VANTAGE TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING GROUP - Key Persons
Andrew is a Lead Engineer with our BIM team, helping the Design and Engineering group design and deliver BIM drawings and models. He is an expert in design software, including Revit, Autocad, and BIM360 and has worked on a wide range of projects, including residential, hospitality, healthcare, and education. As a Revit instructor at the College of Western Idaho, Andrew focuses on implementing and evaluating new instructional technologies and maintaining knowledge of emerging technologies in the AEC field for the next generation of design leaders.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geoscience, Hydrology emphasis, from Boise State University.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Certified Electronics Technician
Andrey is a physical and electronic security systems specialist. He has over ten years of experience with security systems and the unique perspective of system installation and maintenance. He guides clients through design and implementation with end-user ability and process at the forefront of security roadmaps.
Andrey is a Certified Electronics Technician (CET) and a certified Electronic Security Networking Technician (ESNT) with ETA international. He is studying Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Member of Our BIM Team
Aubrie is a member of our BIM team with ten years of design experience and trained in Revit, AutoCAD, Sketchup, and other BIM software. Her previous experience as an interior designer influences her system design work to ensure spaces are functional and practical for end users. She has applied her detailed understanding of BIM on a variety of projects and has experience with leveraging unique families within Revit.
She holds a Bachelor of Interior Design degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and an AAS degree in Architectural Technology from Hennepin Technical College.
Bruce has more than 25 years of AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) consulting experience with projects in many industry sectors including healthcare, higher education, entertainment, gaming, financial, large residential, and professional services. He provides comprehensive technical and project management services that guide clients to efficient and effective technology solutions that innovate their environments and enhance their vision and goals.
Bruce is well known in the Los Angeles Design Community and is a supporter of many events and organizations including Junior Achievement, The American Heart Association, Autism Speaks, USC Architectural Guild, LA Headquarters Association, and IIDA events.
He holds a Bachelors degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Project Management Certificate from Stanford University.
Carlo has over 20 years of experience in information and communications technology (ICT) systems including structured cabling, audio-visual, safety and security access control, intrusion detection, sound masking, DAS, planning, design, and management. He has worked extensively on both the design and construction sides of multiple industries, including education, healthcare, mixed-use, hospitality, corporate, and public works. He understands the importance of planning and programming, as well as developing standards for organizations, to ensure reliable, repeatable performances of technology systems and avoid costly change orders and extended schedules. He brings a unique balance of technical expertise and managing to deliver successful projects.
Carlo graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with an BS in Electronics and Communications Engineering. He holds multiple certifications in Technology and Project Management:
Job Titles:
- Senior Principal, Associate Partner
Cathy has 30 years of experience in higher education with a strong focus on strategic planning, governance, and initiatives that transform academic, administrative and research capabilities. Prior to joining Vantage, she held CIO, CISO, and other leadership positions at regional and flagship universities.
At Vantage, Cathy works directly with IT and institutional leaders on large, mission-focused projects including strategic planning, organizational assessments, data governance and IT governance. She has extensive experience in institutional processes and information security and enjoys the challenge of creating programs that both protect and enable the use of data. She also brings a deep understanding and passion for creating IT governance frameworks that are engaging and support institutional objectives. Her project approach is strategic, collaborative, and inclusive, leading to actionable tools and roadmaps that reflect the needs of the institution.
Throughout her career, Cathy has been actively involved in mentoring and bringing people together to share experiences. She enjoys writing about leadership and working with individuals to help prepare them for leadership roles. She initiated the Vantage Leadership Lounge Program that works with over 20 well-known higher education CIOs in a co-mentoring model to bring current and future leaders together to learn from one another.
She is a longtime member of EDUCAUSE, serving on security professionals and annual conference committees, co-chairing the HEISC committee, presenting at conferences and contributing articles and knowledge resources, including the IT Governance Toolkit. Cathy is currently a member of the EDUCAUSE Corporate Engagement Advisory Committee which advises on strategic directions for corporate engagement programming, events, publications, and resources developed to support and evolve the higher education technology market.
Cathy holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Computer Science and a Master of Education in Secondary Education and attended the Women's Management Institute of Higher Education Resource Center (HERS).
Chris has over fifteen years of experience in the technology and construction industry and has worked on healthcare, education, and corporate projects. As a Project Manager, he collaborates with the client, design team, and technical staff to outline project milestones, deliverables, budgets, dependencies, and risks, and effectively communicates to ensure successful project outcomes. He effectively works with local, state, and federal agencies to coordinate permitting activities to guarantee his projects stay ahead of schedule.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering Technologies from Cleveland State University.
