Biography
Dr Rapagnani has spent the last 40 years in the technology field. The first 23 years was spent as a research computational scientist conducting research on high-energy laser in support of laser fusion applications and directed energy weapons. The past 15 years have been devoted to providing strong technical and organizational leadership in shaping progressive and innovative computing environments at the National Supercomputer Centers and two major research universities, specifically the University of Arizona (UA) and University of Notre Dame (ND). At UA and ND, Dr Rapagnani served in the capacity of CIO.
As director of a national supercomputer center he managed a complex environment of multiple CRAY supercomputers with an IBM mainframe mass-storage environment providing services to researchers across the county. At ND and UA he managed computing environments that utilized thousands of servers and multiple IBM mainframes, providing a complete suite of services to communities of over 50,000 individual users.
Currently Dr Rapagnani serves as the CTO of GramTel. The CTO oversees, manages, and sets the strategic direction for GramTel’s technological operations and infrastructure. GramTel, a South Bend company that has a “world-class” data center, has a specific focus on information security, business continuity planning and disaster preparedness. GramTel helps clients focus on these critical areas that can have a significant impact on business operations and long term viability.
Presently Dr Rapagnani serves on a Disaster Recovery Journal (DRJ) Subcommittee that is devoted to developing a suite of “best practices” for Business Continuity Strategies. Once developed these “best practices” will serve as basis for the business community so the entire community has the same level of understanding related to business continuity.
Dr. Rapagnani holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Kansas and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Missouri. Additionally he earned a Doctorate in Applied Sciences from Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
