Employee Spotlight
Michael Bernitt
Deputy Remote Operations Manager, Defense Continuity Integrated Network/Pentagon Continuity Information System (DCIN/PCIS)
Mike Bernitt’s Undisclosed Location
Mike Bernitt is calling from an undisclosed location. And that makes sense, since his job is to ensure that the Pentagon’s administrative and data functions run smoothly. That’s a big deal.
Mike is Deputy Remote Operations Manager for the Defense Continuity Integrated Network/Pentagon Continuity Information System (DCIN/PCIS) project. He runs the Enterprise Systems Management Center (ESMC).
The EMSC provides everything from data storage for tenants at the Pentagon to paychecks and Continuity of Operations (COOP) for war fighters. It’s also the service desk, a 24-hour call center operated to ISO 20000:2005 standards. The ESMC handles issues in the National Capital area.
There are 24 employees on site. To underscore the seriousness of their responsibilities, the facility has sleeping quarters on site to make sure there is coverage all times.
In fact, during a mid-December blizzard in 2009 that shut down much of the Metro Washington, DC region, the overnight shift stayed later to pick up the slack from the day shift that was stranded at home. Fortunately for Mike, he was able to monitor the weekend storm situation from his home.
Mike is relatively new to Catapult. He had been working this contract for Cherry Road Technologies, but Catapult won the contract through the bidding process in 2008, transferring the entire staff to the company, and Mike came along. He started as a Tier 1 employee in 2005, working his way through the ranks to his current position.
Prior to joining Cherry Road, Mike spent five years in the Army Signal Corps. “I joined the Army to learn something new,” he says. When his term was up, he opted to put the skills and technological expertise he learned in the service to use in the private sector.
Since he had been based in the area during his time in the service, he didn’t have to relocate his family from their home in Fayetteville, PA. It’s where the Bernitts all still live, while Mike heads off every day… to an undisclosed location.