Chris is a part of our accounting and administrative team and helps with managing client accounts, creating and processing invoices, reviewing and reconciling expenses, and daily office operations. His patience and attention to detail helps the client and Vantage maintain successful relationships.
Chris has fifteen years of experience in finance, working his way from teller to branch manager of national banking institutions. He has the ability to work across all levels of management and easily collaborates with the team.
Outside of work, he enjoys discovering the inner workings of electronics, often fixing or reworking TVs, radios, and handheld devices, and has designed and installed custom home theaters and audio car systems for family and friends.
Curtis brings over ten years of project management and process strategy experience. He leads successful projects with comprehensive project trackers and reports which keep projects on schedule and within budget. His knowledge within engineering disciplines, including electrical, mechanical, and civil coupled with his past experience with telecommunication projects, including SD-WAN, cloud solutions, and new network construction, brings a unique perspective to projects and enhances the coordination of technology systems and the rest of the building systems.
Curtis holds a Masters in Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from San Diego Christian College. He is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE).
Job Titles:
- BIM Specialist - Engineer
Drawing on skills learned through work in facilities design and electrical contracting, Drake services education, healthcare, commercial and civic clients as one of Vantage's BIM Engineers. His knowledge of REVIT, AutoCAD, and various BIM programs allows him to efficiently draft and design technology systems with an eye towards the comprehensive aesthetics and details, including constructability. Drake's background includes documentation and specifications, 3D models, as-builts and renderings.
Job Titles:
- Executive Strategic Consultant
Geoff has been in the communications industry for over 35 years and an independent consultant specializing in higher education and health care since 1980. He is recognized as one of the foremost consultants in the higher education marketplace specializing in technology planning, cost analysis, business continuity planning, and the convergence of voice, data and video technologies in support of administrative functions, technology in the classroom, and student services. He has been directly involved as principal consultant or project manager on over a hundred and fifty projects, controlling the activities of all consultants, subcontractors, and vendors.
In addition to strategic technology planning, Geoff has conducted system design, RFP development, proposal evaluation, contract negotiations, and implementation oversight for numerous institutions - public and private, large and small - all with demanding, unusual, or complex requirements.
A highly respected lecturer for industry seminars and association gatherings, he has also published numerous articles in telecommunications industry magazines and journals.
Geoff holds a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from Emerson College in Boston, MA. He is a Member of the Association of Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA) and is a frequent presenter at their conferences. Geoff is also a member of Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI).
Job Titles:
- Senior Strategic Consultant
Jacqueline has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and corporate IT arenas with a strong focus on information security, infrastructure administration, and software design. Jacqueline has extensive expertise in developing and leading complicated information security and networking projects.
Prior to joining Vantage, Jacqueline was the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Senior Infrastructure Administrator at Reed College. Before her role at Reed, Jacqueline worked as a one-person IT department for a small, private middle school and high school, and as a software design engineer with Hewlett-Packard.
Jacqueline is a frequent speaker on information security topics and a former member of the EDUCAUSE Higher Education Information Security Advisory Committee, where she served as the program chair for the 2019 Security Professionals Conference.
Jacqueline graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an MS in computer sciences and received her BA in mathematics from Reed College. In addition to holding information security certificates from the University of Washington, Jacqueline currently holds the CISSP certification and earned the CCNA Switching and Router (2013) and Security (2016) certifications.
Job Titles:
- Associate, Director of Project Management
- Member of Project Management Institute
As the Director of Project Management, Jamie oversees the daily operations and development of our Project Managers. She ensures that each project has the attention, dedication, and organization from Project Managers and the technical expertise from Subject Matter Experts resulting in successful projects. Her experience as a draftsperson, technical understanding as a designer, and expertise as a project manager, forms her holistic approach and understanding of the entirety of the design process and setting accurate expectations of deadlines and budgets. Clients value her explanations of complex systems, advocacy for end-user functionality, and realistic project projections.
As a member of Project Management Institute, Jamie is involved with the Los Angeles and Orange County Chapters. She is also an active Allied Member with AIA Orange County and is part of their Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee. She regularly shares her experience and expertise in project management with staff and as a guest lecturer to students to elevate and mentor others.
As an Assistant Project Manager in our Design and Engineering team, Jenn supports project managers in daily management and logistics of projects. She effectively coordinates with the internal Vantage team, design team, and client stakeholders on project milestones, deliverables, budgets, dependencies, and risks, to ensure successful project outcomes. Her planning and resourcefulness are assets to each project, with the internal team and clients praising her thoughtful project solutions.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design from The Art Institute of California Los Angeles.
