Crew

The most important network
is the human one.

A company is only as good as the people who work there. And in Donetʼs case, those people are simply exceptional. Bright. Inventive. Rock-solid. Oh, and obsessively committed to solving our clientʼs problems.

David Mezera, President and Founder

David Mezera is—and always has been—completely obsessed with technology and what it can achieve.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University (1986), and a Master’s of Science in Computer Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology (1993). Before starting Donet with Leigh Sandy in 1995, David was an active duty officer in the United States Air Force.

All in all, David has over 30 years education and experience programming and building computer and networked systems. And his technical interests are very diverse, including Unix system administration, CSS wizardry, web site development with the WordPress content management system, and Open Source telephony.  After nearly 20 years of Unix tinkering, he is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Emacs is better than vi on a working system, but knows enough vi commands to resurrect a dead one.

At Donet, David focuses on improving the company’s overall performance and helping foster personal and organizational growth. In his spare time, he helps local area Catholic churches and organizations develop their web sites to achieve their online communication goals.

Raleigh Sandy III, Vice President, Founder

Leigh is smart. Really smart. Okay, scary smart.

Before co-founding Donet in 1995, he served as a Captain in the United States Air Force. One of his key projects was writing software to collect wisdom into a knowledge base for military acquisition programs.

He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he graduated with honors. But why stop there? Leigh continually expands his education in networking and has earned his Cisco Certified Network Administrator credentials.

In the Donet world, Leigh leads our sales and networking departments in building stronger relationships with our clients, our community, and all points in the Donet network. Outside, he is an active member of the Technology First Board of Trustees.

James Keating, Director of Systems Administration

Since 2003, James has helped Dayton maximize the Internet. In 2005, he joined Donet’s team as a Linux Systems Administrator. A few years later, he was promoted to Director of Systems Administration. Today, with James at the helm, his team consistently and effectively delivers Donet’s advanced products and services to customers throughout the region.

James has a true passion for Systems Administration. (It may sound odd to others but, at Donet, we completely understand.) In fact, he’s a charter member of LOPSA (the League of Professional System Administrators). His technical focus is Linux, VMware, and programming (Python, Perl, etc.). He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems from Wright State’s College of Business.

You may have seen James at a technical conference as he is a frequent presenter at events like A Taste of IT and Ohio LinuxFest. When he isn’t spouting off technical jargon or making sure Donet’s systems run like clockwork, James is on the court. His other passion is basketball and he is a volunteer basketball coach at Carroll High School, his “alma mater”.

Mike Miller, Director of Finance

Mike has over 15 years of experience working in accounting and finance. At one point or another, he has performed just about every task in the accounting cycle. He has processed payables, receivables, and payroll. He has evaluated labor and overhead rates and valued inventories. He has prepared financial statements and consolidations and managed reviews and audits. He participated in two MRP/ERP conversions, an ISO implementation, and a SOX conversion.

At Donet, Mike is responsible for the accounting and human resources functions. He ensures the financial statements are accurately prepared. He handles all the cost accounting, payables, and insurance issues. In addition to processing the payroll, he manages all the employee benefit plans.

Mike graduated with honors from Wittenberg University in Springfield with a degree in business administration. He is currently working on an MBA at Wright State University.

In his spare time, Mike volunteers as his church’s accountant. He enjoys fishing, hunting and traveling.

Shawn Harding, Senior Account Manager

For Shawn, sales and technology are like peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk, hamburgers and French fries. Unable to resist this perfect combo, he entered the Technology Sales world in 1997 and became completely hooked on the ever-changing world of IT.

As a Senior Account Manager, Shawn assists prospects and customers with their technology needs. And he’s really good at it. In fact, over the years, he’s won various sales awards and achievements. He’s also been certified with Cisco and VMWare as a sales professional.

Shawn graduated in 1994 from Central State University with a degree in Marketing and two National Championship Football rings (‘90 & ‘92). He loves spending time with his wife and three kids, and has a passion for working with young people in general and coaching football in particular.

Timothy Sanderson, Network Architect

Tim started out in IT in 1997 with an interest in client/server technologies. During that period he achieved MCSE certification in Windows NT4, 2000, and 2003 thinking Windows Server was ‘The Shizzle’. As an elective to one of those certification programs he chose to take a Cisco CCNA course thinking it would make him well rounded. It did more than that, it totally changed his career. Tim was hooked on infrastructure! Ever since then Tim has been a router monkey, busily pounding away at his keyboard in device command line interfaces, shoulder deep in network infrastructure and WAN technologies. Having left the server world behind Tim’s motto now is, “layer 4 and up is for end-users.”

Tim has an Associate degree from Edison Community College in Systems Engineering, a Baccalaureate from Franklin University in Management Information Sciences, and a Masters degree from Capitol College in Network Security.

Brian Hecht, Sales Support

Brian is a brand new addition to Donet’s sales team. Brian has done all types of work, but technology has always been his passion. Although studying network engineering at Sinclair Community College, he is pretty certain the internet is just a fad. In Brian’s free time, he enjoys volunteering at local Catholic parishes, mainly frying fish for fundraisers during the Lenten season. Brian is also an avid musician, claiming to be a mix between John Lennon and Kelly Clarkson.

