Staff Profiles
At FastServers, Inc. we are as proud of our team of outstanding individuals
as we are of our product offerings. Without our staff, FastServers
would simply not be the industry leader it is today in both offerings
and customer service. We have many reasons to be proud of each member
of our company. Having based our personnel in Iowa, we're fortunate
to be able to rely on the work ethic and great values that have been
instilled in every one of our team members since childhood, reflected
every day in their stellar performance. We are also excited to have
an extremely diverse and unique staff. Long workdays and nights are
a regular portion of the lives of each staff member, but so are late-night
parties, fishing trips, boating, golfing and other sports, gaming,
skydiving, DJing, and much more. Our staff brings a whole world outside
of computers and the daily grind to this company. We'd like you to
get to know a more personal side of each of our staff members and
are pleased to present the FastServers, Inc. 2007 Biographies!
Matt
Doyle
Director of Operations West
Matt Doyle came to FastServers.Net with perhaps the most all-around
experience. First let’s discuss his educational background, an extensive
one we might add. Matt holds a BS in Psychology and a BA in Russian.
He also has several MCSE certifications including Windows 2000. Also,
he has completed his coursework and dissertation for an MS (Master
of Science) at the University of Liverpool and was awarded an MS in
IT in July of 2006. However, he did tell us what it was like going
to school in the UK. Of course, we had to ask the obvious – what was
it like going to the University of Liverpool?
[Read Full Profile of Matt Doyle]
Brandon
Ewing
Network Operations Administrator
Brandon Ewing is the Network Operations Administrator at FastServers.Net
directly. He is responsible for most of the FastServers.Net back-end
systems that help our entire team stay organized and operate efficiently.
Utilizing his impressive PHP programming skills, Brandon is capable
of developing and managing systems that create intense productivity
within the company. "One of my most advanced systems developed here
at FastServers.Net is the Server Management Portal tied directly into
the Pentagon interface." He said the system is one of the many tools
that differentiate FastServers.Net from the competition.
[Read Full Profile of Brandon Ewing]
George
Nelson
NOC Administrator
George Nelson is the FastServers.Net Chicago facilities Network Operations
Center Administrator. Yes, it’s a long title, but with three data
centers, we have to specify the facility where George works his magic.
No, he doesn’t do any magic tricks, but he does install servers, manage
inventory, deploy network hardware, troubleshoot operations issues,
and plans for future development of where servers will be located
in the Chicago data center.
[Read Full Profile of George Nelson]
Tim
"Flip" Hass
Server Support Engineer
Tim Hass is a Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net. One of the
few employees to earn a double major, Tim graduated from the University
of Northern Iowa with a degree in both Physics and Russian. Like other
techs FastServers.Net, Tim said science and engineering has always
been interesting to him. Regarding Russian, he explained how a few
hours [classes] here and there could eventually earn you a double
degree. "A year of studying Russian, at the college level, does not
give you the ability to really speak the language. It has a steep
learning curve, so I decided to take a second year." After Tim's second
year studying Russian, he was given an opportunity to study in Moscow
for a summer. He said that summer in Moscow, plus a few more credit
hours back at UNI, earned him a second degree in Russian.
[Read Full Profile of Tim "Flip"
Hass]
Prescott
Kulow
Server Support Engineer
Prescott "Scott" Kulow is a Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net.
He has been with the company since November of 2004. A graduate of
the University of Northern Iowa, Scott earned his degree in computer
science with an emphasis on systems and artificial intelligence. "Artificial
intelligence is an exciting field. The possibilities with AI are endless."
He said it could be used for everything from fun stuff such as games
and simulations to the real "betterment of humanity" things such as
handling dangerous jobs, medicine, and space exploration. We think
artificial intelligence is cool too, Scott. Question - will machines
take over the human race?
[Read Full Profile of Prescott Kulow]
Andrew
Howard
Server Support Engineer
Another great new hire at FastServers.Net, Andrew Howard is one of
the elite server support engineers at FastServers.Net. He is also
actively involved in the development and maintenance of the company's
monitoring system. "It's a complicated system, especially since we
distributed the monitoring amongst multiple servers," said Andrew.
"And I love wrapping my mind around it. I had prior experience with
the monitoring software when we first started using it, so I've been
very involved with the development and maintenance of the software
ever since," he said. For those of you new to FastServers.Net, you
can utilize Andrew's monitoring system for all your servers. It's
built right into Pentagon and is available at no charge.
[Read Full Profile of Andrew Howard]
Wade
Weisbrod
Server Hardware Technician
Wade Weisbrod, Server Hardware Technician at FastServers.Net.
His daily duties include provisioning dedicated servers, performing
server upgrades, and planning on-site activities for the company.
