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8 A PUBLIC COMPANIES, FEWER THAN 100 EMPLOYEES Joe Perez Regional Vice President MetroPCS It would be strange to say a recession was well timed for a business. But that may very well be the case for MetroPCS. Launching in March 2008 in Las Vegas, when the first major cracks of an economic downturn were surfacing was fortuitous for the regional wireless carrier, which now has 8 million subscribers nationally, double what it had a few years ago. "It was a wonderful time to come in with our portfolio. No contracts, unlimited service. Forty and sixty dollar plans. … We don't keep you on the hook or restrict you," says Joe Perez, the company's regional vice president who oversaw the Las Vegas market's launch and its growth since then. Perez, who came to the Valley at four years old in 1978, was hired by the company in May 2007 to develop and build the Las Vegas market. Previously, he spent five years with Sprint. Working in an aggressive, fast- paced industry he loves, Perez began in the technology business in 1997, with TSR Wireless, then a large paging carrier, a technology he laughingly admits "evolved rather quickly." The wireless pro caught the technology bug from his father, who did computer software work for AT&T and instilled a "natural curiosity" for evolving technology. Today, what Perez likes most about his job is the clean deal his company offers its clients. "A lot of people scratch their heads and ask 'what's the catch?' MetroPCS just runs so efficiently … we're just a lean and mean organization that's able to offer the rates as low as we do," he says. The ambitious executive recently enjoyed participating in an industry first. In September 2010, Las Vegas became the first market in the world to launch a commercial 4G network, he explains. He attributes the first to MetroPCS's more recently developed network. When the company was building it out in 2007, it needed to plan for growth and evolution, Perez says. The newer equipment was already ready for the upgrade. "Really what you get in Las Vegas is the evolution and the next stage of the wireless platform," he explains. "Las Vegas is a perfect place to do that too. We're in a valley. There are no rolling hills like California. The table was set to launch this here." Perez also acknowledges the balance of providing the latest and greatest technology but at a bargain price. In the future, as the economy recovers, he realizes it's his company's duty to assure customers that there is no reason to leave the low-cost carrier. He admits to being constantly amazed by new technologies, even while pricing seems to get better and better. "Three years ago, I used to say it was hard to impress me. But now with all the new handsets coming out, it reaches a point where every month, I'm impressed," he says. — Brian Sodoma GOVERNMENT Albert "Al" Prendergast IT Director, Chief Information Offi cer Las Vegas-Clark County Library District For the past few years many nonprofit and public entities have been forced to handle increased demand with diminishing resources and funding. The valley's library system is no exception. So it's no surprise that the top technology officer at the 25-location Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has a hand in bringing about numerous operational efficiencies, while saving the entity a little money along the way too. Albert "Al" Prendergast, CIO of the library district, oversees technology at 14 local branches and 11 outlying ones. Prendergast has been with the government agency for just over a decade now, after stints with Clark County School District and the university system as well. The technology pro earned his bachelor's degree in Electronic Systems while in the Air Force. Upon entering the military, Prendergast, who came to America from Jamaica as a youth in 1978, was given a competency test and tested high in technology. "After your test they kind of put you where they want you. This was my top pick, so I got lucky," he says. His military experience furthered his drive for an education. "People who weren't educated were just kind of dismissed in the military. It didn't even matter if you had the knowledge for a specific situation. If you have the education, you were treated differently," he recalls. Since the recession began, Prendergast's team has stayed busy. A recent voice and data convergence saves the system about $40,000 per year. The district has gone paperless in many ways. Employee appraisals are now done online, and with reminders coming regularly to staffers through email, the assessments are rarely late anymore, Prendergast says. An online room reservation system now allows clients to reserve and pay for library rooms through the Internet. He recalls the cumbersome phone work required in the past to reserve a room, and employee cash handling is no longer an issue either. Prendergast also helped to open the district's latest addition, the Windmill Library and Service Center and moved the data and support staff to the site as well. Wi-fi printing and updated PC servers on about 20 percent of the library system also come as a result of his team's efforts. Recently, the district has streamlined incident reporting. In the past, a Word document was used to keep record of incidents with problem patrons. But it was difficult to keep track of them with the old system. Now there is a repository of historical information over an Intranet system and periodic alerts are sent to staff as well. The library has the authority to ban a patron for a year if they have repeated incidents logged. "In the past, unless someone really remembers a past incident, there was no historical trail to follow. Now every time something happens it is updated to a database," he adds. — Brian Sodoma