Thomas Hooley

I love technology. I remember getting my first PC in 1997, unboxing, assembling, configuring, and dialing up to the internet. That first time ever connecting to the internet - I was awestruck and invigorated with the realization that I had access to oodles of information, forums, and entertainment at my fingertips. I like understanding how things work. At the time, I was a student at the University of California, Davis, majoring in Psychology. I figure, if you like understanding how things work, a good place to start is with the human brain - understand how understanding happens.

After graduating, I worked with troubled youths at California correctional facilities Sacramento Juvenile Hall, The California Youth Authority (as well as a group home) while studying for my Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE). I began my IT career working help desk at Earthlink and then Hewlett-Packard’s internal IT support help desk. Many deem this as menial work, but providing good support required a massive amount of broad-based knowledge and understanding that gave me a good technical foundation - I am thankful for those days. During this time, I passed examinations and became an MCSE, Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA), CompTIA A+ Certified, and I also became a Cisco Certified Network Associate.

Then I was accepted to the MSc (masters degree program) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in Great Britain. There I daily quenched my thirst for understanding how the things that interested me the most, computers, functioned and worked from the ground level up. What a year that was!

When I returned home, I landed a job at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, first as a Software Test Engineer, where I learned Microsoft’s testing processes, testing the interoperability of Nvidia’s graphic card drivers with Windows, and then as a test automation engineer and test automation software developer, and then as a systems analyst working as a team lead managing a test automation system we built over existing automation called WTT (Windows Testing Technologies).

I loved my years at Microsoft, but when my fiancé at the time was hired by the World Bank in Washington, D.C., I decided to apply for jobs there, and I found one with SAIC contracted to the Department of Homeland Security. That also was an adventure, and wearing a suit and tie to work every day (it’s the East Coast) was quite a contrast from Microsoft.

I am so happy and fortunate to have the resources to use my passion for understanding and love for creativity and teamwork to help launch a service that could assist millions.

I continue to do all I can to live according to an axiom taught to me since childhood…

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” – Ravindranath Tagore.