Mario Spina.

Professional Summary

I design cloud architectures and lead technical transformations for organizations that can't afford to get them wrong. Over the last two decades that's meant work with Nutrien, CAE, WestJet, Hydro Quebec, Desjardins, SaskTel, Suncor, and Cirque du Soleil — aligning IT strategy with real business outcomes, not slideware.

Today I split my time between two roles: Senior Cloud Architect at Nutrien (since 2023), leading application portfolio optimization and cloud modernization across AWS and Azure; and Fractional CTO at Dimedove (since 2024), running AWS migration and CI/CD transformation for a growing team in Montreal. Before that, three years at FX Innovation as Principal Cloud Architect and six months at AWS itself as a Solutions Architect.

Bilingual in English and French, based in Calgary since 2017, and equally comfortable in board-level strategy conversations and IAM policy reviews.

Areas of Expertise

• Cloud & IT Strategy — AWS, Azure, cloud migrations, DevOps, CI/CD
• Enterprise Architecture — TOGAF, Zachman, SOA, microservices
• AWS Architecture — EKS, ECS, Lambda, Transit Gateway, Landing Zones, IAM
• ServiceNow & ITOM — Platform architecture, CMDB, Discovery, Service Mapping
• DevOps & Automation — Terraform, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines
• Security & Compliance — AWS WAF, GuardDuty, Security Hub, Zero Trust, IAM strategy
• AI-Augmented Engineering — Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, MCP & agent protocols (ACP, A2A), local LLM serving (Ollama on Framework Desktop)
• Leadership & Transformation — Multi-year IT roadmaps, digital transformation, IT governance

Selected Achievements

• Architected CMDB & ITOM solutions for Hydro Quebec, Desjardins, and WestJet — enabling automated cloud discovery and service mapping across complex hybrid estates.
• Led cloud modernization for Nutrien and CAE using AWS Landing Zone, EKS, Transit Gateway, and IAM best practices.
• Implemented AWS security frameworks (WAF, IAM, GuardDuty, Security Hub) for financial services and telecom enterprises.
• Defined multi-year IT roadmaps for Quebec Investment and Ivanhoe Cambridge, aligning technology strategy with business growth.

My Approach

• Pragmatic solutions — Solving real problems, not chasing trends.
• Knowledge transfer — Empowering your team to maintain and evolve what we build.
• Long-term thinking — Systems that grow with the business instead of being replaced every three years.
• Clear communication — Translating technical complexity into business terms for the people signing the cheques.

Background

Diploma in Computer Science from Ste-Foy College (Quebec, 1996). Master's in Theology from Laval University (Quebec, 1994) — a reminder that good architecture is as much about framing the right questions as solving them.

Beyond Work

When I'm not architecting cloud solutions, I'm somewhere in the Rockies — hiking, riding my motorcycle on mountain passes, or just looking at the horizon. Living in Calgary with the Rockies at the door is a hard habit to break.