Bob Liotta

Enterprise Architecture -
It’s totally my DNA

Professional Profile

Executive Technology Leader | Platform Architect | Digital Supply Chain Innovator

I’m Robert Liotta, a global technology executive with 30+ years of experience architecting enterprise platforms, driving digital transformation, and embedding AI across the logistics and supply chain sectors. Currently SVP, Enterprise Architect at CEVA Logistics and formerly Chief Architect at Kuehne+Nagel, I’ve led multi-year IT strategy roadmaps, steered acquisition integration programs, and delivered cloud-native, AI-enabled, and custom logistics platforms that scale globally and deliver measurable business value.

My leadership spans platform engineering, DevOps, integration architecture, and enterprise rationalization—building resilient, scalable platforms with a focus on operational excellence, innovation, and transformation at scale.

🧠 Leadership & Strategy

Robert is a recognized technology leader known for founding the Global Architecture Board, a cross-functional governance body that aligns enterprise initiatives with modern architecture patterns, developer enablement, and strategic business priorities. He has led large-scale Agile and DevOps transformations, shifting organizations from waterfall to Agile and establishing CI/CD pipelines that drove a 50% productivity gain in year one. Robert also restructured the Enterprise Architecture function into scalable, domain-aligned teams, mentors architects, and acts as a trusted advisor to executive stakeholders across technology and business.

⚙️ Engineering & Innovation

Robert has consistently delivered impactful engineering solutions that combine open-source strategy, platform modernization, and AI-driven automation at scale.

  • Open Source & Platform Modernization
    Pioneered the transition to open-source Java-based technologies across the organization, eliminating vendor lock-in and reducing licensing costs. Architected converged platforms using CBD, MDM, and CFAST, and led the migration of legacy systems into secure, cloud-compliant containers.

  • Custom Integration Architectures
    Designed and deployed complex enterprise-grade integrations across A2A, B2B, EDI, WebServices, and JMS. Engineered a custom high-throughput ESB processing over several million messages per day to support mission-critical workflows.

  • AI & Automation
    Delivered multiple AI-powered solutions, including:
    • An OpenAI Email Assistant for multilingual case handling
    • An IDP automation platform using ABBYY OCR
    • ML-based demand forecasting rolled out across Asia Pacific
    • AI chatbot integrations via partnerships with startup incubators like ZEBOX
  • Infrastructure & Cybersecurity Leadership
    Brings deep expertise in virtualization (VMWare, XenServer,LXD, Kubernetes), Storage Area Networks (SAN), POD infrastructure, and distributed systems. Played a key role in CEVA’s cybersecurity roadmap, contributing to IAM, IDP remediation, and SSO architecture aligned with global enterprise standards.

🧩 Core Strengths

  • Enterprise Architecture Strategy
  • Platform Engineering & Integration
  • AI, ML, and Intelligent Automation
  • DevOps & CI/CD Governance
  • Cybersecurity Architecture
  • Cost Optimization & Tool Rationalization
  • Global Team Leadership & Stakeholder Management

🏁 Accomplishment Journal

Robert Liotta has built a distinguished career by transforming enterprise IT landscapes with scalable, secure, and strategic solutions. He blends architecture leadership with a pragmatic approach to execution — consistently delivering measurable outcomes.

Architected Bold Ideas into Repeatable Solutions

  • Built CEVA’s containerized architecture strategy, adopted globally across CL, A&O, Ground, and Rail.
  • Delivered the first release of the converged A&O solution, with CFAST/CBD as its core framework.
  • Consolidated DevOps, testing, and integration toolsets into a standard for CICD, GitOps, and SAST/DAST.

Metrics

Metric Value Impact
Number of Containers in K8s Clusters 21,000 Reflects massive scale of containerized deployment across environments
GitLab Projects in PROD 12,000 Shows wide CI/CD adoption across business units
Artifactory Artifacts in PROD 802,000 Indicates heavy software distribution and version control usage
Jenkins Worker Node Storage 2 TB High CI workload; demonstrates extensive build/test automation
Jenkins Jobs Run in Q2 25,300 High operational velocity in software delivery
CJF / CAL Services Containerized All core framework services Full platform modernization; shift to Dockerized delivery
Upgrade Time Reduction 2–3 weeks → 4–8 hours Major efficiency gain in deployment and framework management
Namespace-Based Deployments Each business team owns its namespace Empowers decentralized, agile DevOps across verticals
Business Units Covered CL, A&O, Ground, Rail Global adoption across CEVA’s logistics operations

Measured Innovation by Cultural Influence

  • Promoted a culture of innovation through AI-ready, cloud-agnostic tooling.
  • Created a weekly architecture committee that aligned business and platform teams on roadmap priorities.
  • Balanced central governance with local Agile autonomy by enabling team-driven execution under shared guardrails.

AI-Driven Transformation

  • Led GenAI migrations for MyHR and C-VIEW to group-level solutions in 2024.
  • Redefined ingestion tooling for CDP to enable cloud-agnostic AI architectures.
  • Conducted a 3-month GCP cloud readiness study, resulting in containerization standards adopted enterprise-wide.

