Mar 2026 – Present
Independent IT Consultant
Baird Systems, Peoria, Illinois
IT help for small businesses and home offices: Microsoft 365 and identity setup, Windows and network troubleshooting, backups, and small automation projects.
Available and open to full-time IT roles
Christopher L. Baird
IT support, systems administration, identity and automation
I'm an IT professional in Peoria, Illinois with 15+ years across end-user support, Windows servers, Active Directory and Entra ID, cloud and virtualization. I'm looking for my next full-time role, and I also help small businesses with their IT.
- 1,000+ userssupported as first point of contact and escalationHR IT Analyst, Caterpillar
- 99.5%availability for Windows servers on VMware and Hyper-VServer Administrator, Caterpillar
- About 40 hoursof manual reporting work eliminated every monthJunior IT Analyst, John Deere
Experience
Most of my enterprise work has been on contract with large manufacturers and a utility.
Oct 2025 – Mar 2026
HR IT Analyst
Caterpillar (contract)
First point of contact and escalation for 1,000+ users. Active Directory, Entra ID, SSO and MFA, Workday and Microsoft 365, with 15–25 onboardings and offboardings a week.
Jan 2025 – Oct 2025
Field Support Representative
HCL (contracting at Caterpillar)
Deskside, break-fix and IMACD support across 500+ Windows and macOS endpoints with 95%+ first-contact resolution; imaging, deployment and Intune.
Apr 2024 – Jan 2025
Freelance IT Projects
Independent
Short engagements for small businesses: workstation and server setup, Microsoft 365 migrations, network fixes and documentation.
Nov 2023 – Apr 2024
IT Specialist
Ameren Illinois (contract)
Supported 300+ users across desktop, server and cloud systems in a utility environment; device provisioning and patching.
Mar 2023 – Nov 2023
MES Operations Analyst
Rivian (contract)
Kept Manufacturing Execution Systems on 100+ plant-floor production stations at 99% uptime; used SQL to trace defects and validate production data.
Jun 2022 – Mar 2023
Server Administrator
Caterpillar (contract)
Windows servers and VMware and Hyper-V virtualization at 99.5% availability; Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure and AWS resources, backups, restore drills and disaster-recovery planning.
Dec 2021 – Jun 2022
Junior IT Analyst
John Deere (contract)
Resolved escalations through ServiceNow at a 90% resolution rate and built a reporting automation that eliminated about 40 hours of manual work a month.
Aug 2021 – Dec 2021
Field Support Technician
Caterpillar (contract)
On-site support, imaging, installation and troubleshooting for hardware, software and peripherals.
May 2018 – Aug 2021
Independent IT Projects
Independent, alongside graduate study
Small-business IT support and projects while completing an M.S. in Information Systems (Illinois State University, 2020).
May 2016 – May 2018
Level 2 Customer Care Advisor
Conduent
Tier 2 escalations in a high-volume 24/7 call center, recognized in the top 1% for customer service.
Fifteen years in the same ground: Caterpillar, John Deere, Ameren.
Skills
Support and endpoints
Windows 10 and 11, macOS, Microsoft Intune, imaging and deployment, hardware diagnostics and repair, ServiceNow, ITIL incident and problem management.
Identity and access
Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, provisioning and deprovisioning, security groups, role-based access.
Servers and cloud
Windows Server, VMware, Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Azure Virtual Desktop, patching, backup and restore, disaster-recovery planning.
Microsoft 365 and automation
Exchange and Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive; Python, PowerShell, SQL, and Excel with macros and VBA.
Education and credentials
Illinois State University
M.S., Information Systems, 2020
B.S., Information Systems, 2013
CompTIA Security+
In progress
Illinois teaching license
Professional Educator License with a CTE Information Technology endorsement (grades 5–12), valid through 2030
IT help for small businesses
Alongside my job search I help small offices in the Peoria area and remotely. Tell me what's going on through the form below.
- Computers, printers and Microsoft 365 set up and fixed
- User accounts, passwords and multi-factor sign-in
- Windows servers, backups and remote access
- Scripts that take repetitive work off your plate
Get in touch
Recruiters and hiring managers: this form reaches me directly, or you can message me on LinkedIn. I share my phone number and email on request.