Joanna has more than 20 years of experience with a strong focus in law, higher education, information security, and data privacy. Joanna's passion for designing effective, standards-based, and end-user focused organizational information security policy frameworks helps organizations successfully evolve their information security program risk and compliance functions. Joanna is skilled at helping all technology users understand complicated information security and privacy concepts.
A former member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, Joanna is a frequent author and regular speaker on information security and privacy topics. She is also a board member for the Central Indiana chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA); and a member of the International Association for Privacy Professionals (IAPP), the American Bar Association, Section of Science and Technology Law (Information Security Committee), and the Indiana State Bar Association (Written Publications Committee). She has earned the CISSP, CIPT, CDPSE, CRISC, and GSTRT certifications. The third edition of Joanna's textbook, LEGAL ISSUES IN INFORMATION SECURITY, was published in 2020.
Before joining Vantage, Joanna was Director of Cybersecurity and IT Governance, Risk and Compliance programs at EDUCAUSE where she directed programs designed to help improve higher education information security governance, compliance, data protection, and privacy postures. Before her EDUCAUSE experience, Joanna worked in the IT group at Purdue University as the Information Security Policy & Compliance Director. Joanna graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law with honors and practiced law before joining the Purdue staff. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Jon has over 23 years of experience leading and transforming IT organizations. He is platform and cloud agnostic, building teams, systems and networks with a risk-informed approach to security, reliability, disaster recovery and scalability.
Focusing on the higher education and healthcare markets, Jon manages projects in our strategic consulting service and contributes to our firm's thought leadership in:
As an IT Designer, Josh helps clients navigate the complex landscape of IT, offering design solutions and innovation. Pulling on his unique field experience of working with cabling installation, conduit infrastructure, and network refreshes, Josh designs systems that are practical and efficient. He understands the importance of maintenance and sustainability, thinking about system usage, longevity, and monetary upkeep while designing IT systems. Clients and design teams appreciate his collaboration and helpfulness on projects.
Job Titles:
- Senior Marketing Manager
- Marketing Leader at Vantage
As a marketing leader at Vantage, Karen is responsible for developing engaging, client-focused proposals, implementing strategic initiatives, and managing marketing communications and client relationship management efforts. Karen brings nearly 25 years of professional services marketing experience to Vantage and is a long-standing member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), serving roles at the committee and board level.
Karen enjoys spending time with family and friends, engaging in some friendly yet competitive card playing, and honing her skills as a professional calligrapher.
Ken has been providing audio visual consulting, design and project management services in the northeast US for over 30 years. His extensive experience as both an independent consultant and integrating contractor gives him a comprehensive understanding of how design and integration connect. His project experience includes projects for the corporate, public + civic performance, educational & healthcare markets.
Ken's strength lies in his ability to guide clients through the maze of technology, making complex systems easy to understand, rendering designs that are both pragmatic and cost effective. His understanding of the AV contracting industry translates to being a strong client advocate throughout the integration process.
He holds a Master of Electric Engineering and Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Job Titles:
- Senior Consultant, Emeritus
Ken Godachy has over 30 years of experience in IT and AV systems, infrastructure, voice, data, video and networking design. With knowledge that spans wireless, broadband, telecommunications, lasers and optronics, computer services and industrial products, his expertise has been relied on by hundreds of companies for the development of structured cabling-systems, construction and implementation, and maintenance.
Ken's IT expertise has also been invaluable in providing guidance for clients with regard to business operation in the corporate, manufacturing, distribution and industrial realms. His clients value his ability to explain their IT system options according to functionality, stability, and cost in accessible terms. Ken's expertise is uniquely rounded out as a licensed contractor, with capabilities that include structured cabling systems, construction, commissioning and maintenance.
Kim spent nearly 10 years in tech support and as a network administrator before transitioning to technical writing, focusing on security, technology and business. Kim has written numerous articles and blog posts, contributed to books on Windows technologies and applications, storage and IT certification, and developed over 200 eLearning courses. With a background in project management, she has also run large multifunction teams to produce books, online curricula and on-ground training classes.
Since joining Vantage, Kim's experience includes documentation assistance, research and report preparation for higher education projects, as well as writing blog posts and marketing content for the Vantage website.