Delivered Practical Transformation in Enterprise IT

  • Completed a review of 300+ technologies, identifying 20% redundancy and creating a 3-year rationalization roadmap.
  • Redesigned and deployed the MDM framework adopted by CVIEW, A&O, and GEFCO SAP integrations.
  • Led microservices migration for MyCEVA and WMS platforms, enabling modular backend evolution.

Bridged Organizational Gaps

  • Played a key role in CEVA–Bolloré IT integration, aligning data platforms, portals, and streaming strategies.
  • Embedded EA into new CoEs during 2024 management transitions, ensuring architectural alignment persisted.

Focused on Impact, Not Just Delivery

  • Delivered $1.2M in annual savings via tooling and platform rationalization.
  • Achieved 100% delivery under budget for OPEX and CAPEX across 2021, 2022, and 2024.
  • Reduced incident resolution time by 35% and launched production-ready persistent block storage for container workloads.

“Architecting the future, one reusable solution at a time.”

Work History and Education

Work History

CEVA Logistics, Jacksonville, Florida
2016–Present
Senior Vice President, IT Enterprise Architect

Kuehne+Nagel, Naugatuck, Connecticut
1996–2016
Chief Architect, NAFTA (1999–2016)
Director, Internet Services (1997–1999)
Manager, UNIX Services (1996–1997)

Nextel Communications, White Plains, New York
1994–1995
UNIX Systems Programmer

General DataComm Industries, Inc., Middlebury, Connecticut
1988–1994
Principal Systems Programmer (1992–1994)

Education and Training

Waterbury State Technical College, Waterbury, Connecticut
1983–1985
Associates Degree in Computer Science

TANGRAM University – AI Training
2025
Advanced curriculum focused on applied Artificial Intelligence concepts and enterprise use cases.

Climate Training
2024
Corporate sustainability and environmental awareness certification.

Annual Compliance and Ethics Training
2017–Present
Ongoing training covering corporate compliance, data protection, ethical standards, and regulatory obligations.

Leadership I – October 2014
Kuehne+Nagel and external partner

Leadership II – November 2015
Invite-only, limited to 100 individuals per year
Kuehne+Nagel and external partner

Technology Profile Summary

As an enterprise architect and technology leader, I bring decades of experience driving complex digital transformation, platform modernization, and systems integration across global organizations. My technical portfolio spans cloud-native infrastructure, DevOps automation, full-stack development, enterprise integration, identity and access management, and custom platform engineering. Below is a categorized breakdown of the technologies I’ve deployed and led in production environments.

Cloud-Native & Containerization

  • Kubernetes – Container orchestration platform used for automating deployment, scaling, and operations.
  • Docker – Container engine that simplifies application packaging and portability.
  • Containerd – Lightweight container runtime optimized for use with Kubernetes.
  • Helm – Package manager for Kubernetes applications supporting templated configurations and versioning.
  • Velero – Tool for backing up and restoring Kubernetes clusters.
  • Rook-CephFS – Cloud-native storage orchestration using Ceph integrated with Kubernetes.
  • Ceph – Distributed, software-defined storage system supporting block, file, and object storage.

📦 CEVA Kubernetes Cluster Resource Metrics (Q2 2025)

Resource Value Notes
vCPU 8,240 Massive compute availability for container workloads
RAM 16.3 TB High memory capacity for large-scale service execution
Disk Storage 1.25 PB Petabyte-scale storage—supports build artifacts, logs, data persistence

CI/CD & DevOps Tooling

  • Jenkins – Automation server for building and deploying CI/CD pipelines.
  • GitLab – DevOps platform combining source control with integrated pipelines and issue tracking.
  • Artifactory – Universal artifact repository manager for build artifacts and containers.
  • SonarQube – Code quality and security analysis platform.
  • Kanboard – Visual project management tool using the Kanban methodology.

Monitoring & Observability

  • OpenTelemetry – Observability framework for collecting distributed traces and metrics.
  • OpenSearch – Open-source search and analytics engine for operational data and logs.
  • Prometheus – Metrics collection and alerting toolkit.
  • Grafana – Visualization platform for observability dashboards.
  • Centreon – Infrastructure and service monitoring for IT operations.
  • Jaeger – Distributed tracing system used with OpenTelemetry.

Big Data & Messaging

  • Kafka – Distributed event streaming platform for building real-time data pipelines.
  • Pulsar – Scalable pub-sub messaging platform with native stream storage.
  • Cassandra – Highly scalable NoSQL database for large-scale time-series or wide-column data.
  • ElasticSearch – Distributed search and analytics engine.
  • Confluent – Commercial platform extending Apache Kafka with enterprise features.
  • PostgreSQL – Advanced open-source relational database with enterprise-grade features.
  • Dataiku – Visual platform for data science workflows and machine learning.

Frontend Frameworks & Libraries

  • React – Component-based JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
  • Next.js – React-based framework supporting server-side rendering and routing.
  • PrimeReact – UI component library for React-based enterprise applications.
  • PrimeFaces – JSF-based UI library for Java web applications.
  • Apollo – GraphQL client library for integrating APIs and managing front-end data.

