To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings - I am Andree Jacobson; at the time of writing, the CIO for the New Mexico Consortium (a non-profit in Los Alamos, NM) - but I am transitioning into an Infrastructure Cluster Engineer role for Tesla's autopilot team. I also run a small consulting company that assists local companies with systems design, implementation, and training on computer systems. However, even outside the professional world, I am a long time computer systems and networking administrator. I’ve practically been on any system I could get my hands on since before I started school, started small - but now it’s the very large and complicated systems that motivate me. The point I’m trying to get across here, is that I’m passionate about computers - one of man’s greatest technology creations. I find it fascinating to see how we keep coming up with new uses, how the field of Computer Science is still growing and morphing rapidly, and we’re right here in the middle of it! It shows no sign of slowing down either. I am however also baffled with the lacklustre of education and prestige for the field of Systems Administration, especially at scale. Ever since the early days of computation it seems that people who know how to operate these systems always take a secondary role, yet the world’s whole infrastructures rests in the hands of a handful of very talented individuals who are often ignored. I’m running for the board of LOPSA because I believe in the organization’s mission, and I would be proud the have the opportunity to represent this particular group of people.