Rick Mahn

Rick Mahn

IT Consultant, Writer, Social Media Explorer, New Media Entrepreneur

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Current
  • Columnist at Personal Branding Magazine
  • Windows IT Infrastructure Architect at Avatar Consultants (Sole Proprietorship)
  • Writer, Author, Blogger, Video, NewMedia Entrepreneur at RickMahn.com (Self-employed)
Past
  • Sr. Technologies Analyst at Michael Foods, Inc.
  • Technology Analyst at Hayden & Associates
  • Technology Consultant at Contract (Self-employed)
  • Server Administrator at Hammel, Green & Abrahamson
  • Telecommunications Specialist at Collisys
Education
  • Northwestern Electronics Institute
  • University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Connections
167 connections
Industry
Information Technology and Services
Websites

Rick Mahn’s Summary

With 20 years of professional experience in the Information Technology and Communications industries, Rick has learned the art of Personal Brand through his own career. Now a writer as well as an IT Infrastructure Architect, Rick is bringing New Media concepts to traditional IT consulting. Currently Rick owns his own technology consulting firm, Avatar Consultants, where he works with small and large sized businesses to prepare infrastructure for continuous growth. A self-described technology evangelist, Rick also writes about Personal Branding, Corporate Blogging, and Mobile Lifestyle on a number of websites. Recognized as a thought leader in Personal Branding, Rick has been written about by Fast Company & The Wall Street Journal, and is a regular columnist for Personal Branding Magazine.

Rick Mahn’s Specialties:

Social Media Entrepreneur, Online Community Developer & Evangelist, Personal Branding Specialist, IT Project Management, Windows IT Architecture & Systems Design, Project & Team Leadership, Blog Consulting, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Planning & Execution, Systems & Operations Management, Non Production Environment (Test Lab) Management, Remote Access technologies, Mobile Communication Technologies, Automated Client Provisioning, Systems & Software Rollout Planning & Execution


Rick Mahn’s Experience

  • Columnist

    Personal Branding Magazine

    (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Publishing industry)

    June 2007Present (1 year)

    I cover the "Social Media Exploration" beat for Personal Branding Magazine. Where common and new uses of social media and social networking are explored for use by individuals for personal branding. There are many networks, tools, techniques, and people to learn from and leverage for building a personal brand - I'm there to help the reader find what works best for their brand.

    As such, I explore many new and sometimes unreleased social networking and media tools. Always investigating where it will bring value to both the individual and their network of people who are going to be invited to use it.

  • Windows IT Infrastructure Architect

    Avatar Consultants (Sole Proprietorship)

    (Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

    April 2007Present (1 year 2 months)

    As an independent consultant, I specialize in designing and implementing the infrastructure components required for today’s Information Technology needs. Focusing on business requirements to identify the best solution for an organization regardless of its size, and with attention on the value it brings to the business. With experience in remote access, disaster recovery, business continuity planning, research & development environment management, systems & operations management, and complete end-to-end client side management, I provide proven solutions to these common problems facing every business. Additionally, I supply project management skills, teambuilding, coaching & mentoring, and 18 years of IT experience to bring projects to successful conclusion.

  • Writer, Author, Blogger, Video, NewMedia Entrepreneur

    RickMahn.com (Self-employed)

    (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Writing and Editing industry)

    December 2004Present (3 years 6 months)

    Rick is a 20 year Information Technology professional who has learned the art of Personal Brand through his own career. Now a writer as well as an IT Infrastructure Architect, Rick is bringing New Media ideas to traditional IT consulting. Currently Rick owns his own technology consulting firm, Avatar Consultants, where he works with small to medium sized businesses to prepare infrastructure for continuous growth. A self-described technology evangelist, Rick also writes about Personal Branding, Corporate Blogging, and mobile lifestyle on several websites.

  • Sr. Technologies Analyst

    Michael Foods, Inc.

    (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Food Production industry)

    August 2000April 2007 (6 years 9 months)

    As the Sr. Client Technologies Analyst for Michael Foods (a $1.3bln U.S. food company), I perform visionary IT duties, looking at emerging and future technologies, planning how they would be integrated into the enterprise. In the exercise of this effort I plan and implement technology that requires an understanding of IT from the physical network layer all the way to the customer (end user) expectations of an application and everything in between. I utilize Project Management & Leadership skills to successfully implement these technologies in a progressive team environment that strives for continuous improvement through cross training, coaching and mentoring.

  • Technology Analyst

    Hayden & Associates

    (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

    March 1998July 2000 (2 years 5 months)

    Placed at Michael Foods, Inc. for an initial 3 month contract, my duties where for Novell NetWare administration, and management of their Kohler Mix Specialties facility network in White Bear Lake, MN. As you can tell from the above entries, that initial contract has turned into a nearly decade long commitment to Michael Foods. Additional duties at this time were for client support, onsite network support, implementation of training facilities onsite, and engineering the Novell Directory Services implementation for the entire organization.

  • Technology Consultant

    Contract (Self-employed)

    (Self-Employed; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

    19921997 (5 years)

    As an independent consultant, I provided server administration for Novell and Windows NT, client image creation for Windows 3.x, 95, 98, and NT, worked on directory services implementations (Novell Directory Services). Systems management using ManageWise and Systems Management Server, systems backup, and messaging systems using Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Mail among many projects additional projects. During this time I worked with Professional Computer Services in Eden Prairie, LANWorks, Inc. and Syslan on several contract services.

  • Server Administrator

    Hammel, Green & Abrahamson

    (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Architecture & Planning industry)

    19901992 (2 years)

    Administration of Novell server environment, and Ethernet network. Also, maintained user base consisting of Windows and Macintosh clients.

  • Telecommunications Specialist

    Collisys

    (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)

    19881989 (1 year)

    Install and configure telecommunications and data systems physical infrastructure, including fiber optic, broadband, and UTP.


Additional Information

Rick Mahn’s Websites:

Rick Mahn’s Interests:

Social Media & Networking, Technology, Snowmobiling, Mobile Technology, Camping/Canoeing


Rick Mahn’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • career opportunities
  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
  • expertise requests
  • business deals
  • reference requests
  • getting back in touch

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