IT Group Manager - That's my current title at Steelcase.  I manage a couple of groups that offer a number of services to the company including web development, social network architecture, mobile application development, IT Asset Management, Personal Computing provisioning, Global email and global collaboration.  I love that we get to deal in technology and solutions that impact the entire company, globally.  It's a good feeling to have that responsibility and impact.

IT Manager - Prior to becoming a group manager, where I have managers reporting to me, I was the manager of the group listed above that handles web development and global email collaboration services.  It was (and still is) a great team!

IT Architect - Before I got into management, I was a member of a small group of technology leaders at Steelcase in IT that developed the standards and architecture that ran the company.  The Architecture Team covered all the major technologies including network, client, server and mainframe.  I was the Server Architect.

Small Business Owner - After leaving Digital (see below), I decided to start a buisness called New Technology Solutions, Inc. or NTSI.  The company sold various hardware and software platforms including Windows-based PCs and Servers as well as Digital VAXes and Alpha servers.   The company also delivered many different design, planning and execution services to customers all over Michigan.  Steelcase ended being one of my customers, and while NTSI was doing pretty well, I had a mortgage to pay and mouths to feed, so decided to accept a position at Steelcase, and I never looked back. (OK, maybe I look back now and again, and someday, I may just consider trying it again... once all the kid expenses are behind me.

Technical Sales Consultant - After spending a year in Novi at Digital, I moved back to Western Michigan and joined the Kalamazoo sales office, providing technical sales consulting as well as some targeted professional services to west Michigan customers.  After a year in Kalamazoo, the decision was made to open a sales office and Grand Rapids, and I was offered the opportunity to join the GR sales team.  I shed my professional services duties and focused entirely on supporting the sales process for our western and northern michigan customers.  It was a great job because I got the chance to meet so many customers and  learn about and sell so many different technologies... technologies that I really believed in.  I was sad to leave Digital, but they got too big and they lost sight of their roots, and ultimately that led to their demise, and I needed to look for another job, which brought and end to a wonderful 10 year job!

Software Installation and Training - my first job out of Grad School was at Digital Equipment Corporation, a company based out of Maynard, MA, but with offices all over the world.  I was based in Novi, MI.  Digital was the inventer of the mini computer with system names such as the PDP-8, the PDP-11, teh VAX and finally the Alpha.  I joined the company as a trainee, and I got the chance to learn about the business of mini computers from the ground up.  I started my education by learning how to install the operating systems and layered products (aka applications) on PDP-11s and VAXes for our Eastern Michigan and Northern Indiana customers.  Once I get really good at the installations, and I knew the VAX and PDP environments really well, I moved into an education role, helping out customers learn how to run and manage their VAX and PDP systems.  I loved that part of the job because I got to do a lot of traveling and I got to help people improve their system managemenr skills.