In 1988 I left this independent telco to work for Intermountain Health Care. I began as the Network Specialist and left 10 years later as Network Director. IHC is the largest health care company in Utah with 24 hospitals and another 120 or so clinics and other health care facilities. In my job I had responsibility for the LANs, WANs, Telephone Systems, Internet, Web Development, Desktop Support, Long Distance and Cell Phones.

I was part of a three person team that conceived and built the IHC wide area network. We were involved in convergence before it became popular to associate it with IP. We were extremely successful in developing a Point-to-Point T-1 network, migrating it to a Frame Relay network and then integrating DS-3 circuits throughout the backbone. We also installed the Internet as a skunk-works project in 1992. By the time I left in June 1998 the Internet and Web were fully integrated throughout the entire IHC system.

I left IHC in 1998 to work as the Chief Information Officer for American Direct Credit in Boise, ID. We were a small finance company that was heavily dependent on computer systems, networks and data bases. After 12 months we were acquired by Capital One. The resulting situation left me available for new opportunities and one of my old professors from the University of Utah was looking for someone to run the technical services part of the Utah Education Network. I accepted that job offer and began in January 2000.

UEN is a combination of 4 separate networks. These are (1) a data network made up of T-1 circuits, DS-3s, OC-3s, Ethernet circuits and Microwave links, (2) a television station, KULC, that provides educational programming, (3) a satellite system that uplinks at Utah State University and downlinks to about 400 classrooms in Utah, and (4) a distance learning video system with 250 Utah sites providing about 300 events per week.

We are currently upgrading our entire network to an Ethernet based structure. This is an incredibly complex project that began with the upgrade of our backbone last fall and will culminate with the addition of a GigE channel running from north to south and connecting all but one of our higher education sites. Following that installation we will begin the first of three phases that will provide Ethernet connectivity to all of our District Offices (40) and secondary schools. We have seen some incredible success and have been able to convince our RBOC (Qwest) and 8 different rural ILECs to invest in Ethernet infrastructure in a difficult economic environment.

I am currently consulting with my town council on our Fiber Infrastructure committee. I have been working with the RBOC and the local cable company (Comcast) for many years and understand, from a practical standpoint, the issues of building and operating a large network. We have over 750,000 end-point nodes attached to the UEN network serving about 500,000 students, parents, faculty and education administration. Also, we work with libraries, state and local government agencies.

I hold a degree in Economics, graduating with honors from the University of Utah in 1997.