The LMB is delighted to announce Marc North as the new Head of the LMB’s Information Technology (IT) Support department. Marc replaces Paul Hart who had been one of the longest serving members of the LMB.
LMB IT Support implements and manages a vast array of IT equipment for the institute including support for over 1500 desktop, laptop and other portable devices, providing in-house hardware repairs for Apple and Dell equipment, software updates and network installations. The department supports the institute’s video conferencing facilities and assists with seminars in our state-of-the-art lecture theatre. The team work closely with LMB scientific and support staff to make sure they have the IT equipment and support that they need for their role. An increasing challenge to the institute is cybersecurity. The IT department take this very seriously and are constantly working on solutions to battle ever increasing threats.
Marc has over 25 years’ experience of providing technical IT support to academic and admin personnel at the LMB and has extensive knowledge of Apple, Windows and Linux systems. He joined the LMB in 1997 as an IT Support Engineer assisting with repairs and support of the institute’s Mac and Windows desktop systems.
In 2009 Marc was promoted to Senior IT Support Engineer role giving him additional responsibility of implementing and supporting the IT department’s new servers. He later became Deputy Head of the IT department in 2020, taking on line management responsibilities and leading key projects, including virtualising the LMB’s physical servers and implementing a digital calendaring system to allow the LMB to have bookable rooms and equipment as well as personal calendars.
Prior to joining the LMB, Marc worked in IT Engineer roles at Bureau Contracts and M.E. Electronics, following on from his time as a member of Stage Crew at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
Reflecting on his time at the LMB and his recent promotion, Marc commented, “I enjoy turning up every day. The work is very diverse because in the IT department we give everybody the chance to do a bit of everything, you get so much freedom here to learn. This variety of experience enabled me to progress up the ranks here at LMB.
I remember the day I had my interview. It was a very stressful interview, but also good. I was hoping I would be chosen, but you never know. When I was offered the position, I just felt absolutely gobsmacked. I was just so proud and so happy. I just thought, I don’t believe it. It was great!
Since taking on the Head of IT role, one of my first projects was the refurb of the lecture theatre. Anyone I’ve shown around has said “Oh, this is amazing.” And you put a 4k video on the screen and their reaction is just “wow, this is incredible”. So, I’m very touched and proud when people say they’re so amazed by the LMB building.”
Further references
LMB Support Services
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Shalini Arun Prasad: Head of Media Prep and Glasswash
Behind the scenes: Paul Hart and the development of IT at the LMB