Jennifer Hicks, Accounts Receivable Specialist

Jennifer Hicks is the most effective account receivable specialist since the invention of the Internet. As part of the Donet team for the last seven years, Jennifer understands your account and our business like it’s her job. Prior to Donet, Jennifer worked as a legal assistant for a patent attorney, accounts payable/receivable specialist for an international manufacturing firm, and as a village treasurer. On her down time, Jennifer manages three children, a Rottweiler, and an absent-minded husband.  

Alek Mezera, Linux Systems Adminstrator

Alek has been a voice of reason at Donet’s Help Desk, After Hours Support, and Systems Support Departments. In 2009, he moved to his current role as a Linux Systems Administrator, magnifying his capabilities by becoming a VMware Sales Professional and a VMware Certified Professional. Alek has sharpened his systems administration tools while programming with BASH and Perl, but has only whet his appetite for knowledge.

A business student at Wright State University, Alek is pursing a degree in Management Information Systems and is furthering his professional education by obtaining his Linux Professional Institute certifications.

The self-appointed systems administration DJ, Alek thoroughly enjoys both the company and expertise of his colleagues at Donet. His fellow administrators don’t mind him either, as his razor-sharp wit and dashing style are sure to enhance the group’s presence when out to lunch. Recently married, Alek lives with his wife in Dayton and enjoys outdoor activities when he can tear himself away from a console, textbook, or Reddit.

Eric Westfall, Senior Windows Systems Administrator

As an IT professional with over eight years of experience and the self-appointed president of the Microsoft fan club, Eric focuses on the design, implementation and management of scalable and highly-available Windows based infrastructures and services for Donet and its customers.

Eric has an Information Security Technical Degree from the UVJVS/Ohio College TechPrep program, completed the Cisco Networking Academy CCNA program, and is a Microsoft Certified IT Professional.

Eric is no stranger to the wonderful world of Windows. Prior to joining Donet, he held positions as a Senior Windows Systems Administrator managing a complex global Windows infrastructure of more than 700 servers with a focus on directory services and security, and as an Assistant Supervisor/Systems Analyst on a Windows Systems Engineering team supervising staff and daily operations, developing scripts to automate operating system and Oracle database management tasks and developing native applications in C and C++ to perform real-time capacity monitoring and scaling operations for a clustered Windows application infrastructure.

Eric Wright, Windows Systems Administrator

Eric graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and a minor in Computer Science. It seems the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, as his father possesses the same credentials.

Eric grew up with technology and has always considered it a hobby. So it’s no surprise that he found a career that dovetails perfectly with his personal interests and his quest to learn more. Eric became both a VMware Certified Professional in 2009 and Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional in 2010. He’s also continuing his education by pursuing a MBA from Wright State University.
 
Eric enjoys working with and learning from his fellow DoPeople and looks to many as mentors. He is the ranking Donet powdered donut-eating co-champion and received the coveted 2010 Daryl Hall and John Oates Technical Prowess Award of Excellence. In his spare time he coaches football and wrestling at Tri-County North High School in Lewisburg, Ohio.

Jonathon Mezera, Systems Technician

As Donet’s resident Hosting Therapist since 2005, Jonathon has solved a wide range of problems encountered by customers; quickly and efficiently suggesting and deploying solutions, and providing excellent technical and personal advice.

Although he is credited with inventing the Internet shortly after he invented time, Jonathon’s real gift is in finding innovative, effective solutions. If you’re experiencing any issue, Jonathon will take that problem, punch it in the face, and drop a knowledge bomb on it. Seriously.

Mike Baron, Network Technician

Mike joined the Donet team as a part time intern in 2007 and his power level has been increasing ever since.

As a young child Mike took great interest in nature and Mathematics, eventually putting together his various observations and essentially inventing what is today known as Physics (citation needed). Some arbitrary time later he began channel warring and battling the endless armies of the Zerg alongside Jim Raynor in the ethereal realms of battle.net.  Fast forward to the college years, and we find Mike working at the University of Dayton help desk putting his meager powers to use in the service of others.  Now we come full circle to January 2007 where Mike returns to Dayton putting old adventures behind only to find himself in the biggest pickle any of them had ever seen.

Aaron Shultz, Network Technician

Aaron Shultz has been solving the world’s, or at least Dayton’s, Internet problems since May of 2010. From his previous seat at Donet’s help desk, Aaron reached out to clients throughout the region, offering assistance in everything from Internet access to web hosting to email solutions. Now, as a network technician, Aaron is responsible for taking care of our DSL customers and being the first line of support for our access services. He is committed to using his years of support experience for the greater good, and so, provides Donet’s customers with superior service.
 
When he’s not helping customers solve their technical problems, Aaron can usually be found taking classes at Sinclair, working with (breaking) Linux or FreeBSD systems in a command line trance, or in a gaming-induced coma. He has also thoroughly decided that Picard is better than Kirk, and there is no Star Wars episode 1, 2, or 3.

Kristen Larrimore, Help Desk

Kristen is Donet’s newest genius (in-training). She is here to be the first line of support for all customers and assist with troubleshooting any issues that arise. Kristen is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and has had many years’ experience helping others solve their computer and internet related issues.

When she is not working or doing school work Kristen is managing a household complete with a husband (who does not understand her fascination with technology), two small children and a large puppy who tends to eat everything.