Matthew B. Parks, Sr.

Director of Information Technology

PACE Center for Girls

Matthew is an IT Professional, Consultant, Blogger, IT Instructor and Presenter. An IT professional since 1995, he has many industry recognized certifications. He works as the Director of Information Technology for PACE Center for Girls, Inc., a nationally recognized state-wide prevention program for adolescent at-risk girls. He oversees PACE's Information Technology for 20 PACE location across Florida and growing. Matthew advises the Executive Leadership Team, local PACE Executive Directors, and PACE staff members and provides cutting edge, safe, and reliable technology services to support our mission - Believing the Empowerment Girls. Matthew has supported varies client software, Operating Systems and hardware for a multitude for clients, ranging from individual customers to small businesses to enterprises. Since coming to PACE, Matthew managed the technology migration of 18 independent phone and information networks into a single unified VoIP/MPLS networking, increasing WAN speeds 10 fold. He led PACE's migration of all data-center, remote servers and all users to modern computer hardware, while migrating to Windows 8, Office 2010 and Server 2012, and building a modern IT department, all in an 8 month period. An in-demand, energetic Technology presenter and has given presentations for conferences such as Tech Mentor Las Vegas 2011 and Tech Mentor Orlando 2013. Matthew can also be found blogging, Straight up Geeksta and via @MatthewBParksSr. Whether Hardware, Software, Networking, Audio/Visual, Home Theater or Telephony, he is both dedicated and evangelistic about his craft in addition to being enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge. In fact, a signature of Matthew’s presentations is his ability to simplify or “Caveman” some of the more complex subjects in IT using simile to the familiar, the everyday and the applicable. Matthew currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida.