Pam Klein: The One-Person IT Department Who Just Became a Tech Award Winner
When Pam Klein walked into the Springfield Tech Council Awards, she wasn’t preparing a speech. She took a seat at the very back of the room, quietly convinced that one of the other finalists would take home the Small Team Technology Professional Award. The category allows up to ten people per team. Pam didn’t manage ten people. She didn’t manage five. She didn’t manage one. She was the team. So when her name was called, she had to do the walk nobody expects to make — the “I genuinely did not think I was winning this” walk to the stage. “I was literally shocked,” she said. “I thought I was just there to cheer someone else on.”
A Serious Tech Scene in a City Most People Overlook
Springfield, Missouri, is not the city most people would guess has one of the most active technology communities in the Midwest. But the annual Springfield Tech Council Awards pulls in more than 300 attendees, and even tech reps from Kansas City and St. Louis admit there’s nothing comparable where they are. The city is home to major tech-driven companies like Jack Henry, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and Bass Pro Shops, all headquartered there with large internal IT divisions. Even the Women in Technology group grew so large that its original unicorn logo was retired — not because women in tech stopped being unique, but because there are now too many of them for “rare” to be the point.
Pam isn’t just attending these events. She’s part of the fabric of the community — not as a loud voice, but as the steady one making technology work behind the scenes.
What It Means to Run an Entire Tech Operation Alone
At Ollis/Akers/Arney, Pam does not “oversee” technology. She is the entire technology function. She negotiates software contracts, reviews privacy policies, vets security certifications, renews licenses, maintains relationships with vendors, works with the MSP, supports employees, and manages hardware cycles. She tracks every laptop on a four-year lease schedule. She handles compliance with HIPAA and New York cybersecurity law. She monitors spending because every dollar matters in an ESOP. And if someone can’t log in, she’s usually the one who remotes in and fixes it.
The Project That Proved It
One of Pam’s biggest recent undertakings was migrating benefits clients from Bernie Portal to Employee Navigator. There was no data conversion tool. No migration script. No vendor automation. She had to export data manually, rebuild accounts, re-upload information, and re-enable everything by hand. It took more than a year to complete. The end result was smoother workflows, direct carrier integrations, and a platform that employees and clients actually liked. When it was stable, she handed ownership to the benefits department and moved into a backup role, which is how real IT transition is supposed to work: build, stabilize, delegate, exit.
Planning for the Future — Not the Buzzwords
Ollis/Akers/Arney’s next initiative is developing a secure, internal ChatGPT-style system with a local tech partner. They are not chasing AI for trend points. They’re building something that meets compliance standards, protects data, and won’t turn into a risk nightmare later. Because they sell benefits, HIPAA applies. Because they have even one client in New York, NY cybersecurity law applies. Because the company is employee-owned, every software dollar affects the company's share price. Pam does the unglamorous work most people don’t see: reading the privacy policy before the demo, refusing vendors who aren’t compliant, and shutting down bad ideas before they become expensive mistakes.
“You can’t make systems easier while ignoring security,” she says. “You have to do both.”
Choosing IT on Purpose
Pam didn’t begin her career in a purely technical role. For years, she worked a dual job — part commercial account manager, part technology lead — until a merger made the workload impossible to sustain. She finally walked into leadership and said: This isn’t workable anymore. Their response changed everything. They asked what she actually wanted to do. She didn’t hesitate: “IT.” She gave up the commercial book of business, moved fully into technology, and never looked back. “Every day there’s something I can do to help someone with technology,” she said. “If I can do that, it’s a good day.”
The Truth About Expertise and Imposter Syndrome
Despite the award, Pam is candid about the feeling many people in tech have but rarely admit: “I see people writing scripts, building automations, doing things in Image Right I wish I could do. I have imposter syndrome all the time.” But she also understands something most companies still don’t — one person cannot, and should not, be the expert in everything. That’s why she works closely with an MSP, which gives her access to specialists in security, networking, firewalls, and infrastructure. “One person cannot keep up with every layer of technology,” she said. “That’s why you build relationships instead of pretending you know it all.”
Why Her Win Matters
There are thousands of companies where one person quietly runs the entire technology environment without recognition, without a title that reflects it, and without a team behind them. Pam won an award not because she’s the loudest voice in the room, but because she is the one who makes everything work — securely, responsibly, and without ego. The Small Team Technology Professional Award may allow up to ten people, but this year it went to someone who proved what one person can actually do.
Final Word
“I love helping people through technology,” Pam said. “If I can make someone’s day easier, that’s success to me.”