MTUG's Board

MPX

Christopher Falk currently serves as Director of IT Operations and Security at MPX in Portland, a statement a billing solutions provider. Prior to that he was nine years with Reliable Networks (a division of OTT Communications), rising to Director of Technical Operations. In these roles, he's been responsible for nationwide services delivery infrastructure, including systems design, implementation, security and management of supporting technical staff. Christopher was also a partner at Reliable Networks (prior to its joining with OTT), and previously owned an IT consulting firm for several years. Chris studied Computer Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and holds a BA from the University of Maine.

Chris has been active with MTUG for many years, and joined the MTUG board in 2014. He currently serves as Board Vice President.

One Bridge Consulting / Johnny's Selected Seeds

Tonia is a currently Director, PMO/BPM at the State of Maine Office of Information Technology. In addition, she is Managing Partner at One Bridge Consulting, a technology consulting firm. Prior to that, she was ERP Implementation Project Manager for Johnny’s Selected Seeds where she was responsible for facilitating business process improvement efforts, organizational change management, and software implementation. Prior to working with Johnny’s Selected Seeds as a Project Manager, Tonia managed their inbound call centers. Additionally, she worked at TD Bank and MBNA managing inbound call centers. Tonia is a currently enrolled at Champlain College pursuing a degree in Cybersecurity.

Tonia joined the MTUG Board in 2015, and currently serves as the Board Secretary.

Consolidated Communications

Austin Brower is a 16 year member of the Maine ISP and Telecom community. He started his career at Points South (a dial-up ISP) providing technical support to end users. He then engineered, deployed, and supported telephone and DSL broadband networks in southern and central Maine for Points South and then Cornerstone Communications. At Cornerstone Communications and Lincolnville Telephone he helped win broadband expansion funding from the ConnectME Authority, build rural broadband networks (including fiber-to-the-home), and he remains involved in broadband expansion policy. At the end of 2014, Austin joined FairPoint Communications -- now Consolidated Communications -- as a Sales Engineer. He is now a Senior Sales Engineer, where he supports Maine's Enterprise accounts -- including banks, health care, and other multi-location businesses -- concentrating in Managed Services, Security, and Carrier Ethernet.

Austin joined the MTUG Board in late 2015 and currently serves as Board Treasurer.

Maine Medical Center

John Foley is Manager of Network Engineering at Maine Medical Center. He has 20 years of IT experience, with 17 years in networking in healthcare. He has managed numerous infrastructure and organizational upgrades and transitions as healthcare organizations in Maine have expanded and merged. John has been part of the MTUG community for many years, and  joined the board in 2011.

Ron O. Brown Consulting

Ron is a professional engineer with more than 45 years of professional experience and over 25 years as an independent IT and telecom consultant. He formerly was with GTE where he conceived, designed, and implemented the world’s first CLEC, and was National Director of Telecommunications Consulting at Coopers & Lybrand. His current practice emphasizes expert work in the areas of IT and telecommunications intellectual property, contracts, and antitrust matters. He also works actively with the University of Maine to develop new computer and telecommunications programs.

Ron has served for more than a decade as an MTUG Board member and is also currently Vice Chair of the IEEE Communications and Computer Societies in Maine and Vice Chair of the IEEE Maine Section.

US Cellular

Mike Begin is a Wireless Solutions Architect with US Cellular, where he serves as the technical and solutions design expert, and leads deployments of new solutions. Prior to that, Mike was a Sales Engineer with FairPoint Communications, and OTT Communications. A twenty-year veteran of Maine's IT community, Mike graduated from the University of Maine with an Associates in CIS and a Bachelors in Business Administration, and is pursuing an MBA at Husson University. Mike is a long-standing participant in the MTUG community.

Systems Engineering

Joe joined the MTUG Board in 2014.

Joe Bourgault is the Business Development Manager at Systems Engineering. Prior to that, he was a Strategic Account Manager for OTT Communications and a Senior Account Manager for FairPoint Communications. Joe has worked in the IT industry for over a decade.

Bowdoin College

Currently Vice President of Enterprise Systems and Project Management, Abbie has worked at Bowdoin College since 2008. She is responsible for Bowdoin’s portfolio of applications, databases, and management of large-scale software implementations across the campus. She also is President of Brown Consulting Group, a business and IT consulting firm, providing services in strategy, project management, and IT implementation planning. Prior to Bowdoin, Abbie worked at UNUM for 10 years in various business and IT positions, including as CIO for UNUM America. She has a BA from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Southern Maine.

