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bencrt@hotmail.com is my current address.
After Irvin, I went to UTEP and graduated in 1994 with a degree in Information Decision Sciences. While at UTEP, I enjoyed being a CO-OP student with the US Customs Service as a Import Specialist. I was grateful for the career guidance, as the Custom's Service taught me that accounting was NOT for me! I also learned a lot about Novell networks at Customs and discovered that making computers work was definitely my passion. Not only was it fun, I could get paid well to do it!
In 1992, I Married Cassandra Hardin (a Washingtonian.) We met through the Freshman Leadership Development program, and how we met is a pretty funny. If you want to know more ping me or ask me at the reunion. We have three children, Rebekah born in 1995, Andrew born in 1998 and Nathan born in 2002.
After graduating from UTEP, I moved onto Security Capital Group (at the west side base of Trans Mountain Dr.) as a network administrator and started migrating my skills from Novell to Windows platforms. In 1997 El Paso Energy made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I started working downtown as a Systems Engineer. One day they asked for volunteers to "know more about an opportunity" in Birmingham. Next thing I know we're moving and 5 weeks later we find ourselves in Alabama! Talk about culture shock ;^}
From Birmingham, El Paso Corporation moved us from to Colorado Springs, and from Colorado Springs to Houston, TX. After the Enron fiasco, El Paso Corporation was never the same so I decided to move on to Microsoft. I had always dreamed of working at the geek capital of the world. Relocating to the Seattle area was also a home coming for my wife Cassandra, as all of her extended family is in the Pacific Northwest.
I worked at Microsoft for 5 years. It was a mind blowing experience. I managed the infrastructure team for adCenter, one of the most aggressively growing and funded groups at Microsoft. To say I learned a lot is the understatement of the century. It was so much fun to be involved in the future of the computer industry.
In May of 2009, Hitachi Data Systems made me an offer I just couldn't refuse. I currently make a living as the Global Technical Account Manager for Hitachi assigned to Microsoft. I now get to be involved in shaping the future of the storage industry, working to help integrate Microsoft technologies into the Hitachi organization, as well as enjoying the lucrative opportunity to sell Hitachi storage to Microsoft. It is a ton of fun!
My hobbies are rather boring, which is exactly what I need for unplugging from a hectic life style. I enjoy camping with the fam in our RV, playing Xbox with the kids, playing softball, being a swim meet stroke and turn judge, as well as coordinating a small group at our church.
