Testimonials

We will end up saving over $1 million in additional costs due to his efforts...
Rocky Hansler, VP ecommerce

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity
“Walter did a fantastic job quickly assessing our specific requirements through a 2-week due diligence process. He analyzed the impact of staying with our current system in a growth environment and also its ability to sustain new business lines. We fully accepted his recommendations and are on our way to the best system architecture and platform for our short and long-term needs. It's clear that Walter has the depth of experience to see through the talk and get to the real issues in his approach to vendor selection. We will end up saving over $1 million in additional costs due to his efforts. I highly recommend Walter O'Brien.”

As a result of Walter's help, our team passed audit the following year...
Hoang Luu, Programmer/Analyst, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I worked with Walter on a risk management conversion project. Walter is very knowledgeable regarding Risk Management and SDLC. He guided me step by step over the whole process on how to make our release process compliant for audit. I really appreciated Walter's help and guidance throughout the whole process. He made the whole experience very simple and easy for me. As a result of Walter's help, our team passed audit the following year. If there's a chance, I'm more than happy to work with Walter again in the future.”

A unique brilliant individual, 6th fastest programmer in the Olympics...
Seni Lawi, Project Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I heard of Walter O'Brien as a unique brilliant individual, 6th fastest programmer in the Olympics in Informatics. I understood when it came to my turn to work with Walter on Migration Integrity/SAS-70 compliance. He was extremely critical to details in all aspects of QA and compliance. He was demanding to get the job done the right way. Nonetheless, he was always approachable and ready to help anyone technically and professionally. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with Walter and to know Walter.”

Walter is also a fantastic listener. He is open to new ideas...
Daniel Chang, Administrator, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I had the opportunity to work with Walter, and he has shown himself to be a very capable man of action. During my training, Walter has always been very clear about the topics at hand. He was never hesitant to repeat or clarify the subject matter to remove any misunderstanding or confusion. To aid in his communication, he also speaks in an understanding, unthreatening tone that allows learning and productivity to take place. Walter is also a fantastic listener. He is open to new ideas and considers the pros and cons before deciding on a plan of action. While brainstorming with others, he methodically provides constructive ideas that can be built upon and used to derive a solid long-term solution. Walter has displayed great interest and much initiative in taking up new projects that betters the efficiency and up-time of systems and improves the smoothness and completeness of processes. He has shown no fear when taking up new projects, and great determination to see them completed. In addition to these qualities, one thing that sets Walter apart from the rest is that he makes an outstanding team leader because he is considerate of each team member and always takes every opportunity to learn and apply what he has learned. As a leader he has demonstrated his ability to build a team and allow the team to make decisions and function in unity. Over the course of the 6 months I’ve worked with Walter, he has proved to be extremely hardworking, very helpful to me and the rest of the team, and a great benefit to the company and business.”

If you have an IT issue, you need him immediately...
Franco Scalamandre, President, Sterling Atlantic Partners

“It's not possible to describe Walter's talents in words, you have to see it for yourself. If you have an IT issue, you need him immediately. If you don't, you still need him immediately, it's just won't be apparent until you sit down with him for a little bit. As machine intelligence continues its exponential growth, I would get Walter aligned with your company, before your competition does.”

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity...
John T. Moss (client)

“Any Projects that have a need for a genius like Walter I HIGHLY recommend him. He is now one of my proven networking sources. One of the Fortune 500 Companies I worked for stalled out on deliver-ables' with a team of so call experts working on it. I got a NDA/NCA from him and shared our challenges in a nutshell with him. I asked if he could join us at this high powered meeting and asked if he would join us and with the tech talk better explain or decipher what he feels needs to be done. After all of us meeting for over two hours and him sitting while listening we turned and asked him for his thoughts. He calmly sat forward and paraphrasing all the challenges said so your trying to accomplish is X if you could right and the team said yes exactly! He flipped his laptop around and said you mean like this and what the team couldn't solve in over a year and Millions of dollars he corrected overnight based on my nutshell explanation. He is a Genius and one of the only high level tech people with a great since of humor and that's a plus in my book he get's it done!”

