Melissa Birk, Director of Information Technology & Compliance, is passionate about ensuring her colleagues have the tools and technology needed to do their job. Melissa takes a proactive approach to fulfill the organization’s needs and works hard to stay one step ahead. Within her role, Melissa oversees the company’s business network environment, including systems architecture, support, compliance, and security. She works hand in hand with developers to ensure the security and compliance of our production environments and services. Melissa is inherently good-natured, and when she is not addressing the technological needs of her team, she is always happy to bounce ideas around and think creatively.
Melissa Birk helps impact the quality of education beyond her role at Peregrine Global Services. She serves as an adjunct professor at Gillette College and teaches Network Security and Computer Forensics courses. Melissa enjoys teaching as it is a way for her to impart her valuable knowledge to others and give them the skills to succeed in the information technology field.
Prior to joining Peregrine in 2013, Melissa fulfilled various roles in the field, including working for the U.S. Department of State with a top-secret security clearance, managing all secure information systems, and working closely with the Washington DC office on computer security breaches, violations, and subsequent investigations. Her hard work and dedication is evidenced by her two-time receipt of the Meritorious Honor Award for her sustained outstanding performance.
When Melissa is not supporting her team, she likes to go camping with her husband, two children, and two “spoiled” dogs. Melissa is quite a video game enthusiast and enjoys collecting and playing games of all different eras. Melissa and her husband have a room of their home, adorned with retro video game art and furnished with comfy recliners, dedicated to playing video games as a family. Her flair for the creatives is noticeable in everything she does, including elaborate digital scrapbooks that she designs in Adobe Photoshop.
“Education is a starting point for so many dreams and goals for people. I get to be a small part of that, and that is pretty awesome.”