When he's not racking massive amounts of servers (and we mean massive
amounts of servers), you can find him diligently organizing inventory,
maintaining the server build room, and keeping all the network wiring
tight and tangle free. Wade's our Midwest data center technician and
thinks it's the best facility on the planet. "It's awesome having
the data center downstairs from my office," he said. "It makes troubleshooting
and fixing issues much easier with all the servers only a few feet
away. Everything here [Cedar Falls DC] is in working order, which
is really nice."
[Read Full Profile of Wade Weisbrod]
Chase
Ewing
Server Support Engineer
Chase Ewing is one of the elite Server Support Engineers at FastServers.Net.
A consumer of caffeine in large doses, usually through Mountain Dew,
Chase gets his caffeine from just about any source he can find. "I've
tried them all. Sodas, energy drinks, mints, even caffeinated soap
(Tingly!), but nothing beats good old Mountain Dew." Currently he's
attending the University of Northern Iowa, working towards his Bachelors
of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics. "I believe
the extra math courses couldn't hurt my CS knowledge so I'm going
for it." His main areas of concentration include Operating Systems,
Networking, and Administration.
[Read Full Profile of Chase Ewing]
Nick
Frederick
Server Support Engineer
Nick Frederick, Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net, is famous
for his "patented" belly laugh. No, it's not really patented, but
you can periodically hear him belting out his unique laugh if you
are in the Cedar Falls, IA data center. Nick says there may be one
or two people on the team who may be able to imitate his laugh, but
he thinks those people are holding back. Let's hear it FastServers.Net
employees, imitate Nick's "patented" belly laugh! Enough about the
laugh, let's talk about Nick's experience. Originally from Clinton,
IA, Nick moved to Cedar Falls to attend college at the University
of Northern Iowa. He has since graduated from Northern with a BS in
Computer Science and continues to utilize his skills both at FastServers.Net
and a nearby college.
[Read Full Profile of Nick Frederick]
Todd
Hendricks
Server Support Engineer
Todd Hendricks is a Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net. Back
in the early 90s he was a member of several FidoNet style message
exchanges, as well as an alpha tester for the Iniquity BBS software.
Todd described the experience working with the BBS software. "Unfortunately
the Iniquity BBS software was introduced rather close to the decline
of the BBS movement (this coincided with the upsurge in the popularity
of the Internet)," he said. Prior to that Todd ran several Telegard/Renegade
based bulletin boards, and even released a piece of shareware he wrote
in QuickBasic. He called the program "OvrEdit," and to his credit,
the software ended up cracked. "It was designed to modify the internal
un-modifiable strings within Renegade," said Todd.
[Read Full Profile of Todd Hendricks]
Greg
Kuiper
Server Support Engineer
Greg Kuiper is a Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net. A graduate
of Purdue University in Management Information Systems, Greg spends
his days making sure customer issues are resolved quickly. "It's my
job to make sure that our customers' support requests are handled
in a timely manner. Whether responding on the phone or through the
ticket system, I do everything I can to ensure that our customers'
managed server solutions are functioning properly." Greg said one
of his additional daily tasks includes managing the FastServers.Net
internal documentation system. "The internal documentation systems
provides a central location for resolutions to technical issues each
of us face at any point during our shifts. It's a great addition to
the framework we have established in the technical support department
here at FastServers.Net."
[Read Full Profile of Greg Kuiper]
Steven
Anderson
Director of Inside Sales
Steven Anderson, a recent promotion granted him the role as Director
of Inside Sales at FastServers.Net. This born and raised native of
Sandwich, IL oversees the Inside Sales Team. Yes, we said "Sandwich,
IL." Steven enjoys telling his famous joke about the town between
Plano, IL and Sandwich, IL. "It's a fictitious town and a local joke.
Plano and Sandwich are five miles apart (I have lived in both towns).
The brunt of the joke is a fake town in between Plano and Sandwich
called Baloney. Get it? Plano… Baloney… Sandwich," said Steven as
he laughed hysterically. Come on, you know that's funny! We laughed
to when we heard the joke.
[Read Full Profile of Steven Anderson]
Shane
Reisner
Director of Sales Operations
Shane Reisner is one of the Elite Sales Team members at FastServers.Net.
He's a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa. And he's got character,
lots of character. Known simply as "Big Worm" since his freshman year
in high school (how long ago was that Shane?), the 6'3" no nonsense
kid from Iowa tells the story on how he earned his nickname. "The
nickname was given to me during my freshman year in high school by
my fellow teammates on the football team," said Shane. "The main reason
is that as a freshman in high school, I was 6'3" and weighed 300 pounds.
