transformation
    • Strong Oral and Written Communication skills
    • Service Delivery
    • Talent Acquisition, Development and Management
    • Product, Program & Project Management
    • Product Review & Selection
    • Vendor Oversight
    • Business Process Improvement
    • Enterprise Architecture (TOGAF)
    • Integration
    • Budget Management/Fiscal Controls
    • Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

    Technical
    • Cloud Computing (AWS) & SaaS Solutions
    • Solutions Design
    • C#.NET, .NET Frameworks, HTML5, CSS3, Javascript
    • Service Oriented Architecture Principles and Patterns
    • Agile Development & Scrum
    • Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

    Awards & Certifications

    • Digital Badge Digital Badge
    • Associate ALMI - LOMA (October 2022)
    • AWS Certified Cloud Practioner (August 2019 - Validation Number SLDWF4T2EBBE173G) - expired
    • Complete Agile Scrum Fundamentals Course + Certification - Udemy (March 2022)
    • LOMA - FLMI Level 1 (July 2019)
    • ITIL Foundation (May 2016 - Credential ID GR750238588MB)
    • Graduated Magna Cum Laude - University of Texas at Arlington (May 2008)
    • Microsoft Certified Professional - Visual Basic (1998) - expired

    Reading List

    Current Read(s)
    • Competing in the Age of AI - Marco Iansiti & Karim R. Lakhani

    2025
    • Speak Like a CEO - Suzanne Bates
    • The AI Driven Leader - Geoff Woods
    • The AI Playbook - Eric Siegel
    • Five Years After (4 of 4) - William R. Forstchen
    • The Final Day (3 of 4) - William R. Forstchen
    • One Year After (2 of 4) - William R. Forstchen
    • One Second After (1 of 4) - William R. Forstchen
    • Artificial Intelligence & Generative AI for Beginners - David M. Patel
    • The Dichotomy of Leadership - Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
    • Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink & Leif Babin

    Archived Reading List
    • Developing the Leader Within You - John C. Maxwell
    • The 90 Day CIO - Luis Taveras
    • The Coaching Habit - Michael Bungay Stanier
    • Generative AI for Leaders - Amire Husain
    • OKRs at the Center - Natalija Hellesoe <&> Sonja Mewes
    • DevOps Adoption Strategies: Principles, Processes, Tools, and Trends - Martyn Coupland
    • Remote Leadership - David Pachter
    • The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company - Ram Charan
    • Emotional Intelligence 2.0 - Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
    • Mindset - Dr. Carol S. Dweck
    • Meetings Suck - Cameron Herold
    • Team Topoligies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow - Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais
    • Radical Candor: Fully Revised Á Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity - Kim Scott
    • Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction - Thomas M. Siebel
    • Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations - Forsgren, Humble, & Kim
    • Zone to Win: Organizing in an Age of Disruption - Geoffrey Moore
    • Project to Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework - Mik Kersten
    • Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 - John C. Maxwell
    • The First 90 Days - Michael Watkins
    • Leaders Eat Last - Simon Sinek
    • A Seat at the Table: IT Leadership in the Age of Agility - Mark Schwartz
    • Straight to the Top: CIO Leadership in a Mobile, Social, and Cloud-based World - Gregory S. Smith
    • Enterprise Architecture: A Practitioner's Handbook - Behara, Gopala Krishna
    • Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days - Jake Knapp
    • The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership - Martha Heller
    • DX Strategy: Thinking about Digital Transformation - Rick Reyes
    • Be the Business: CIO's in the New Era of IT- Martha Heller
    • Wolf in CIO's Clothing: A Machiavellian Strategy for Successful IT Leadership- Tina Nunno
    • Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution - Ross, Weill, & Robertson
    • The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, & Security in Technology Organizations - Kim, Debois, Willis, Humble & Allspaw
    • Emotional Intelligence for Leadership: Discover How to Influence People, Inspire Others, Control Your Emotions, and Develop Your EQ for Business and Relationships - Russ Denzil
    • EA3: AN Introduction to Enterprise Architecture 3rd Ed. - Scott A. Bernard
    • Launching an Enterprise Business Architecture Practice: A Playbook for Getting Started - Guy Sereff

    Interests

    Apart from my professional life, I enjoy being outdoors. From September to January, I am an avid hunter and outdoorsman. During the spring and summer, I attempt to travel as much as possible.

    When not outdoors, I enjoy playing music, reading and DIY home improvements. My reading has shifted from recreational to educational in recent years as the pace with which technology and the business environment is changing has increased significantly.