Staff Biographies

Beth Morgan:

My interest in computers developed in the early 80s while I was employed as a Security Systems Administrator at AMD, a manufacturer of integrated circuits in Sunnyvale, CA.  I co-founded Internet of the Sandhills with Barb Baxter, who is now retired, in 1996.  Internet of the Sandhills became ConnectNC, Inc. in 2000, as the company expanded to areas outside of Moore County.  We have a presence in Moore, Montgomery, Lee and Chatham Counties in North Carolina, and serve all 50 states as well as several customers abroad.

Education

• BA in Management of Human Resources

• Completed several courses towards a Master of Science in Network Security

• Vendor-specific training courses (Cisco, Lucent, Alvarion, Legato, Intershop, BSDI and others) and SANS training

• eBay Certified Education Specialist. 

Responsibilities

• Customer Service

• Linux system administration and security

• Web development

• New product and service development

Interests

• Swimming

• Walking outdoors

• Internet and system security

• Collie Rescue of the Carolinas volunteer

• Moore County Relay for Life

• International Myeloma Foundation

• Fundraising for a cure for myeloma

• Running a non-profit to help people with health challenges of all kinds

• Blogging: www.myelomablog.com, www.healthblogs.org and weblog.connectnc.com

Monica Zimmerman:

Chief Information Officer for ConnectNC, Inc. Responsible for web development projects, Information Technology consulting and service, internal systems and information infrastructure
 

Education

• Earned Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Management Information Systems) in 1989 from Bowling Green State University. Attended Depauw University for prerequisite courses

• Training and certification includes NASD 6 certification, Oracle, Microsoft Windows System Administration, Project Management

Responsibilities

• Customer Service

• Development of new products and services

• Web development project management

• Programming

• Database management and programming

• Outside sales

• Oversees billing processes

• Windows system administration

• Management of offsite HIPAA compliant backups

• Information Technology consulting and service

• Internal systems and information infrastructure

Interests

• Girl Scout leader

• 2006 Moore County Relay for Life ACS committee

• Involved with neighborhood watch and community group.

• Prior President of neighborhood woman's group.

• Membership Chairperson of Professional Women's Network

• Member of PMI (Project Management Institute).

• Worked in Information Technology for past 20 years. Experience ranges from procedural programming languages such as Cobol, Fortran, Basic, C, to object oriented programming and web. Worked as consultant in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Columbus up until moving to North Carolina in 2001. Experience focused on relational database architecture and data warehousing.

• Worked in capacity of project and personnel manager for past 10 years.
  Proficient with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and most relational databases and associated programming languages.

• Industries serviced while consulting as information technology specialist included Insurance, Finance, Health Care, Retail bookstore, Electric Utilities and more.

Rick Zimmerman:

Has worked for Purex, IVAX and ECOLAB in various positions including laboratory management and corporate buyer managing multi-million dollar accounts, prior to joining ConnectNC, Inc. in 2001.

Education

• BS double major in Chemistry and Business Management from Eastern Michigan University

• Vendor-specific training for Cisco and Alvarion products.

Responsibilities

• Customer Service

• Company Finance

• Connectivity and routing

• Oversees all aspects of DSL service and private line service

Interests

• Enjoys watching his children grow, home improvement projects, golf, beach and those good drinks with the funny umbrellas

Brenda Parsons:

Resident of Montgomery County.

Education

• Montgomery Community College Graduate-Associate Degree in Information System

• Gardner Webb University-Bachelor Degree in Science-Business

Responsibilities

• Customer Service

• Night manager and computer technician at the Troy office

Interests

• Enjoys fishing, boating and camping

Torri Lankford-Vallad:

Married with two children daughter and son. Born and raised in Sanford NC.
Has been working in the Internet Service Industry since 2000. Started with ConnectNC, Inc. September 2002

Education:

• AAS Computer Programming

Responsibilities:

• Customer Service Web Department

• Set up of Domains on Servers

• Web Maintenance

• Customer Support

Interests:

• Spending time with my Family

• Geo Caching

Kevin Gantt:

My interest in computer began when I was in college. The Apple computer lab (where we did most of our work) was in very bad shape due to neglect. I had the chance to help in resolving many of these issues. And found I was good at troubleshooting. I have gone on to learn much more and have worked since 1999 in computer fields. Both as an IT support staff and a System Administrator.

Education:

• AAS Advertising & Graphic Design

Responsibilities:

• Csutomer Service

• DSL Specialist

• System Administrator

• Computer Support

• Advanced Technical Support

Interests:

• Bicycle riding (both road and mountain)

• Canoeing

• Kayaking (both white water and sea kayaking) Hiking, Backpacking, Camping

• SCUBA Diving

Lane Covington:

Education:

Interests:

• Photography

• Metal Engraving

• Pottery

• Astronomy