Dana Kaempen

About Dana Kaempen

I’m a hands-on Senior Ansible Automation Consultant who thrives on getting to the heart of complex infrastructure problems fast. With 20+ years in large-scale retail and financial environments, I design and optimize Linux and AIX platforms end-to-end - from OS builds and core platform software through application deployment, monitoring, and performance tuning - while enforcing security patch baselines, hardening standards, and DR/HA readiness.My automation journey started before Ansible was on my radar. I cut my teeth writing Bash and Perl scripts and building a makeshift Korn shell framework to manage UNIX, VIO, Brocade, and Storwize environments. That foundation made it natural to become an Ansible/AWX SME, where my playbooks now handle zero-downtime DNS migrations, DR drills, and enterprise-wide patching across Linux systems using Red Hat Satellite.What I do best:Collaborate & Communicate: I’m just as comfortable leading Sev-1 bridges and DR tests with executives as I am pairing with a junior engineer on their first playbook, always tailoring the message to the audience.Secure, Solve & Simplify: I dig until I find the real root cause, then codify the fix - turning fragile, manual infrastructure work into automated, repeatable, security-aligned processes.Lead & Mentor: I’ve led RHEL8 hardening efforts, DR automation initiatives, and cross-functional infrastructure projects, while mentoring engineers and operators to build a culture of shared ownership and continuous improvement.If you’re looking for someone who can both set direction for systems engineering efforts and roll up their sleeves to script the solution, let’s connect - I enjoy turning big ideas and tough reliability problems into stable, secure, highly automated reality.

Experience

1. Senior Ansible Automation Consultant

   Merrick Synergy

   Feb 2026 — Present

Education

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  Bachelor of Science in Engineering - BS/BE

• University of Illinois Chicago

  MBA

Skills

• Visio
• Data Center
• Virtualization
• Servers
• Analysis
• Unix
• Testing
• Management
• Vendor Management
• Integration
• Project Management
• Software Documentation
• Aix
• Solaris
• Disaster Recovery