Kim holds a bachelor of science degree in biology, with a concentration in cell and molecular biology, from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Kirk has over 35 years of experience in higher education IT leadership with a focus on organizational development, strategic planning, governance, project management, employee engagement, administrative and research computing, and information security. He has successfully led IT organizations at public research institutions and a community college. At every step in his career, he has made strategic improvements to align IT operations with institutional priorities while improving services. He has successfully led changes in service delivery, organizational structure, and leadership to meet increased service needs while streamlining operations and budgets.
Prior to joining the Vantage team, Kirk was the Vice President and CIO at Portland State University where he led a nationally recognized IT organization, provided university-wide leadership, and co-chaired a successful Students First effort. His passion to see employees and students thrive drives much of his work.
Kirk is engaged professionally at a national level in organizations like Educause where he provides thought-leadership, teaches leadership development, writes articles, and speaks often about information technology. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Information Systems and a Master of Science in Management Information Systems.
Job Titles:
- Senior Consultant, BIM Manager
- Senior Consultant, BIM Manager / Real Estate
Matthew brings over 12 years of BIM experience to Vantage. In his most recent role, he managed the programming and design information and automation of intricate curtain-wall façades.
Since joining Vantage, Matthew heads the creation of our BIM project templates which has increased the overall consistency and efficiency of the content we provide our clientele. Utilizing his breadth of knowledge in programming and parametric design, Matthew has been key to integrating the workflows and automation of families utilized by our team of BIM engineers.
Originally from Kamloops British Columbia, Canada, Matthew studied Architectural & Engineering Technology at Thompson Rivers University and earned a diploma in Computer-Aided Drafting and Design from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Job Titles:
- Executive Strategic Consultant
Michael's career experience spans more than 25 years in higher education. Prior to joining Vantage, he was the Chief Information Officer at California State University (CSU), where his accomplishments included launching the CSUCCESS digital equity program impacting 40,000 students, creating the first campus services in support of online teaching and learning, and migrating a large central ERP system to public cloud.
Michael has a long and distinguished history of service to the higher education community that includes service on the boards of EDUCAUSE and CENIC. In 2022, he received the EDUCAUSE Leadership Award "for demonstrating vision and foresight in the use of emerging technologies; for developing innovative strategies and solutions in support of teaching, learning, and research; for encouraging and engaging others in a spirit of strengthening the IT profession."
Michael is a member of Vantage's Strategic Planning and Technology Management consulting practice where he contributes to the firm's thought leadership in strategic planning; organizational assessments and development; enterprise resource systems planning; CIO executive advisory services; IT governance design and implementation; and data governance and analytics programs.
Michael holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Pomona College.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Associate Principal and Director of New and Emerging Technologies at Vantage, Shares His
Michael has over 24 years of higher education experience in technology planning, management, and administration. For the past 15 years he has worked as a consultant providing technology and business consulting services to the technology departments of colleges and universities throughout the country.
Michael possesses extensive technical, administrative, and financial knowledge gained in a broad spectrum of senior level line and staff endeavors. His management experience includes direct responsibility for the operation of a full service university telecommunications auxiliary enterprise consisting of over 90 employees and a $14 million operating budget at Yale University and Medical Center. He has successfully held direct management responsibility for projects up to $100 million.
His project development and project management experience ranges from large communications system and infrastructure projects to projects dealing with complex financial analyses, technology and organizational assessments, disaster planning and RFP development. Michael also has extensive experience in the development and negotiation of complex contracts and agreements with a variety of technology vendors, public utilities and municipalities. Michael works in a collaborative style and functions effectively at all levels of administration.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Principal
- Vantage Associate Principal
Michael provides consulting services for a wide variety of project types including higher education, corporate, performing arts, and houses of worship. Areas of expertise include sound and audiovisual systems, television head-end and distribution systems, and structured cabling systems to support data, voice, and multimedia services.
Working closely with each client, he converges his expertise to determine gaps and requirements, and provides subsequent technical and project management services that are comprehensive; capable of guiding his clients from assessment and concept to design and implementation. This holistic skillset and well-rounded experience allows Michael to understand the full operational, financial, procurement, and implementation requirements that are part of any security recommendations, allowing him to weigh the full impact of each option in order to help his clients choose the correct direction.
Michael has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE), a BICSI Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD), and an InfoComm Certified Technology Specialist (CTS).
Vantage Associate Principal Michael Pincus gets a certain twinkle in his eye when he describes…
Job Titles:
- Senior Consultant, Emeritus
Job Titles:
- Director of Strategic Team Operations
Job Titles:
- Senior Strategic Consultant