Abbie Brown joined the MTUG Board in 2015.

FirstLight Fiber

James Harder is a Senior Account Manager with FirstLight Fiber. He joined the MTUG Board in August 2018.

Stonewall Kitchen

Mark is the Network Security Engineer at Stonewall Kitchen. He is responsible for managing the network infrastructure and day to day operation of the Stonewall Kitchen networks.

Mark has participated in MTUG events for the last ten years, 6 from a vendor perspective while with Lincolnville Telephone, 2 as a consultant with The NorthCross Group and the last 2 as an end user with Stonewall Kitchen.

Mark joined the MTUG board in 2015, and is very much looking forward to contributing to the continued success of the MTUG organization.

Arkatechture

Jamie Jackson is CEO and Founder of Arkatechture. He joined the MTUG Board in August 2018.

L.L. Bean

Kristen currently serves as Director of Enterprise Information Management at L.L. Bean, where she has began as a programmer/analyst nearly 20 years ago, and rising as a project manager, team lead, information services manager and senior manager before her current directorship. Kristen joined the MTUG board in 2017 and serves on the Conference Committee.

Winxnet

Eugene is Vice President of Security at Winxnet. A long-time participant and supporter, Eugene joined the MTUG board in late 2016.

Vantage Point Recruiting

Uli Stewart is a Technology Recruiter with Vantage Point Consulting where she specializes in building high performance teams in engineering, IT and upper level management workspace. She brings over two decades of experience in telecommunications and IT, having served analyst roles at Central Maine Power, WellPoint/Anthem, and Idexx Laboratories, and account management at Systems Engineering. Uli holds BA from the University of Connecticut, and has been active with MTUG for much of her twenty-year career.

WEX Inc.

Al is currently Communications Manager at WEX Inc in South Portland starting in 2017. Prior to that he was Manager of Enterprise Network and IT Communications for ON Semiconductor (formerly Fairchild Semiconductor) for over a decade. There he was responsible for worldwide telecommunication and data networking needs, and managed the WAN, LAN (wired and wireless), ISPs, VPN and remote access, PBXs, mobile devices, audio and web conferencing, email systems, security equipment, and the global help desk. Prior to ON Semi/Fairchild, Alan worked at AT&T for 17 years in New Jersey and Maine as a Systems Engineer and Global Account Representative. Alan has a BS degree from the University of Connecticut and a MS degree from the NYU School of Business.

Al has served as a member of the MTUG Board since 2006 and retired from the MTUG Board President position in June 2018.

NetWorks Consulting

Curt Sweet runs his own independent telecommunications consulting firm, NetWorks Consulting. Curt has worked for clients in the for-profit and non-profit sectors including the State of Maine, the University of Maine, Northeastern University, LL Bean, Camden National Bank, and the United Way. His expertise encompasses wired and wireless infrastructure, carrier services and contracts, and IP telephony and unified communications.

Curt has had had a thirty year career in the telecommunications industry, working for Key Bank of Maine and the University of Southern Maine prior to founding NetWorks Consulting in 1988.

Curt is also active in state telecom regulatory affairs, participating in Maine Public Utilities Commission proceedings and appearing before the state legislature and telecommunications industry forums.

Curt founded MTUG in 1987, collaborating with a team of telecommunications end users in Maine, and has been involved as an MTUG Board member and/or participant ever since. Curt retired from the MTUG board after 29 years of service in 2016.

Gorham Savings Bank

Kevin is the Vice President for Information Technology at Gorham Savings Bank.

Kevin has served on the MTUG Board since 2006 and is a previous Board President and Treasurer. Kevin retired from the MTUG Board in 2018.

New England Communications

Linda is the Director of Operations at New England Communications, an Avaya Channel Partner located in Portland. She and her team are focused on delivering integrated telecommunications system solutions to the Northern New England Business Community along with cost effective support options. Her current responsibilities include Sales, Service and Back-Office Operations.

Linda Ollen has worked in the telecommunications industry for more than 30 years, the last 26 in Maine. Linda began her career with New England Telephone and ventured through the various changes in the industry with AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Avaya primarily on the systems side of the business. Linda has had management responsibilities in Sales, Technical Support, Operations, and Finance.

Linda has served as a member of the MTUG Board of Directors since 2004, and is currently the MTUG Board Vice President.