I was a big boy to say the least, hence the nickname - Big Worm."
So yeah, Shane's still tall, but doesn't quite weigh 300 pounds anymore.
He's too busy closing deals with some of his favorite vendors. And,
he drinks Slim Fast daily. We're joking.
[Read Full Profile of Shane Reisner]
Geri
Pettis
Sales Engineer
Geri Pettis is one of the newest members of the FastServers.Net Sales
Team. A true Chicago native, you can often hear Geri discussing her
favorite aspects of the city. "Some of the most beautiful aspects
of Chicago are the Lakefront and the Skyline. You can only really
enjoy the Lakefront and Skyline after all the snow has melted and
the temperature rises above 50 degrees!" she said. We often hear our
Chicago office employees talking about how beautiful the city is with
its skyline and sandy shores. But Chicago is not the only city Geri
likes to discuss around the office. She's always talking about how
much fun she has when visiting Atlanta, Georgia.
[Read Full Profile of Geri Pettis]
Monmini
"Mo" Kabre
Sales Engineer
Monmini Kabre, we call him "Mo," is a Sales Engineer at FastServers.Net.
There is something extraordinarily unique about Mo. He reads, speaks
and writes five languages! Most of his studies growing up were in
French as he was a native of Ivory Coast, which is a country just
off the southern coast of West Africa. "Since Ivory Coast was colonized
by the French, I grew up speaking and writing everything in the French
language," said Mo. He also spent four years studying German and lived
in Hamburg, Germany for a while. Mo is fluent in reading, speaking
and writing English (we know first hand!). Other languages he can
speak and write include Gouro, Mossi, and Shwahili!
[Read Full Profile of Mo Kabre]
Danelle
Little
Administrative Assistant
Chicago born and raised Danelle Little, the FastServers.Net Chicago
Headquarters office manager, keeps the company's multiple office locations
connected, phone calls routed, mail sorted, and just about every other
office duty imaginable. She's been with the company since July of
2005 and has seen the Chicago office staff double in just under two
years. Danelle told how much she enjoys her job at FastServers.Net.
One of the most exciting perks of the job is the free lunch the team
gets every Wednesday. Yes, it's on the company's dime (and time) too.
"Not many companies provide free lunches, especially those in the
hosting industry," said Danelle. "I totally think it's motivating
and rewarding for the company to provide us with free lunches. I really
appreciate the fact that they care about their employees enough to
feed us on a regular basis." Do free lunches make the team happy?
You bet it does.
[Read Full Profile of Danelle Little]
Miguel
Villegas
Sales Engineer
Miguel Villegas is truly a dynamic character. One of the most recent
additions to the FastServers.Net Sales Team, Miguel has an extensive
background in a variety of hobbies. He is a 2nd degree black belt
in Hapkido and practiced the art from the age of five to twenty years
old. He was a part of the Mid West Circuit tournament system in Chicago,
and as he got older, moved over to the AKA nationals. "When it comes
to performance and events, my strongest focus was on fighting," said
Miguel. "My talent in fighting may be due to the fact that I am small-framed,
extremely fast, and great with my legs."
[Read Full Profile of Miguel Villegas]
Carl
D'Amico
Carl D'Amico is one of the latest additions to the FastServers.Net
Sales Team. Carl's previous job was with the Chicago Shamrox, a new
professional Lacrosse team in Chicago that began in 2006. He says
his job duties included a little bit of everything. "I did a multitude
of things while working for the Shamrox," said Carl. "I called prospective
clients, pushed new ticket sales, managed merchandise orders and inventory,
provided customer service during the games, and much more. It was
an exciting experience, especially since I'm a huge fan of the Shamrox,"
he said. Is Carl another sports fanatic like most other FastServers.Net
employees?
[Read Full Profile of Carl D'Amico]
Ray
Powell, Jr.
Data Center Engineer
Ray Powell, Jr. is a Data Center Engineer at FastServers.Net. Ray
spent the last six years working on his Bachelor of Science and Master's
degrees in Computer Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology
(ITT). Upon graduation he worked briefly for a company that developed
document imaging, processing, and archival software. Now he works
the night shift in the Chicago, IL data center.
[Read Full Profile of Ray Powell, Jr.]
Robert
McFredries
Data Center Floor Engineer
Robert McFredries is the Data Center Floor Engineer at FastServers.Net.
The Westwood College graduate earned his degree in Information and
Systems Security and has over seven years of related experience in
the Internet Technology field. If you are familiar with the energy
drink Red Bull, "It gives you wings," you may also be aware of an
event they sponsor every year called the Flutag. "The Flutag is a
drunk's great quest." Robert said the Flutag is a way that we can
all get drunk and get on television doing what we do best - stupid
stuff. "Imagine a bunch of drunk people with pseudo wings attached
to their arms or back, jumping off into a lake. That's the Red Bull
Flutag." Well Robert, does it give you wings?
