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2011 Unsung Heroes – IT Specialist

By: Jane Pribek//November 18, 2011//

2011 Unsung Heroes – IT Specialist

By: Jane Pribek//November 18, 2011//

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IT Specialists Professional of the Year

Joe Bichanich
Knowledge management/process improvement managers, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP

Jason Milligan
Knowledge management/process improvement managers, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP

Last summer, the outlook for Michael Best & Friedrich LLP’s new document management system was bleak.

Consultants who’d been working for several months to implement the iManage system suddenly quit.

Then, the firm’s director of information technology and the individual tapped to administer the system left.

The system, one of the largest technology investments in Michael Best & Friedrich’s history, was without leaders to keep the project moving.

The firm then turned to Joe Bichanich and Jason Milligan, a pair of trainers-turned-process improvement managers.
In June 2010, Bichanich and Milligan took over the project, which firm leaders hoped to have fully functional by summer’s end.

“We were brought in at kind of a late stage in the game,” Milligan said, “and had to make it work, doing a lot of coordination and learning on the fly.”

The process was not easy, as the two dealt with changing needs and discovered areas where customization was needed. But, with Bichanich and Milligan’s guidance, all training was complete and all documents were migrated from the previous system by mid-November 2010.

The firm’s openness to new technology is appreciated, Bichanich said. The mantra “We can do it better” is often heard around the offices, he said.

— Jane Pribek

Honorees

Sheri Ebling
Secretary/IT,
Beck, Chaet, Bamberger & Polsky SC

“Sheri is an outstanding employee. She is a legal assistant to multiple attorneys and also handles all the firm’s IT issues. She is dedicated and hard working. She is extremely responsive when we have issues that occur on her day off. I don’t know what we would do without her.”

Michelle Swiatkowski
office manager, Beck, Chaet, Bamberger & Polsky SC

Rich Raether
IT specialist, Quarles & Brady LLP

“Rich is a quiet, but effective leader. He has built a cohesive, seamless engineering team that efficiently and effectively handles all technology issue throughout the firm. In addition, he manages Quarles & Brady’s two primary data centers, as well as the technology infrastructure located within each of our seven offices. Rich projects a professional image that our attorneys and clients trust and rely upon, resulting in him being called upon for providing expert technological and security advice. Rich truly leads by example.”

Todd Thorson
chief information officer,  Quarles & Brady LLP

Rob Zeitler
Accounting systems administrator, Godfrey & Kahn SC

“Rob is a strong team player and is always willing to help others wherever he can, even if  it doesn’t fit his ‘job description.’ … He juggles many projects and tasks, often reaching out to  a variety of different legal vendors for technical support, only to find his own solution while he patiently waits for their responses. His unique problem-solving ability is what makes Rob a well-respected member of the Information Technology staff and truly an unsung hero at Godfrey & Kahn.”

full staff,
Godfrey & Kahn SC

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