Episode #6
Ep 7 – Infrastructure & Operations: The Backbone, the Backup Plan, and the Heart
Infrastructure and Operations may be the least glamorous corner of IT, but it is also the one everything depends on. It is the wiring, plumbing, cloud, networks, devices, help desk, backup plans, and people that keep the digital world running. When it works, nobody notices. When it fails, everybody does. In this episode, Doug sits down with Michael Cartier, CIO of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, to talk about the invisible work behind reliable technology and the deeply human purpose behind it. Mike shares how losing his brother, James Marcel Cartier, on 9/11 shaped his view of resilience, teamwork, and service, and how his current role feels like a calling where technology meets remembrance. The conversation moves from disaster recovery and cybersecurity to cloud, AI hype, service expectations, and what it really takes to keep people working when systems fail. Mike also brings the geek credentials, from Active Directory ports to a heartfelt defense of Novell NetWare, and somehow compares infrastructure to a dark roller coaster where the operators better know what they’re doing. But at its core, this episode is not about servers. It is about people. It is about the teams who save the day a thousand times without anyone knowing, the leaders who connect their teams to mission through storytelling, and the technologists who keep the lights on so others can do meaningful work. Mike proves you can be a geek to the core and still lead with heart.
