Tell Me About Your Tech Job!

Spencer is an SIU alum who helps customers get the most from their Microsoft 365 services. As a cloud solutions architect, he provides customers proactive guidance, informs them about upcoming changes, demonstrates new and innovative features, and advises them about their current configuration or future deployments. With nearly 10 years working in the Microsoft cloud world, he has

Alan Wieckert has always been a "techie" but didn't find his way officially into an IT role until he attended Rend Lake College and SIU as a non-traditional student. Since graduating from the IST program at SIU in 2014, Alan has worked in a variety of roles in Chicagoland and most recently from his new home base in Southern Illinois. Alan also announces the beginning of a new endea

Ellen Jahn's role is a Business Analyst and Project Manager for SIU’s ERP system (Oracle E-Business Suite) focused on HR and Payroll Processing. She supports the technology that runs many of the business processes for the entire SIU system. As a native of Makanda, Ellen took a non-traditional route to a tech career, obtaining a literature degree and later a telecommunications gra

Taylor Calloni is a proud IST and SIU graduate and lifelong southern Illinois resident. After transferring to SIU from Rend Lake College, Taylor knew a career in technology was the right fit for him and working for campus IT during his schooling and as a full time team member after graduating provided a wealth of experience and helped develop new skills. Today he works for a large

Marquist Johnson is a young technology professional whose career journey originally started at SIU as a marketing major but ultimately switched into the Information Systems Technologies. His professional experiences ranges from companies like Boeing, McDonald’s to non profit organizations in Chicago. For fun, Marquist loves seeing live music and cheering on the Chicago Cubs.

Jori K grew up in the Chicago suburbs and graduated SIU with an IST degree in 2015. After some time working in healthcare IT, Jori joined a large technology distributor where he focused growing his knowledge of Red Hat enterprise products and solutions. As a Field Solutions Architect, Jori helps sales team members answer customer questions and ensure the right solutions are provide

James Jakobsze grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago and started his first job in a tech field as a mobile audio and electronics installer for a local Best Buy. Jim's interest in the field took him to study Electronics Systems Technologies (EST) and earning his degree from SIU in 2003. With 20 years in healthcare technology, and 17 working directly for GE HealthCare, today Jim

Richard has worked in technology for over twenty years. Richard has spent the last 10 years working in Information Technology at SIU in a variety of roles, including datacenter and cloud infrastructure management as well as information security. He has been involved with a number of impactful projects at SIU alone including datacenter rebuilds and physical to virtual migrations, id

Alexander is a Network Support Engineer - a technical interface for customers ranging from all experience levels to engage with on issues/concerns/questions revolving around Meraki products and solutions. He assists customers by wearing the Meraki SME hat with issues ranging from complete network outages to guiding new customers through deployment of Meraki solutions. He loves the

Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Dwyer is the Commander of Air Force ROTC Detachment 205 and the Director of the Department of Aerospace Studies at Southern Illinois University. Known as "Hammer" for her no-nonsense approach to enforcing standards in her classrooms and training environments, Lt Col Dwyer earned an undergraduate degree in Physics. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, she