"I graduated with a degree in accounting, but pretty quickly I saw the advantage of having an IT background, so I took a job with GE where I got significant on-the-job training. They trained me, taught me how to program. I started with a small in-house IBM 1401 computer and took to it right away. After that, I joined the development staff at SUNY Albany. I worked there for 7 or 8 years before deciding to move back into the private sector. That’s when things really took off.

Now I work for an IT consulting firm, staffing and recruiting. I used to do IT support… in fact, I know a lot of the staff that do that because I recruited many of them. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being an IT manager. I got to do a lot of traveling for the company. I had the chance to visit a number of other parts of the country, from coast to coast and everywhere in between. I got to see a lot of beautiful places all across the country, but still maintain home base in Troy. That was enjoyable. Now, I’m not into the travel aspects of it as much as I used to be. I’ve got a family that I enjoy very much — a lovely wife, two daughters, two grandsons. So I’ve moved out of the technical field and more into the Human Resources aspects of it so that I could be closer to home but still get a chance to interact with people."