Every year XPERTECHS hands out a Most Valuable Player award for someone who consistently stood out in their contributions and the impact of their work. In 2025, the award went to Derek. He’s honored by the recognition, but he’s not the type of person who needs an attaboy to put forth his best effort.

Appreciation is not the reason he puts his all into his job. What Derek values over any shout out or recognition is the autonomy to do what he needs to do.

From NOC Analyst to Leading Both NOC and SOC

Derek started at XPERTECHS as a Network Operations Center Analyst. Two years later he was overseeing both the NOC and the SOC. As Centralized Services Lead, Derek guides a team of four in all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps client IT systems running smoothly and securely.

As Derek has grown in his role, so have the functions he oversees. One of his proudest moments has been building out the company’s vulnerability management system — improving documentation, scan scheduling, and client communication to the point where the work that once happened entirely behind the scenes is now visible to clients. On the NOC side, he’s led improvements that sharpen response time and strengthen how internal and external teams communicate.

Leadership Support without Micromanagement

Derek credits much of his success at XPERTECHS to the way the leadership team supports him and then steps back to let him work.

“They give me freedom and trust — trust to make the right call and implement the correct systems,” Derek explained. “Mike and Joe do a good job of allowing me to make decisions and we make sure that we communicate.”

More Communication is a value deeply embedded in XPERTECHS’ culture, and Derek is fully onboard with it. He didn’t just build better communication into the processes he improved — it’s a daily practice. He keeps an open line within his team and across other teams, like the Service Desk, so that everyone benefits from shared information.

“More information is always better,” Derek said. “It’s better to know and not need it than need it and not know because no one communicated with you.”

A Team Member Everyone Counts On

His supervisor, Justin, says Derek’s communication skills are just one of the traits that make him a valuable team member.

“Derek earns the trust of everyone in his orbit every day because of his superhuman work ethic, good communication skills, and his ability to execute just about any technical task,” said Justin. “Time after time, Derek comes through for the team regardless of whether the need is big or small.”

Trust Goes Both Ways

For Derek, the MVP award was a nice gesture, but it’s not what gets him out of bed in the morning.

“I’m not someone that really looks for appreciation,” he said. “Mike and Joe — if they say they’re going to do something, they do it. That accountability from leadership just empowers me to make decisions. Having backing from my leadership team allows me to express myself and build things out the way they need to be built.”

Five years in, what keeps DJ at XPERTECHS has nothing to do with any award. He trusts the people above him to follow through on what they say, and they trust him to do what he needs to do without looking over his shoulder.