Security, Identity & Integration

  • JWT – Token format used for stateless authentication between parties.
  • OAuth2 – Authorization framework enabling third-party access delegation.
  • LDAP – Directory protocol used for user and access management.
  • Camunda – Workflow and decision automation engine using BPMN/DMN standards.
  • ServiceNow – IT service management platform for workflow automation.
  • Choreo Connect – API gateway supporting throttling, security, and monitoring.

Business & Productivity Platforms

  • Monday.com – Visual collaboration and work management platform.
  • Qlik Sense – Business analytics platform for data visualization and reporting.

Infrastructure & Virtualization

  • VMWare – Enterprise virtualization platform for server workloads.
  • XenServer – Hypervisor for hosting virtual machines on enterprise-grade hardware.
  • Storage Area Networks (SAN) – High-performance, centralized storage systems.
  • POD Technologies – Modular, scalable hardware deployment model.
  • Firewalls – Core security layer for network perimeter defense and traffic control.

Application Development & Integration

  • Java (Open Source) – Primary development language for custom enterprise applications.
  • LEX – Proprietary localization framework enabling regional customization.
  • WebServices – Standards-based approach to integrating distributed systems.
  • JMS – Java messaging middleware for asynchronous communications.
  • EDI – Standardized electronic document exchange used in logistics and supply chain.
  • A2A / B2B – Architecture patterns enabling internal (A2A) and external (B2B) system integration.

DevOps & SDLC

  • Continuous Delivery Pipeline – End-to-end automation for build, test, and deploy cycles.
  • Release Management – Governance and execution of software deployments.
  • Revision Control – Version control and source code change tracking systems.
  • QA Practices – Defined quality assurance processes integrated into delivery pipelines.

Monitoring & Ops

  • Custom Monitoring Systems – In-house platform providing real-time observability of infrastructure and application health.

Enterprise Applications (Custom Built)

  • Virtual Logistics Network – WMS for managing 120+ depots supporting SUN Micro-Systems SLAs.
  • Logistics Dashboard – Customer portal for real-time inventory, order, and receipt visibility with PDF report generation.

Legacy & OS Expertise

  • UNIX – Deep experience in systems programming, performance tuning, and shell environments.
  • SUN Micro-Systems – Supported high-availability systems for mission-critical logistics platforms.

🛠️ Proprietary / In-House Platforms and Applications

  • CJF (CEVA Java Framework)
    Internal Java microservices framework with built-in observability, security, and service contracts.

  • CAL (Communication Abstraction Layer)
    Integration layer enabling dynamic service orchestration across distributed systems.

  • SSO Management
    Internal single sign-on solution supporting RBAC and identity federation across CEVA applications.

  • Authorization Service
    Policy-based access control engine managing user permissions and entitlements.

  • DocAPI
    Document management API enabling secure data exchange and document lifecycle tracking.

  • EMB (Enterprise Message Bus)
    High-throughput message broker powering asynchronous, event-based architecture.

  • MySSO
    CEVA-branded identity gateway supporting both OIDC and SAML authentication protocols.

  • Gainceva, Fabriq, Semarchy, COSY, LBR, Dyson
    Specialized CEVA-built platforms supporting logistics operations, HR management, and enterprise workflows.

  • Digital Gemba, Doc Logistics, MyHR, MyCEVA
    Front-line and customer-facing tools integrated with CEVA’s core systems for operational visibility and engagement.

  • GPSTPS
    CEVA’s custom global platform for shipment tracking and planning; scaled to multiple environments with Tibco integration.

  • IFL (Integrated Factory Logistics)
    CEVA-specific logistics application for web and mobile, migrated to Kubernetes and integrated with CJF.

  • Doctor Kaizen (Dr. Kaizen)
    Lean operations application supporting continuous improvement; deployed on web/mobile with multi-language search.

  • FMCSP / FMCSP+
    CEVA freight management and operations platform with dashboards, workflow upgrades, and navigator modules.

  • GICM
    CEVA internal analytics or governance platform supporting real-time performance visibility and compliance.

  • CLDLP / CLMDT
    Integrated logistics data platform consolidating BICL, KPIs, and performance metrics.

  • BICL
    Business intelligence component of CLMDT; provides operational KPIs and dashboard analytics.

  • Digital Library (Digilib)
    Metadata-driven digital repository with API integration, replacing legacy email-based workflows.

  • UCM (Unified Case Management)
    Platform for managing change requests and operational issues; continuously enhanced through CRs.

  • Omni Portal
    CEVA-specific unified access portal built for streamlined logistics and service orchestration.

  • Cold Chain
    Custom-built application for tracking temperature-sensitive logistics and compliance.

  • GetPaid / Publican
    Proprietary finance platform for global receivables, including CCL country file processing.

  • Performance Bridge
    Operations performance platform, later integrated into CLMDT for broader logistics KPIs.

  • CSP / CSP+
    Internal application supporting billing, NRA filing, milestone tracking, and container management.

  • Invoice Digitization (Medius Gateway)
    CEVA digitized invoicing system integrated with Medius and WSO2 for secure processing.

  • WMS Portal / WMS Free Spacer
    Warehouse management web interfaces migrated to newer CJF versions and expanded features.