Pat started Portolan Networks with a simple mission: to help businesses navigate technology with confidence.
Pat began working in IT on and off in 1998, moving into it full-time in 2007. Early in his career, he worked as the sole authorized warranty repair technician and workstation imaging engineer for a school district with roughly 40,000 computers. Over four to five years, his standardized deployment images reached more than 60% of the district’s desktops and laptops, while he personally repaired one to two thousand devices annually. He also took part in the district’s condensed summer deployment cycles, helping roll out 8,000 to 12,000 new computers each year within a matter of weeks.
At his second MSP, Pat advanced quickly from Junior to Senior Engineer, working directly with the company’s largest clients and taking on an increasingly broad set of responsibilities: building out RMM monitoring and automation, leading vendor transitions for both internal software and client-facing hardware, developing in-house reporting capabilities, strengthening backup monitoring, and even architecting an in-house backup solution. By the end of his tenure, he was also involved in recruiting and hiring for the team.
In late 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pat was let go — and with few job prospects in a frozen market, he made the decision to start his own company instead. Portolan Networks was born out of that moment.
Over the course of his career, Pat has earned certifications across CompTIA (A+, Network+), Cisco (CCNA), SonicWall, and multiple generations of Microsoft credentials — from early desktop support and enterprise technician certifications through more recent platforms. Many have since lapsed as his focus shifted to building and running Portolan Networks, but they reflect a career built on continuously staying current with the technology his clients depend on. Pat stays connected to the broader MSP community as a member of The Tech Tribe and the National Society of IT Service Providers (NSITSP), engaging with peers across the industry on best practices, emerging threats, and the ongoing professionalization of IT services. He was recently invited to join The Tech Tribe’s inaugural Tribal Council, a partner advisory group shaping the organization’s direction.
Pat’s path to Sarasota began long before his career in IT. His family left communist Poland in 1978, arriving in the United States in 1983, when Pat was a child. He has called Sarasota home since 1986 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen on April 13, 2018. He graduated from Riverview High School in 1998 — the same year he earned a certificate in Computer & Electronics Technology from Sarasota County Technical Institute and took his first steps into IT. College took a few additional attempts over the years, including time at Keiser College and the University of Phoenix, before he ultimately completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems from Ashford University (now the University of Arizona Global Campus).
Outside of Portolan Networks, Pat can usually be found woodworking, hiking, or firing up the smoker for barbecue and homemade sausage. He’s also an avid reader with a particular interest in history — especially World War II and the interwar period in Eastern Europe, a subject with obvious personal resonance given his own family’s history.
