Thaddeus Howze is a veteran of the Information Technology and Communications industry with over twenty-eight years of experience. His expertise is in re-engineering IT environments using process-oriented management techniques. In English, that means he studies the needs of his clients and configures their offices to optimize the use of information technology in their environment. Technology requires a constant view of the needs of the client and the evolution of technology. Most techs simply don’t care that much. I do.
After attending the Bronx High School of Science, he entered into the military as an Operations Specialist in the US Navy; traveling the world to exotic locales such as Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and many others. During this time he developed a strong sense of duty, cooperation and attention-to-detail. After a brief trip back to New York for bagels, New York style pizza, and a trip to the Museum of Natural History, he returned to California at the end of his two tours of duty.
Thaddeus went to work in corporate America in information technology. Employed first by small copy service organizations, he honed his technology expertise in the graphic art and computer print industries in a trial by fire, pumping out hundreds of design documents, presentations, resumes and newsletters a month. Between fixing the devices and designing the publications, it did not take long for him to be known as the go-to guy for corporate offices needing high quality graphic support. He eventually came to be noticed and eventually hired by a large corporate concern called Providean Bank Corporation. Working there, he trained their artists to use computers in their design work, he developed the company’s wide-area computer networks, managed voice and data networks and brought the design technology that revolutionized their marketing department in-house. At the same time, he became the CEO of his own publishing and IT consulting firms, Mosaic Systems and Have Flash Drive, Will Travel.
In 1996, he noticed a lack of diversity in IT related industries and began volunteering at a small local community college to see where the next generation were getting their IT skills. A few months later he was offered an opportunity to work with that college in developing a program for urban youth to get experience and education directed toward careers in IT. Convinced he could make a difference, he worked tirelessly as a mentor, IT director and a computer science instructor for Laney College until 2003. During that time he worked both as an advocate for youth education as a member of the BDPA and by coordinating an IT mentoring program at the community college. The program included CISCO and Microsoft training and certification.
His success at the community college catapulted him for three years to John F. Kennedy University as the CIO and Vice President of IT. During a time of transition, the university relied on his technical expertise to successfully redevelop their entire IT infrastructure. He ushered in an age of technological development never seen at the University in its forty-year history. The University purchased a new facility in Pleasant Hill and merged its Orinda and Walnut Creek campuses. An entire overhaul of the IT infrastructure was required to connect the remaining three campuses to the new facility in Pleasant Hill. The infrastructure changes included a new metropolitan area network, a campus-wide wireless network, a voice-over-IP phone system, an upgrade to the University database system and the installation of an integrated software portal allowing students for the first time to be able to access their school records remotely and sign up for school online.
In 2006, he continued his IT career as a change agent working with the non-profits and small business sector providing technical development for firms such as Give Something Back, Perpetual Entertainment, The San Francisco Ballet and The Alameda County Bar Association.
Being a natural analyst, he found the Myers-Briggs Type testing to be a strong component of his decision to work in information technology. He took the test right after leaving the military to decide what kinds of work his natural aptitudes would lend themselves to. He found the test to be highly reliable and accurate and it has remained so ever since. If you really want to know him, then read up on the INTJ. He is a highly-intuitive, internally focused, ever-thinking engine capable of rendering clearly well thought out judgments about any topic of which he has knowledge.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator – INTJ [Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging]
