“I don’t really leave the job when I go home,” said Kevin Lessard, who joined the NH Bar Association as Network Administrator in March 2005.  “I’m connected at home to the network at the Bar and can check periodically to see that everything is up and running.”

Lessard was speaking in particular of monitoring the servers and other equipment which make up the NHBA computer network.  He sometimes comes in on off hours to do system upgrades and repair work, too, when the network is not being used.  “If a server or workstation malfunctions, whether it’s a software or hardware issue, chances are I can fix it.  If I can’t, then it was designed that way,” he laughs, repeating an old joke among computer technicians.

“I sort of migrated into the computer world—way back before Windows,” he said.  “In college I majored in electronics and became an electronics technician at Lockheed-Sanders in Nashua—but I’d always been fascinated by computers and somehow just naturally found myself in that field.”  Lessard also worked for several years as Network Administrator at Wheelabrator Technologies in Hampton.

The seven servers and a variety of other networking apparatus are ranged along two walls in Lessard’s small office and their humming forms a constant background “music” all day long.  Lessard prints and checks the servers’ back-up tapes every morning, looking for errors in the event logs.  He also monitors all the printers throughout the building.

He’s the trouble–shooter for staff: “If someone can’t access e-mail—or maybe can’t get on the Internet—I am there to help,” he said.  He also configures new computers and helps users get set up—and sometimes trains staff on new programs.  “I just try to make it so everybody can do his or her job.”

Although “out-straight” at present with internal computer network administration, Lessard has had some contact with the membership in an advisory capacity by e-mail.  In the future, the Bar may be able to make Lessard’s expertise available to members to an even greater degree.  

Kevin lives in Auburn, NH with his wife Sheila, Financial Systems Manager at BAE Systems in Nashua; they have two daughters, Madeleine and Cydney, five and seven.  The whole family likes to ski.  Kevin also plays golf and in his spare time likes to read. “I’ve always read myself to sleep at night,” he smiles. “In fact, I’ve just finished the most recent Harry Potter book.”

Kevin also enjoys walking and spends every lunch hour getting to know the streets of Concord. “I walk at least three or four miles everyday, ” he said. He particularly enjoys walking around St. Paul’s School campus.