Kevin Schwickrath

Responsible for defining company-wide technology vision and strategy in support of business objectives. After a gap in departmental leadership, using data-driven decision-making to approach challenges with renewed clarity — moving forward with a revamped strategy and a fresh look at internal and customer-facing applications.

• Monitor network performance levels and trends to avoid network degradation and service interruptions, and identify needed upgrades
• Perform scheduled and emergency network and server maintenance/upgrades
• Provide incident post mortems; track, update, and close action items from incident investigations
• Ensure network and operational continuity, disaster recovery, and severe weather emergency plans are tested and executed as needed
• Create departmental policies, processes, procedures, and associated requirements
• Perform internal audits to ensure compliance with policies and procedures
• Manage and maintain network and security documentation

Helped bring to life a next-generation MPLS network scaled down to the metro level, using a formula of fast installations and highly reliable service to bring high-speed data services where fiber is not a viable option. Relocated in 2016 to head the company's expansion into the DFW market.

• Monitor network performance levels and trends to avoid network degradation and service interruptions, and identify needed upgrades
• Perform scheduled and emergency network and server maintenance/upgrades
• Provide incident post mortems; track, update, and close action items from incident investigations
• Ensure network and operational continuity, disaster recovery, and severe weather emergency plans are tested and executed as needed
• Create departmental policies, processes, procedures, and associated requirements
• Perform internal audits to ensure compliance with policies and procedures
• Manage and maintain network and security documentation

Appointed to fill a vacancy on the city council, then elected in November 2013. Represented the voters of my district and helped ensure the city maintained effective and efficient policies for citizens' health, safety, and welfare, including several IT-related projects at a high level for the citizens of Fort Lupton.

Supervised the Superintendent, set district objectives, and ensured everything necessary to accomplish those objectives was available — including public trust, financial security, and best-practice review — while overseeing several IT-related initiatives for the district.

Developed relationships with specifically assigned customers to provide customized support for their environment. Used technical expertise to analyze, troubleshoot, and react to systems or network issues in customer environments at the data center.

• Assist and consult with customers in the design and implementation of customer architectures
• Ensured customer installations followed data center procedures and remained within SLA
• Provided Tier 1 and 2 support to customers
• Monitored customer applications and operational architectures
• Escalated issues according to customer-provided documentation
• Documented incidents using a Remedy-based ticket system
• Assisted the Systems Engineer to develop and maintain LAN/WAN customer environments
• Maintained detailed logs and notebooks regarding customer applications, security, and operational readiness

Processed escalations from Tier 1 requiring personalized attention. Administered mission-critical components such as servers and networking equipment, including patch management and software updates.

• Assisted in the merger of Mesa Networks into LP Broadband, forming Skybeam
• Responded to infrastructure alarms, network diagnosis, and repair
• Opened and closed tickets with transport providers and colocation services
• Utilized trouble-ticketing software to ensure network outages were documented
• Administered mission-critical servers and networking equipment, including patch management and software updates
• Documented incidents using a Remedy-based ticket system
• Assisted the Systems Engineer to develop and maintain LAN/WAN customer environments
• Coordinated service outages and recoveries following disaster recovery procedures

Installed, configured, and performed routine service of MHO Networks' network systems — routers, switches, firewalls, DNS servers, e-mail servers, web application servers, and MSSQL/MySQL administration. Provided on-call after-hours support and processed escalations from the Tier 1 help desk.

Started at Layer 1, working for a small structured cabling installation company in north Denver. Developed the final layout of physical network installations and timetables for completing jobs on a strict budget; installed, tested, and maintained 150+ miles of fiber-optic and copper network cable with campus port counts exceeding 18,000 across 5 buildings, certified to manufacturer specifications. Also maintained the company's core IT infrastructure, including Great Plains Dynamics ERP (later Microsoft Dynamics GP) and Goldmine CRM.