Christopher Nowak Email & Phone Number

Lansing, Michigan, Us

Lansing, Michigan, Us

Michigan Fitness Foundation is a nonprofit organization that promotes health and well being in Michigan by encouraging people to live active lifestyles and develop healthy eating habits. I wear a few hats, but a majority of my responsibilities revolve around taking care of the IT needs of our organization and providing leadership to our web developer and graphic designer. Notable Projects include:My first year I recognized inefficiencies in the printers at MFF. I researched alternatives and presented a plan that was adopted. The ROI was an annual $10K in savings and included increased functionality.After experiencing a number of unplanned outages (power, hardware failure, ISP down) I was tasked with ensuring near 100% uptime of email service. I researched several solutions and recommended Office 365. I oversaw the project of moving from Exchange 2010 to Exchange Online.Once Office 365 was in place, I overcame resistance to rolling out Skype for Business. While employees saw IM and Presence as unnecessary in a small office, I recognized the benefits it would bring - a reduction in email, better collaboration for remote workers, and the convenience of presence. It took some persistence to drive adoption, but our oganization loves it now. Improved RPO and RTO by implementing Veeam 9.5 utilizing short term backups, long term backups/ archives, remote backups to the cloud (Azure), surebackup (backup integrity checks) and replication.Recognized the need to harden our network infrastructure and improve our security posture. Demonstrated to leadership the importance of upgrading the equipment, developed a budget, and worked with vendors to evaluate and implement the solution. Spearheaded project to migrate key server infrastructure to a managed cloud to improve the durability of our applications and minimize downtime. An additional benefit realized is that I am no longer the sole person supporting our critical environment.

Established new relationships with enterprise level accounts as a result of my ability to communicate effectively on a technical level with decision makers.Created new relationships and maintain existing partnerships with Michigan Works Case Managers, Veterans Affairs Representatives, and Vocational Rehabilitation Case Managers both locally, and in outlying areas of the state.Assisted individuals with developing and implementing a training plan that will provide the training they need to either advance within their current career or break into a new career field.

Kalamazoo, Mi, Us

Installed, configured, and supported IT infrastructure for small to medium sized businesses in the Greater Lansing Region.Worked with the following technologies on a day to day basis: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Server 2000, Server 2003, Server 2008, IIS, DNS, Microsoft HyperV, VMware Server, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, Tape Backup Systems, off-site backup solutions, Wi-Fi, LAN, cabling, smart phones, and multifunction printers.Built and maintained client relationships with 25-30 assigned clients including taking support calls directly, scheduling appointments, balancing schedules based on severity of issues, setting up follow-up meetings, making technology recommendations, and keeping the client informed with detailed billable descriptions.

Us

Maintained the IT infrastructure for four office locations including managing the WAN, providing surveillance and IP updates on a Sonicwall Firewall, administering changes to an Alltel Phone System, and controlling spam protection and updates for the company email system.Provided reliable personal technology assistance to each of the 160 real estate agents for their personal computers running platforms from Mac OS to Windows 95 to Windows XP, fax machines, copiers, printers, PDAs, digital cameras and any other personal electronics needing assistance.Planned a technology roadmap to keep pace with Briarwood’s continual growth including establishing a budget, researching technology options, organizing a cost analysis and outlining an implementation calendar.

Coordinated and scheduled the network migration of T1’s and PRI’s for 300 LDMI customers from SBC’s infrastructure onto the LDMI network.