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  • Senior Program Manager, NTG (Northern Technologies Group, Inc.)

    Q: How long have you been involved with The Open Group?
    New to the civilian workforce and NTG, I have been involved with The Open Group since November 2013.

    Q. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
    I am a Senior Program Manager and Business Development Coordinator for NTG. I joined NTG in October 2013, after completing a 21-year career in the U.S. Army and retiring in early 2013. Currently, my focus is on supporting NTG's growth in a changing market utilizing my experiences as a career military officer. NTG's goal is to diversify its portfolio and serve both the government and private business sectors to sustain long-term growth.

    Q: Why did your organization become a member and what does your involvement look like? 
    NTG's joined The Open Group based on The Open Group's goal for the development and adoption of a global standard of best business practices for technology providers. With the speed of information technology products and advancement constantly under threat from physical and cyber-attacks, it is imperative that global standards be established, updated, and enforced to ensure that a customer's information technology requirements are met without compromising integrity.

    As a small organization looking at the future, we envision our involvement to be limited at first and will increase as both NTG grows and time goes on. Initially, our objective is to observe and understand the The Open Group, its practices, and how best NTG can provide input for the greater community. The overall objective it to take the global standard of best practices that The Open Group is working on to achieve and apply them to NTG's business practices.

    What forum did your organization join?
    The Open Trusted Technology Forum.

    Q: How has membership in The Open Group benefited you, your organization and the industry at large?
    Currently our involvement is limited due to the size of our company. However, being exposed to The Open Group and its worldwide members will, over time, improve our supply chain management posture and our ability to provide information technology products and services to our customers.

    Q: What contributions do you hope to bring to The Open Group?
    NTG's goal is to utilize the collective experiences of our personnel and provide relevant input to The Open Group through the various engagements that we will participate in. Our philosophy is that in order for a forum such as The Open Group to be successful and develop global standards for all to adhere to, the team that develops these standards must come from small and large organizations alike. Each has experiences that can prove beneficial to the community as a whole.

    Q: Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?
    It is important for organizations to join The Open Group to understand where the Information Technology community is going to achieve global standards and certifications.

    Q: What are your hobbies?
    I enjoy most outdoor activities in all seasons and spending time with my family. Living in the state of Florida provides ample opportunity to get out and explore all year long, although it does limit my ability to play in the snow in the winter months that I was accustomed to growing up in Maine.

    Q: What book are you currently reading?
    I just started reading "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni.

    Q. What social networks do you belong to?
    LinkedIn, Facebook

    Q: Any last thoughts?
    Unless it's fatal, it is no big deal. To succeed in life you must be willing to take risks and accept the consequences that follow.

    About Gerry Shaw

    Gerry Shaw is a Senior Program Manager at Northern Technologies Group, (NTG) Inc., a world-class Information Technology network engineering solutions and services organization specializing in "state of the art" and innovative approaches to optimizing Information Technology infrastructures. Based in Tampa, Florida, NTG is dedicated to providing innovative and advanced Information Technology solutions associated with Data Center Virtualization and Cloud Computing, Network Infrastructure and Security, Unified Communications and Collaboration, Wireless Communications, and Government Solutions to globally dispersed clients in the Government and Private business sectors.

    Prior to joining NTG, Gerry spent over 21 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in March 2013. Gerry served in a variety of leadership and management positions across the United States and throughout the world to include South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, and Afghanistan. He has enjoyed notable success in a broad range of supervising, planning, implementing, analyzing and optimizing communication networks in support of the U.S. Department of Defense. His most recent assignments included five years as a Communications and Information Technology planner and Branch Chief for the J6 Directorate at U.S. Central Command with critical support to international operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and two and a half years as the commanding officer of the U.S. Army's west coast strategic satellite communications facility.

    Gerry holds a Masters in Management from Webster University and a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from Norwich University.