Network Systems Specialist
Thomas Whitman

Thomas Whitman first attended Westside Technical Center in 1986 as a dual-enrolled business education student at West Orange High. He would return some 20 years later to take the Network Systems Specialist course to attain the training he needed. While going to school full-time during the day, he worked nights with an IT consulting company, using his skills to solve complex technology problems for well-known corporations.

He later met Fakhree Khan, a senior at West Orange High who attended Westside in the afternoons. While working for the same IT company, they came with a vision of doing "this work for ourselves and putting money in our pockets instead of someone else's." Whitman came up with the name Techknowlogix, and the motto of "making technology logical. "Techknowlogix officially became a corporation in September 2005 and has taken a proactive approach to IT.

"Our goal for 2009 is to achieve the $1 million bottom line, and with the growth of our clientele and requests for our services, we're well on our way to achieving this realistic goal," says Whitman. "Thanks, Westside Technical Center, for providing me another stepping stone in achieving my independence in becoming a successful business owner in the community."