Umar Pirzada

Current

• Business Support Group Controller at Emirates Airline

Past

• Business Support Group Officer at Emirates Airlines
• Senior Consultant I.T at Nexus Automotive (Pvt) Ltd (Sole Proprietorship)
• Senior Network Engineer at AKD Securities (Pvt) Ltd

• Research Officer at FAST National University for Computer & Emerging Sciences, Karachi

see less...

1 more...

Education

• National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences
• National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

Recommended

6 people have recommended Umar

Connections

280 connections

Industry

Airlines/Aviation

Umar Pirzada’s Summary

Its been a diversified experience touching base with different industries. I have a flavour of the education industry, the finance industry, the automotive industry and have recently entered the aviation industry. I like it here.

I have come a long way from my graduation and after starting as Networks & Systems person, I have moved towards more functional roles in ERP and Financial Systems. I plan to go further on this track with a post-grad financial qualification when the opportunity arrives. This should complement my portfolio as I have already completed my Masters in Computer Science.

Umar Pirzada’s Specialties:

Automation, Streamlining, Innovation & Training

Umar Pirzada’s Experience

• Business Support Group Controller

  Emirates Airline

  (Privately Held; Airlines/Aviation industry)

  August 2009 — Present (5 months)

• Business Support Group Officer

  Emirates Airlines

  (Privately Held; Airlines/Aviation industry)

  February 2007 — July 2009 (2 years 6 months)

  I am part of a team that is responsible for support, training and development of a Financial Accounting System called COMET. There are over 80 COMET outstations from all around the world and we have to ensure smooth operations. On the training side we have to conduct training on the system for all levels from operator to finance manager. Developing enhancements to the system and testing them is also part of the job. This is done in coordination with the COMET IT team. We behave as pure functional consultants for the system.
  
  I am personally responsible for the regions East & West Asia, Australasia & the Indian Ocean.

• Senior Consultant I.T

  Nexus Automotive (Pvt) Ltd (Sole Proprietorship)

  (Sole Proprietorship; 51-200 employees; Automotive industry)

  November 2005 — January 2007 (1 year 3 months)

  At Nexus Automotive (Pvt) Ltd, I was managing the System Administration (SAP Basis) Team as well as acting as a bridge between the functional consultants and our employees during the SAP implementation. I was acting as the IT Manager as well reporting directly to the CEO & CFO with periodic updates. So the role revolved around improving network operations, WAN connectivity projects, disaster recovery planning, budgeting, vendor coordination & procurement, introducing standard operating procedures for IT operations etc. I was also maintaining the company website in coordination with an off-shore webmaster team. I also conducted in-house trainings for employees to train them on basic computer skills as well as advance usage. An interesting part of my job was exploring new gadgets, security devices & diagnostic tools for the automotive industry. Hence I was involved with developments in other departments of the organization as well.

• Senior Network Engineer

  AKD Securities (Pvt) Ltd

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; AKDS; Capital Markets industry)

  May 2004 — July 2005 (1 year 3 months)

  I was part of a team which monitored the Online Stock Trading Application hosted on at www.akdtrade.com. I introduced Exchange Server and hosted 4 Email domains on it. I researched clustering & fail-over options. The implementation was 99% fault tolerable.
  
  Basic administration of Windows 2k/2k3 Active Directory including Group Policy, ISA Server 2000, IIS Server was daily routine. I also created a “Backup Script” to automate the routine backup procedure.
  
  I was learning on the job about IT Auditing & Disaster Recovery Planning under the supervision of the I.T Head. I used tools such as MBSA, EXBPA, Tenable (NESSUS for Windows) etc to secure the network regarding patch management issues.
  
  I was made Team Leader of the Systems Management team & also Editor of the IT Newsletter, IT NEWSWIRE, during the time I was there. Moreover, at the Launching of our new application back in July 2004 I was made Special Coordinator and Technical Support at our Clifton Branch.

• Research Officer

  FAST National University for Computer & Emerging Sciences, Karachi

  (Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Education Management industry)

  March 2002 — April 2004 (2 years 2 months)

  Initially, my responsibilities were related to the role of a Teaching Assistant. This included Conducting Workshops, Seminars, Hands-on Lab Sessions, Extra Lectures & Projects. Moreover, I graded exams & quizzes other than finals as well. I assisted instructors of Data Communications and Data Structures courses. I was also part of the admission test invigilation & grading committee. This included conducting orientation sessions for new entrants as well.
  
  In November 2002, I took over as Network Manager. I had a great learning experience on Windows 2k Server, Novell Directory Services environments and the exposure to MS Exchange 5.5 and ISA Server. In the summer of 2003, I conducted the 1st ever Online Admission Test at FAST-NUCES.
  
  The staff under me comprised of Lab Operators and Assistants. I conducting training workshops to improve their skills on the job. I was also briefly involved in Budget Proposal Preparation regarding IT equipment for the year 2004-2005.

Umar Pirzada’s Education

• National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

  MS , Computer Science , 2002 — 2006

• National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

  BCS , Computer Science, Information Technology , 1999 — 2001

  National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences in Karachi was originally BCCI - FAST - ICS, Karachi Campus. This institute was affiliated with Karachi University before becoming NUCES or FAST - NU as known today.

Additional Information

Umar Pirzada’s Interests:

Blogging, Musics, Sports

Umar Pirzada’s Groups:

Toastmasters, ISACA, FAST ALUMNI

•    Business Intelligence Professionals
•    FAST Business Forum
•    Fastians
•    FAST NUCES (BCCI - FAST ICS)
•    Mercator
•    NUCES (BCCI - FAST ICS) National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (www.nuces.com)
•    Middle East NetWork
•    Emirates NetWork
•    Alumni FAST
•    United Arab Emirates Business and Professional Network
•    Oracle ERP ...
•    Airlines Industry Professionals Worldwide
•    The Official Toastmasters International Members Group
•    United Arab Emirates
•    UAE Professional Networkers Group
•    FAST-NU Alumni Group
•    Emirates Airlines
•    UAE Career Network

Umar Pirzada’s Honors:

• Received Emirates Airlines Silver Najm Award for 90% Automation of Under-collection Process
• Received best Speaker at Toastmasters
• Received best Table Topic Speaker at Toastmasters
• Conducted the first ever computer-based entrance test as Network Manager at FAST-NUCES
• Received scholarship from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for years 2001, 2002
• Represented Pakistan internationally while playing little league baseball in Taiwan in 1994

Umar Pirzada’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch