Get to know our KTL team! This month, we are catching up with KTL Principal Evan Fitzgerald. Evan leads KTL’s efforts to help clients develop, automate, and improve management and compliance information systems and optimize them to reduce costs and improve performance. He has developed numerous cloud-based applications that KTL uses to deliver compliance efficiency tools to our clients. He is based out of KTL’s Madison, WI headquarters.

Tell us a little bit about your background—what are your areas of expertise?

I earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 1996 and went to work for RMT, an environmental consulting firm, with the plan of being on their process engineering team. I ended up doing mostly construction management, which was not the direction where I saw growth in environmental compliance. When an opportunity with Kestrel Management (now KTL) opened in 1998, I jumped at the chance to make the switch to a firm that viewed environmental compliance from a management and process perspective. That made me employee #1 with the five original owners.

Since then, I’ve done a little bit of everything at KTL—but always with an eye towards technology. That included running our Aerie Technologies business when we created a joint venture to take the dynaQ™ assessment software into the marketplace. It was during that time I first met KTL Principal Joe Tell (formerly of Tellevate LLC) at a trade show focusing on software in environmental management. It was years in the making, but on November 1, 2019, Kestrel Management and Tellevate LLC merged to form KTL.

I now primarily focus on managing the SharePoint/IT side of KTL and have also taken on more business management responsibility as we have transitioned our management team. I have never been as excited and hopeful for the direction of KTL given the staff and clients we have put together.

What types of clients do you work with? What are the biggest issues you see them facing right now?

I work with all types of KTL clients. The biggest issue facing them (from my view of things) is the same thing that’s been facing them for decades—a need to improve processes via the use of technology with little direction and support provided by their internal resources.

People often ask me who our biggest competitor is in the IT sector, and I always say our biggest competitors remain Microsoft Excel and Word. Our clients do not have the time to put to use the tools often already at their disposal, and switching to one of the large platforms is expensive and time-consuming. KTL fills that gap by developing the right level of tool built to our clients’ current operations.

What would you say is a highlight of your job?

The diversity of work and clients that we help at KTL. It’s pretty rare when any two days are the same…and I don’t think after 23 years here that I’ve ever had two weeks the same.

What do you like to do in your free time?

My wife and I have three children that have kept us pretty busy for the past 21 years between theater, sports, and school functions. Our youngest is still in the house and has taken up competitive volleyball, giving us our first taste of the weekend sports tournament grind.

I have been an avid strategy card game and board game player for about 25 years. My big summer trip was attending a massive gaming convention in Indianapolis called GenCon. That’s taken a dip due to COVID. Hopefully, that can get back on track soon. I also participate in an archery and trap shooting league throughout the year.

Read Evan’s full bio.