Michael Polizzotto

About Michael Polizzotto

Technology leader with 15+ years building IT organizations and infrastructure for high-growth creative companies including Lucasfilm, Disney, PlayStation, Snap, and Annapurna.I lead teams and architect systems that scale with the demands of high-pressure, high-output creative environments. From establishing IT operations at founding startups to transforming infrastructure at global enterprises, I balance technical rigor with production awareness, all while earning trust from artists, executives, and engineering teams by delivering solutions that enable their best work.Whether architecting secure workflows for day-one content releases, designing hybrid infrastructure for distributed teams, or building technology strategies that support business growth, I bring disciplined IT leadership that drives both innovation and operational excellence.

Experience

1. Head of IT

   Annapurna

   Jul 2025 — Present · Los Angeles, CA, US

   Lead IT strategy and execution across film, animation, interactive, and game divisions, aligning technology with creative, operational, and business objectives in a hybrid production environment.• Drive ongoing modernization of infrastructure and security, scaling the studio’s cloud ecosystem and ensuring resilient, high-performance workflows across distributed teams.• Standardize and evolve core platforms (Okta, Google Workspace, Office 365, AWS, Azure, Airtable) to enable secure identity management, automated provisioning, and seamless cross-functional collaboration.• Architect and scale IT systems to meet fast-paced production demands—spanning network infrastructure, storage architecture, remote access pipelines, editorial toolchains, and user fleet management.• Oversee procurement and budgeting across hardware lifecycle, SaaS subscriptions, MDM solutions, and capital investments—balancing cost control with technical excellence.• Design onboarding and offboarding workflows integrated with Rippling and SSO, accelerating employee ramp-up and ensuring secure access to studio systems.• Partner closely with Legal, Finance, and Production leadership on risk mitigation, vendor management, compliance (SOC 2), and IP protection initiatives.• Build and lead a lean, high-impact IT team through phases of rapid growth and change—developing clear escalation paths, documentation standards, and cross-functional training to ensure resilience.• Architect scalable infrastructure and governance models that support agile spin-up of new content initiatives while maintaining visibility, uptime, and operational integrity.

Education

• Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

  Bachelor's degree, Marketing

  2005 — 2010

Skills

• Retail
• Time Management
• Windows 7
• Keynote
• Ipod
• Apple Remote Desktop
• Ipad
• Microsoft Exchange
• Iphone
• Microsoft Office
• Sales
• Technical Support
• Iphone Support
• Image Editing
• Dreamweaver
• Illustrator
• Macintosh Hardware
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Apple Certified
• Aperture
• Mac
• Customer Service
• Training
• Customer Satisfaction
• Macintosh Applications
• Iwork
• Itunes
• Computer Hardware
• Mobile Devices
• Os X
• Apple Software
• Troubleshooting
• Mac Os X
• Mac Os X Server
• Windows
• Marketing
• Wireless Networking
• Computer Repair
• Blackberry
• Mac Os