Walter's ability to span the world's of technology and finance...
Hugh Taylor, VP of Marketing Communications, SOA Software

“I have known Walter for about 10 years now, having worked with him in a number of technology industry contexts, including more than one early stage venture. Throughout, I have always been impressed by Walter's ability to span the world's of technology and finance, and bring a high level of expertise and thoroughness to both sides - an especially impressive feat given that most of us never master either. Walter is personable, though at the same time capable of being firm and direct when needed. I consider him a consummate technology professional.”

Flexibility to come up with creative solutions to problem...
David Trott, Lead Systems Designer, Glovia International

“I worked with Walter for approximately 4 years at Uniscape and Glovia international during this time Walter demonstrated a strong desire to identify and fix problems, combined with excellent analytical skills. I was impressed with his ability to piece together information from a number of sources as well as select and combine partial solutions to generate a solid execution plan. Walter has a great gift with respect to his ability to tailor his communication style to the intended audience, both to convey concepts and to quickly retrieve salient information. I also found Walter to have a solid understanding of the skill sets of teams he lead, as a result he allowed the teams a great deal of flexibility to come up with creative solutions to problem, both with and without his guidance.”

Instrumental as an advisor and influential sponsor and supporter...
Tony Gadd-Claxton, Tony hired us as a Business Consultant

Top qualities: Expert, High Integrity, Creative
“Walter O'Brien has been instrumental as an advisor and influential sponsor and supporter during our initial stages of the startup of our company. Helping to avoid traditional pitfalls experienced by first time entrepreneurs has better positioned us for success.”

He is the one unique technologist that can be the “glue” for your organization...
Varouj Moradkhanian, Sr. Manager, Vice President, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I have known Walter for several years (more than 4). His work ethic is excellent and in all my interactions, he demonstrated excellent attention to detail as well as a deep understanding of the technical discipline he was working with. His strengths are in Quality Assurance and Testing scenario creation. Walter is the closest thing I have seen to a human automaton. He is capable of taking on any problem, distilling it down to the core components, and organizing a team to solve and deliver a solution. In addition he has excellent facilitation skills - specially when working with a team of talented technologists. Walter’s most recent working experience (I directly observed) dealt with organizing the technical implementation of SEC SAS-70 compliant software migration procedures. In this role, Walter lead and empowered a panel of technical and procedural/compliance experts with the primary goal of creating a complete software migration and release process with specific controls to meet the more stringent audit guidelines put in place since the introduction of SOX regulatory changes in 2002. In today’s competitive technical arena adding a talent such as Walter will enable your technical team to improve software quality (measured and quantified). His broad experience can add to your company’s depth as well as better alight your younger talent towards achieving the technical excellence. Walter leads by example and with his excellent communication skills can bridge the gap between business needs and technical specifications. If one is forming a new team or just looking to strengthen an existing team, then Walter is that special one of a kind resource that I would certainly recommend for consideration. He can talk to your architects, work with your developers, and organize your QA team - thus he is the one unique technologist that can be the “glue” for your organization.”

Understands the big picture ...focuses on the details that will make the difference between commonplace and exceptional...

Phyliss Murphy, President, P. Murphy & Associates, Inc.
“Walter is an exacting and inspirational manager. He selects personnel focusing on abilities more than similar prior experience. Ability to analyze, see patterns, organize solutions in logical manner, be eager to learn and expand to meet challenges and good work ethics are all attributes he looks for in his team. Walter can explain highly complex issues in a manner that all can understand. Walter clearly understands the big picture while at the same time, focuses on the details that will make the difference between commonplace and exceptional. The people we placed with Walter have, without exception, felt that working with him has been the high point in their careers to date. They have communicated to us their high regard for Walter as an IT professional, an inspirational manager and an honorable man.”

Created several "killer apps" that could change Rapid Response Business Intelligence for decades to come...
Robin Borough, Executive Vice President, Omnikron Systems

“Walter is extremely accomplished and in the category of what I call "scary smart"! Whlie working with him in the financial services sector, Walter re-energized and realigned the Quality and Process departments. He was instrumental at bringing in accelerated best practices thus saving significant amounts of time and money for IT divisions, business units, vendors, third parties, etc. I'm not exactly sure if or when Walter sleeps. He's created several "killer apps" that could change Rapid Response Business Intelligence for decades to come. I enjoy Walter's high intelligence and thought-leadership. He's a problem-solver and reliable business partner and I look forward to working on future initiatives with him!”

