Biography

Patrick Christian has worked in the telecommunications industry in public and private practice for over 30 years.  In his current role as Director of Networking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Information Technology (DoIT), Pat leads a team of 55 people responsible for network architecture, operations and administration of over 3300 miles of network in 7 states and the 160+ building campus network in support of academic, administrative and research activities. 

Pat chaired a Big10 athletic conference committee to build and operate the Big10 Academic Alliance (BTAA) OmniPoP, a network exchange in downtown Chicago, and was its first operations chair.  He also co-chaired a national higher education committee to redesign a nationwide higher education network (Internet2) peering (network interconnect) service.  In addition, Pat wrote an $8.86 million dollar grant to develop a non-profit, public/private community-based network organization called MUFN that operates over 200 miles of fiber-optic network in the greater Madison metropolitan area. He currently serves as secretary of the organization.

Pat is married with 3 children and currently lives in the Madison area.  He holds an MBA from the University of Wisconsin. His hobbies include golf, soccer coaching, politics and following his children's athletic activities.