In honor of these individuals’ outstanding performance and
dedication to the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications, state
government and the citizens of South Dakota, we gladly recognize them for their
high standards of excellence in their duties.
Dan, Jan and Tanya, we thank you for all you do to improve state
technology services - you all make a difference!
Dan Maxfield has been recognized for his high
standards of excellence in the support and expansion of data center
virtualization.
Almost 2 years ago, Dan was hired into the BIT Data Center Integration
Team. The focus had been on finding someone able to
support BIT’s need for additional people in the area of virtualization and
our VMWare product suite. We were fortunate to have Dan step
forward and we hired him for the position. Dan brought to BIT existing
experience and knowledge of VMware. Since he arrived at BIT, Dan has continued
to build on his past technical accomplishments and has shown himself a willing
team player. Dan recently earned the classification of 2014 vExpert and
was asked to serve on the International VMWare User Group (VMUG) Content
Committee. This is the group that determines the focus of publishing from
the International VMUG group to all its members. His daily efforts, his
excellent presentations to educate others in BIT, and other tasks he takes on
within the team as well as his positive approach to serving our clients have
been the hallmarks of his time with BIT.
What many people outside the Integration team probably don’t
know about Dan is that his experience at his previous job in his home town of
Hill City also allowed him to dabble in other areas of civil service.
Some of those included, participating in the City Commission of Hill City as
well as eventually taking on the responsibility of being elected Mayor!
Outside of work Dan enjoys many activities, much of which he shares with his
family: wife Arlene, and children Kristi and Matt.
So two years into his state career, BIT’s Honorable Mayor
Maxfield is today a valued member of the Integration Team helping BIT keep
moving the State ever further into the new and highly expanding world of
virtualization.
Jan Newman
has been recognized for her high standards of excellence in project management.
While not a face seen daily in the Kneip Building, Jan Newman’s
voice certainly rings familiar across many a conference call and Lync meeting
in BIT. Acting in roles including senior programmer, business
technologies manager, senior analyst, and most recently Technology Engineer;
Jan’s talent contributions have improved BIT and state government for 28
years. While originally based out of Pierre, Jan currently lives and
works from the Siberian-suburb of Watertown. Combining knowledge of
technology and industry trends, an ability to translate technical jargon into plain
English, attention to detail and the persistence to keep herself and others on
schedule, Jan remains a first choice for administering and leading long-term,
high-risk, high-visibility, cross-divisional projects in BIT.
Jan’s current portfolio of work includes the I/T Asset
Management research and evaluation efforts, the South Dakota Broadband
Initiative, and the Dept. of Education’s School Nutrition & Food
programs. Historically she has participated in the I/T Governance
Processes project, Y2K remediation, Continuity of Operations Planning,
Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records, Joint Application Design
(JAD) sessions, telemedicine project, standard establishment, research and one
of the original versions of the BIT newsletter. Her programming
experience includes applications for the Office of the Attorney General,
Department of Revenue and the Unified Judicial System. Prior to state
government, she had experience with the Sperry Univac (most of you are going to
have to use the Google machine to know what that was…), payroll and pensions.
Jan’s dependability, organization, and ability to quickly become well-versed on the wide gamut of technical variances of her cross-discipline task load has been paramount not just to her success in BIT, but to BIT’s success as a whole. Her success proves how far one can go with an Accounting and Economics degree from SDSU. Jan was one of the original BIT teleworkers paving the way for many others to work in office locations outside of Pierre.
Jan’s dependability, organization, and ability to quickly become well-versed on the wide gamut of technical variances of her cross-discipline task load has been paramount not just to her success in BIT, but to BIT’s success as a whole. Her success proves how far one can go with an Accounting and Economics degree from SDSU. Jan was one of the original BIT teleworkers paving the way for many others to work in office locations outside of Pierre.
Outside of the office, Jan enjoys spending time with her
husband George and cooking all of his wild game conquests. Her adult
children Vance, Keith, and Danielle keep her busy though she is convinced that
spoiling her growing basketball team of grandchildren is her new life’s
passion. Finally, she is adapting to the new family hunting dog despite
the early morning responsibilities of walking the beast.
Tanya McDermott has been recognized for her high
standards of excellence as a project lead for BIT.
Tanya is a Software Engineer for the Bureau of Information
and Telecommunications Development Team 4. With over 7 years of service
with the State of South Dakota in this field, she has proven to be a valuable
employee to have on the team.
Recently Tanya has been assigned the project lead on several
projects including the Documentation for Eligibility Modernization System
Replacement and the Ambulatory Payment Classifications (APC) Outpatient Pricing
projects. She excels at working on projects that have multiple
stakeholders. Her clear strength is her ability to relate to clients
in a respectful and empowering way.
In addition, she has a knack for mentoring which is most
likely related to her experience as a teacher at Northeast Community College.
Tanya collaborates well with her co-workers, going out of her way to have
a team approach in working with clients while maintaining accurate focus on her
clients’ goals. She goes “above and beyond” what is asked of
her.
This born and raised Nebraskan has two children Savannah (8)
and Kaiden (4). She volunteers to assist the YMCA with their basketball
and soccer programs. Her exercise of choice is boxing.
She has a bachelor of science from Wayne State College and went on to get her
masters from University of Phoenix in Computer Information Systems with an
emphasis in project management. She also has two years
towards her doctorate.
Again, congratulations and thank you all for your
efforts. BIT looks forward to many more years of these three being
valued members of our team!