[Read Full Profile of Robert McFredries]
Alan
Spadoni
Server Support Engineer
Alan Spadoni is one of the latest additions to the FastServers.Net
support team. As a Server Support Engineer, one of his daily duties
includes monitoring customer servers via the FastServers.Net Nagios
system, making sure all the servers are up and running at optimum
performance. "I also provide support to customers via phone and through
the ticketing system, so any questions or problems they may have can
be answered and resolved as quickly and as thoroughly as possible."
Outside of monitoring servers and keeping support running top-notch,
Alan is an avid gamer, and can tell you about his prodigious collection
of games.
[Read Full Profile of Alan Spadoni]
Joshua
Hoppes
Server Support Technician
Joshua Hoppes is one of the latest additions to Server Support Technicians
team at FastServers.Net. Currently attending the University of Northern
Iowa, Joshua has plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree
in Computer Science. Joshua said he really enjoys the friendly atmosphere
at FastServers.Net. "Each one of my co-workers is someone whom I can
easily approach and talk to about work related as well as outside
interests." When he's not at the office monitoring the status of servers
and the FastServers.Net network, you can find Joshua playing some
of his favorite first person shooter games.
[Read Full Profile of Joshua Hoppes]
Scott
Aylward
Server Support Engineer
Scott Aylward is a Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net. He
has earned several certifications including Cisco Certified Network
Associate (CCNA), COMPTIA A+, Network+, and the Help Desk Institute
(HDI) Customer Support Specialist certification. His extensive background
in web development and experience in customer support, led him directly
to FastServers.Net. Prior to working at FastServers.Net, Scott primarily
worked in PC and end-user support for two organizations - Hawkeye
Community College and Viking Pump. Scott says he enjoys working the
late shift, but it doesn't allow him to get out and participate in
outside activities.
[Read Full Profile of Scott Aylward]
Dave
Young
Marketing and Public Relations Specialist, Professional Writer
Dave Young has one of the longest titles at FastServers.Net. He is
the Marketing and Public Relations Specialist and Professional Writer.
"My job includes everything from building brand equity, naming new
products and services, to writing all the promotional content for
the company." Dave said his title represents only a portion of his
overall duties at FastServers.Net. Some of his other responsibilities
include assisting "AP" with search engine optimization by making sure
all the web site's content contains the right amount of keywords and
key phrases. "We can rank high with any key phrase needed to keep
those searches from Google coming our way. The task, led by AP, has
been an incredible experience and a wonderful opportunity."
[Read Full Profile of Dave Young]
William
"Bud" Sims
Server Support Engineer
William Sims, known as "Bud" around the office, is a Server Support
Engineer at FastServers.Net. Bud has returned to the company for a
second time. Prior to his return, he worked for Classified Ventures,
the organization that owns Cars.com, Apartments.com, and Homescape.
"I worked in the corporate infrastructure department as a networking
engineer specializing in Linux." He said his job was working more
with the internal infrastructure, but he did learn a lot about network
security, backup and SAN, disaster recovery, and data center management.
"I was offered a chance to work with Solaris and Linux in an Enterprise
environment. That experience alone gave me a new perspective on the
hosting industry."
[Read Full Profile of William "Bud"
Sims]
David
Twigg
Server Hardware Technician
David Twigg is one of the latest additions to the FastServers.Net
team. As the Server Hardware Technician, David's responsibilities
include doing much of Wade Weisbrod's monotonous tasks. "I do all
of Wade's grunt work. To be more specific, I do a lot of the hardware
support on our servers." David told us that he spends a lot of time
installing hardware and operating systems on new servers. And he does
a lot of the cabling in the data center for customers that request
backups and/or private switches. "My primary responsibility is to
make sure the server hardware and cabling are working properly. If
they are not working properly, it is my job to fix the issue as quickly
as possible."
[Read Full Profile of David Twigg]
Chris
Montanaro
Server Support Engineer
Chris Montanaro is a Server Support Engineer at FastServers.Net. He
has extensive experience working on Unix and Windows platforms. His
daily duties include working on Nagios and providing support on lower
priority tickets. "Nagios, the monitoring service that we use here
at FastServers.Net, utilizes a system of checks and balances to ensure
certain services are running properly," said Chris. "Since I am still
new here at FastServers.Net, I am still learning the ropes," he added.
Chris told us the most challenging part of his position has been learning
information quickly enough to help support those customers who have
more experience than others.
[Read Full Profile of Chris Montanaro]