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Mike Kielar

1:1 Leadership Insight

🧠 ThinkSpace Synthesis Memo

Mike Kielar, Director of Infrastructure (Synoptek) – 1:1 Leadership Insight

Facilitated by Beyond | May 8, 2025 | Duration: In-person 1:1, ~60 minutes

👥 Who Was in the Room?

Mike Kielar oversees CSN’s entire network, voice, and data center infrastructure as part of the Synoptek team. He brings deep technical command of the environment and is spearheading a major infrastructure refresh to modernize switching and wireless coverage across 11 campuses. This session provided an inside view of readiness, constraints, and operational realities that will shape the path forward.

🎯 What We Set Out to Do

This ThinkSpace focused on understanding the current infrastructure landscape, especially the upcoming “network-as-a-service” upgrade effort. The conversation covered scope, timing, resource constraints, and change risks—from maintenance scheduling to vendor dependencies. The session also explored what it will take to execute such a large-scale refresh without overwhelming the current four-person engineering team.

🔍 What We Heard

What’s Working

  • No unplanned outages in five years.

  • The CIO is on board and has been discussing this for over a year.

  • The RFP covers about 800 switches and expanded Wi-Fi.

  • The plan is to phase the rollout, with a preference to pilot it first at a smaller campus.

What’s Not

  • Only two five-hour maintenance windows are available each month.

  • Four engineers support 11 campuses, leaving no margin for additional workload.

  • Even with vendor-managed gear, staff is still needed for patching, cabling, and port configuration.

  • There is no staff dedicated to managing vendors, highlighting a significant skill gap.

  • Wi-Fi remains spotty in some rooms, which is noticeable to users.

🧭 Where We Go From Here

Infrastructure Strategy

The proposed network refresh is urgent and transformative. The RFP is ready and support from IT leadership appears strong, but formal governance approvals and funding confirmation are still pending. A phased rollout is planned, but Mike recommends starting with a campus pilot to test assumptions and de-risk full deployment.

Execution Capacity

The infrastructure team is severely constrained—just four engineers support a large, distributed environment. Even with a vendor-managing back-end functions, CSN will need internal hands on-site for physical tasks. Without additional capacity or phased implementation, this team could be stretched beyond safe limits.

Operational Constraints

With just two five-hour maintenance windows each month, there’s little room for aggressive install timelines. Scheduling flexibility—possibly through expanded windows or low-impact periods—will be essential to meeting project goals without service disruption.

Staffing and Ownership

There is no formal vendor-management capability today, which could create oversight risks during and after rollout. This is not just a capacity issue, but a skills gap that CSN may need to address in order to fully leverage the network-as-a-service model.

🌱 Strategic Opportunities

  • Pilot for Proof, Not Just Phasing: Launch at one small campus first to validate rollout playbooks, tooling, and disruption risk

  • Staff for the Model You’re Buying: Define and staff a vendor-management role early to ensure oversight of contracted services

  • Expand Maintenance Flexibility: Consider adding maintenance windows or using academic breaks to accelerate implementation

  • Map Internal vs. External Labor: Clarify what vendor partners own versus what CSN must still do in-house to avoid gaps or duplications

  • Make the Case Proactively: Use data on Wi-Fi gaps and staff load to socialize the urgency and secure early alignment from governance groups

✅ What Happens Next?

  • This memo will support the infrastructure track within the broader transformation roadmap. Mike’s perspective sets the foundation for surfacing operational trade-offs during ThinkSpaces with faculty and staff. Beyond will help pressure-test the pilot-first approach, facilitate conversations on resource alignment, and ensure that infrastructure upgrades are sequenced to complement—not conflict with—experience and governance initiatives.