CHANGE Will Do You GOOD

The Evolution of IT Through the Eyes of Those Who Ushered it in

Groundskeeping in the summer of 1978 is where Tom Lee began his career with United Church Homes. Then, the first computers were being installed in the White House and the world was five years away from the birth of the Internet. After his groundskeeping stint, Lee worked in maintenance at The Trinity Community at Beavercreek and was later promoted to Director of Environmental Services. Lee was prepared for his career to take him in a different direction until an interest in computers led him into an IT Technician role at the central office where he now supports 24 communities.

Thirty-three years ago, in 1989, Susanne Starner joined the information technology (IT) team at United Church Homes the same year British scientist Tim BernersLee invented the World Wide Web and commercial Internet service providers emerged in the U.S. Today, Starner is the IT Support Services Manager, responsible for supporting IT technicians and the IT Help Desk, in addition to supporting several communities.

Although both Lee and Starner took different paths to their current roles, both have seen and experienced vast changes in information technology inside UCH. Starner said 30 years ago the UCH mainframe system was big, loud, produced a lot of heat and was wildly inefficient compared to the capabilities of today’s mainframes. She said very few employees had computers, as most of the day-to-day business was done on paper.

As technology has evolved, personal computers and laptops have reduced the need for heavy use of paper in the business world. The majority of UCH’s applications are housed on a virtual cloud, not on on-site servers and Starner noted cell phones are more powerful than the mainframe UCH housed more than 30 years ago. “With the invention of wireless and Bluetooth technology, cell phones allow us to have computers at our fingertips,” said Starner.

“I want the best for our residents; they are the reason we are here and I try to keep that top of mind every day.”

— Tom Lee

“This technology has evolved to help us work more efficiently and empower our staff to provide the best possible care to our residents.”

With their roles today a far cry from raking leaves and hot steamy server rooms, both Starner and Lee credit their longevity and passion in information technology to helping people solve problems. Both attribute the company’s core values aligning with the way they were raised to their many years of service. “I try to live each day with these values in mind, so they are intertwined in everything we do,” said Starner.

Both Starner and Lee said they work each day with their focus on the end result — the residents UCH serves.