Russ Rimmerman
Principal Cloud Solution Architect · Microsoft
I'm a Principal Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, and I've spent more than 30 years in IT. That path runs from avionics and satellite links in the U.S. Air Force, through Citrix farms and endpoint management, to Power Platform and AI agents today. Most days I'm designing and building with Copilot Studio, Power Apps, Power Automate, Microsoft Foundry, and an array of Azure services and offerings, shaped around what each customer actually needs.
A lot of my work is helping customers take a manual or fragile business process and rebuild it with low-code tools so it runs with less effort. I lead those projects end to end and work across a lot of teams to get them there.
I've co-authored two Microsoft Press e-books on endpoint management. This site is where I keep that habit going: field notes on what I'm learning and the projects I build along the way.
Experience
30+ years across mission-critical IT — from the U.S. Air Force to Microsoft
Principal Cloud Solution Architect — Power Platform
Microsoft · Jul 2022 – Present
Houston, TX · Remote
Design and build low-code solutions on Microsoft Power Platform and Azure, lead customer projects end to end, and work across teams to help customers simplify and automate their business processes.
Senior Customer Engineer (Premier Field Engineer)
Microsoft · Jun 2012 – Jun 2022
Houston, TX · Hybrid
Specialized in Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Power Platform technologies, delivering high-impact engagements, training, health checks, risk assessments, and supportability reviews to customers across every vertical.
Senior Technical Account Manager
Microsoft · Jun 2010 – Jun 2012
Greater Houston · Hybrid
Connected customers directly to Microsoft product groups and expertise, deploying and supporting new solutions while building strong, long-term customer relationships.
Senior IT Manager
Cameron (now SLB) · Jan 2008 – Jun 2010
Houston, TX
Led a globally dispersed team supporting 20,000 users worldwide. Oversaw Active Directory, OCS, SCCM, SCOM, Citrix Metaframe farms, Juniper firewalls, patching, and application packaging, and managed Microsoft Enterprise and Premier Support agreements.
Senior IT Lead
Cameron · Feb 2002 – Jan 2008
Houston, TX · On-site
Implemented and maintained Active Directory, OCS 2007, SCCM 2003/2007, MOM, and Citrix Metaframe XP farms, and managed corporate Netscreen/Juniper firewalls for network security and compliance.
Senior IT Specialist
Enron Corporation · Jan 2001 – Dec 2001
Houston, TX · On-site
Installed and configured Windows NT 4.0 / Windows 2000 Citrix Metaframe servers for 10,000+ users across the US, Canada, and UK. Rolled out a thin-client printing solution that cut help desk calls in half and trained junior staff on the Citrix environment.
Consultant
NetPartners · Apr 1999 – Jan 2001
Houston, TX · On-site
Designed and implemented LAN/WAN solutions for Fortune 50–500 organizations, including dual-redundant Windows NT clusters for power providers nationwide, delivering projects on time and on budget.
Systems Engineer / Consultant
Entex Information Services · Jan 1998 – Jan 1999
Omaha, NE · On-site
Provided contract network expertise to Fortune 1000 companies — planning, installing, and configuring Microsoft Proxy, Exchange, IIS, Terminal Server, and Citrix Winframe/Metaframe 1.x for remote application access.
Broadcast Operations Engineering / Internet Team Lead
DTN · 1995 – 1998
Omaha, NE · On-site
Led operations for Novell 3.x servers and Internet-facing systems. Managed the corporate web server, U.S. Robotics Total Control NetServers for remote access, and FTP/SMTP/POP3 services, and mentored the team to MCP+Internet and MCSE certifications.
Local Area Network Administrator
U.S. Air Force · Jan 1994 – Jan 1996
Oklahoma City, OK · On-site
Managed Novell 3.1x file and mail servers for 600+ users, upgraded the facility backbone and workstations from thicknet to coax, and supported five remote sites — resolving network trouble calls across the enterprise.
Satellite / Wideband Communications Technician
U.S. Air Force · Jan 1993 – Jan 1994
Oklahoma City, OK · On-site
Installed and troubleshot UHF and SHF satellite and wideband communications links supporting combat readiness missions, and was commended for exceptional performance keeping mission-critical comms operational under pressure.
Avionics Guidance and Control Systems Specialist
U.S. Air Force · Aug 1990 – Jan 1994
Tacoma, WA
Maintained avionics guidance and control systems on C-141 cargo aircraft — the foundation of a 30+ year career in mission-critical technology.
What I work with
- Microsoft Power Platform
- Power Apps & Power Automate
- Copilot Studio
- Microsoft Foundry
- Azure services and offerings
- GitHub Copilot
- Low-Code / No-Code Development
- Business Process Automation
- Microsoft Intune
- Azure Cloud Architecture