Reach levels of creativity by thinking "outside of the box" to develop solutions going to levels that they had never before reached...
Caroline Ginesi, President, OnLine Systems Group, Inc.

“Walter is one of the best managers that I have worked with due to his concise communication and ability to define crystal clear requirements and share his vision which is so refreshing. Walter hired several people from me and with each and every person Walter gave challenges to enable them to grow by giving each person the opportunity to reach levels of creativity by thinking "outside of the box" to develop solutions going to levels that they had never before reached. Every person reported back to me that Walter is the best manager that they had ever worked for! Walter is an amazing technician and remains a very hands on manager who has mastered delivering technologies with perfectly orchestrated timelines, pristine deployments and seamless integration efforts within an enterprise environment with real time mission critical data. Walter is a true alchemist who can turn any system from its base metal into gold.”

Have found him to be the quintessential technical go-to expert...
David Hall, Director, Shared Technology Services, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Walter is a bit of a rare bird: incredibly bright, possessing in-depth knowledge of several technologies that allows him to be regarded as a subject matter expert across many domains and in support of multiple teams, having an exceptional ability at understanding IT processes (SDLC) in detail (as well as related industry controls) and seeing how they SHOULD be structured and with which tools they should be supported, and possessing a definite type A personality resulting in his constant drive for improvement. Couple all this with the ability to inspire and influence others, and to build high-performance very loyal and dedicated teams, and you have quite an asset. I have always enjoyed working with Walter, and have found him to be the quintessential technical go-to expert, and would hire him in the future at the earliest opportunity. So should you.”

Vital factors in formulating and implementing new SLDC processes during our SAS-70 compliance efforts...
Paula Nohalty, Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“When I first met Walter, he was presenting an overview of his team’s Quality Assurance and audit processes. I was impressed with his enthusiasm, communications skills and command of the subject material. This first impression became my permanent impression for Walter. Over the next three years I had the pleasure to work with Walter on several audit and SDLC initiatives. I found Walter always available to answer questions, help walk through problems and brainstorm solutions. Walter is a great team member: he looks to do what is best for the team. Walter’s leadership, deep technical skills, solid communication skills and commitment were vital factors in formulating and implementing new SLDC processes during our SAS-70 compliance efforts. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Walter, and would be happy to work with Walter again.”

Combines deep tech knowledge with an awareness of markets...
Riggs Eckelberry, Owner, TechTransform

“Walter is a brilliant and experienced 'geek with a flair'. He combines deep tech knowledge with an awareness of markets and coolness that you very much need today.”

Walter is one of those rare people you meet that just finds a way to get things done...
Kevin McWhirter, Sr. Programmer / Analyst, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Walter is one of those rare people you meet that just finds a way to get things done. His knowledge in the area of Quality Assurance - how to do it and measure it - is unmatched in most circles. I was incredibly impressed by his ability to forecast the number of defects that would be present in a particular build of software systems. His insight into how a system will function in production and how the team building it operates was key to planning the proper amount of time and resources needed to test that system. Walter is amiable, confident and funny. It was a pleasure working with him and I hope to do so again.”

"The devil is in the details" and this is where Walter excels...
Ron Wood, Senior IT Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“It has been my pleasure to work closely with Walter in the areas of IT quality and risk management. Walter is exceptionally talented in tackling complex problems and creatively breaking them down into manageable pieces. Walter does this with an energy and drive few possess and is not content until the solution is 110% solved. To say Walter is detailed oriented would be an injustice. As the saying goes "the devil is in the details" and this is where Walter excels. Walters’s ability to comprehend the details of multiple disciplines and bring them together to improve a product or procedures is uncanny. Having Walter on the team made my job easier and everyone smarter. I highly recommend Walter.”

Rewrite of a very complex, error-sensitive trading system...
Stacy M. Casey (Hurford), Business Systems Analyst, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I had the pleasure of working with Walter on the rewrite of a very complex, error-sensitive trading system. I was amazed with his in-depth knowledge of quality assurance; I was very appreciative of his willingness to share his knowledge and thoughts. Walter is very organized. He is a true asset to any project he is on.”

Most knowledge of anyone I know in regards to the SDLC, automation, process management, and SOX/SAS70 compliance...
James Lee, Configuration Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Working with Walter was great. He eased my way into the CM role by mentoring me. Walter, by far, has the most knowledge of anyone I know in regards to the SDLC, automation, process management, and SOX/SAS70 compliance.”

Consistently submitting exceptionally well-researched and well-written QA processes...
Jay Singh, Senior QA Analyst, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Walter is detail oriented and has excellent knowledge of all the common QA processes. In addition, Walter is highly intelligent and has outstanding analytical and communication skills. Walter distinguished himself by consistently submitting exceptionally well-researched and well-written QA processes.”

Successfully managed to relate the product's technical features to the business...
Lars Porter, Regional Sales Director, mValent, Inc.

“Walter, it was great working with you. You successfully managed to relate the product's technical features to the business. It was refreshing to work with you and I look forward to doing it again!”

Accomplish excellence, and was very well respected for his depth of knowledge...
Tony Segreto, IT Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Walter, with whom I had the pleasure of working with, is a very talented individual with excellent knowledge and expertise in various areas of IT. He is very current with all the technologies especially as it relates to Configuration Management, Quality Management and Automation, SDLC , SAS-70 Compliance, and overall IT best practices. Walter is very intelligent and self-motivated; this was exemplified in several initiatives that he took to improved quality of software delivery. Some of those initiatives that he spearheaded include Software Release Management, Configuration Management, Network Segmentation and QA Labs. Walter has excellent communications skills and can clearly present project progress and ideas to Senior IT and Business Managers. As a manager he motivated his team members to accomplish excellence, and was very well respected for his depth of knowledge. Walter can only benefit any organization that he joins.”

Consistently produces high quality results...
Jeff Walker, Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Walter held a variety of positions where he was able to contribute at a very high level. A number of groups benefited from his broad and deep technical skills. I specifically worked with him in the areas of Risk Management & Compliance, QA Automation, and Software Development process automation, as well as in a technical / architect role. Walter is a very capable and creative resource. He has very good communication skills, and he consistently produces high quality results.”

He was the voice of reason that kept the team on track...
Munish Agrawal, Director in Investment Systems, At a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I worked with Walter on a Risk Management and Compliance project. He brought his architectural strength and thorough knowledge of the SDLC, QA process and Release Engineering to the project. Walter led the design and developments of solutions to the problems that had become significant obstacles to the project. He was the voice of reason that kept the team on track and ensured that the big picture was not lost in day-to-day fires. He mentored junior members and was one of the strongest technical leaders of the team and I would always welcome an opportunity to work with Walter again.”

Simpler and more automated process to replace the never-ending jungle of compliance process...
Jip Muongpruan, Senior Programmer Analyst, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“Walter single handedly laid the groundwork for many application teams to be SAS-70 compliance. He also made sure they could use a single QC tool to complete the job. Walter’s knowledge of risk management and compliance processes shaped how the QC tool is used by the application teams. Walter’s tireless effort to introduce a simpler and more automated process to replace the never-ending jungle of compliance process documentation was an undertaking I cannot forget.”

His creation of an audit compliant framework for tracking software enhancements helped many applications across the enterprise easily pass their SAS70/13G audits...
Michael Harbaugh, Application Development Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I was fortunate enough to work with Walter on a couple of projects. He has exceptional knowledge and technical skills in software development lifecycles and QA automation. His creation of an audit compliant framework for tracking software enhancements helped many applications across the enterprise easily pass their SAS70/13G audits. He is a no nonsense, get the job done kind of guy and was often sought out by many to get his input or opinion on a wide variety of efforts.”

He provided innovation that led to the mitigation of systemic risk in the application development area...
Harold Charlap, Disaster Recovery Coordinator/Manager, a large mutual fund/institutional investment firm

“I had the distinct pleasure to work with Walter for the past 7 years. He provided innovation that led to the mitigation of systemic risk in the application development area. He developed a software product, successfully marketed it internally, created a team to implement, and did an extraordinary job at executing. The added value to the enterprise was the fact that SAS 70 audits were passed without violations or exception comments. Walter is an able recruiter and mentor as evidenced by his development of an internship program that resulted in many conversions to full time associates. Walter is a leader, technically brilliant, and in these austere times a talent that will add thought leadership and practical “get it done” operational value to any enterprise.”