IT’s support covers around 50 employees in offices in Burlingame and Sacramento and touches all departments.

“We try to keep the helpdesk culture living and breathing so issues can be addressed in the proper order and in a timely manner,” said AMS Manager Aldo Rivera.

ACSA’s Information Technology Department didn’t exist when Rivera first joined ACSA in 2012 in the Member Services department. There wasn’t a separate IT Department at the time (IT operations fell under the Financial Services department). With company changes, IT was eventually restructured as its own department in 2014 under the direction of Senior Director of Information Technology Tony Baldwin.

The longest-tenured employee in IT, Rivera is now the AMS (Account Management System) Manager for ACSA, ensuring member records are accessible and up to date. In fact, Rivera built the AMS to replace an antiquated system and counts it as one of his proudest accomplishments.

One of the biggest transitions for IT has been moving from on-premises equipment and services to having almost everything — from e-mail to data storage to security — on the cloud. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, IT was instrumental in getting hardware and support to staff so they could work remotely.

“With the use of remote software and cloud services such as Office 365 it’s been easier to support staff as if they were in the office,” Burgess said.

Along with Web Manager Josh Peterson, IT currently runs on a lean team of three members. ACSA’s Board has announced plans to hire more IT staff and to post a position for the IT director role, which has been vacant since Baldwin’s retirement in July 2021.

Keep watching for ACSA at 50 features in EdCal each week and find out how you can help celebrate at acsa.org/acsa50.