Boyer’s fledging Modern Work practice just got a big boost — Chris Svensson will head up the practice as the Microsoft partner’s Modern Work Enablement Director.
Svensson didn’t always plan to go into the technology industry. In fact, he was initially a pilot for the Swedish Air Force. But when the young man sprouted to 6 feet, 6 inches tall, his flying days came to a halt — Cockpits simply weren’t designed for someone that tall.
Svensson retooled and shifted his focus to IT, working on Microsoft servers in the early 2000s. He co-founded Lutteman Consulting, an independent contractor for Microsoft specializing in deployments.
In 2005, he came to the United States to try to broker a deal on behalf of his company to sell their deployment toolkits.
“We wanted to sell the solution to Dell basically because they were the biggest player for home computers at the time,” he said.
Svensson spent two years living in hotels flying back and forth between Sweden and the U.S. Unfortunately, the IP went away, the deal fell through and his company dissolved.
All was not lost, however. Through his IT work in the U.S., Svensson had met and fallen in love with a girl from Indiana. He stayed in the U.S. and got married, eventually earning his U.S. citizenship.
“It’s an incredibly long process, but that’s all taken care of,” he said.
Focus on Modern Work
On the professional front, Svensson landed a job with a U.S. company working on Microsoft collaboration tools, now collectively referred to as Modern Work. That’s where he’s focused for the last 20 years.
Svensson likes the Modern Work suite because it allows for quick problem solving on the fly and incorporates a wide range of tools.
“There are so many connected systems you kind of slip into the others as well,” he said.
One of his biggest projects as a solution architect involved helping Shell USA, Inc. migrate from Microsoft SharePoint on-premise to online. The 4-year project involved a whopping 150,000 users.
“That was very interesting from a sales perspective too,” he said. “As part of the architecture team we needed to sell it to the other departments (user adoption).”
In his spare time, Svensson serves as a subject matter expert helping to write Microsoft certifications. Since 2006 he has helped write — and therefore holds — more than 150 certifications. “You get all the ones you work on,” he explained.
Boyer reached out to Svensson through LinkedIn. After reading the job description for the new Modern Work Enablement Director position, he was hooked.
“It fit so well with everything that I’ve done and what I enjoy doing,” he said. The interview process and his first week on the job solidified his sense that this was the right move.
He’s already brainstorming ways to help Boyer’s clients get the most out of their investment in the Microsoft ecosystem.
“I like in general helping clients out, making sure that they get the most out of their investment,” Svensson said, adding that many clients overspend on licenses and don’t even know it. “I can help them basically increase their ROI.”
On the home front, Svensson lives in southeast Houston with his wife and two teenage daughters. His parents visit from Sweden when they can, trading in harsh winters for dry heat.
Svensson spends most Friday evenings playing golf with his wife and daughters at what they call the “goat track,” a rundown cheap course near the house.
They also adopt and foster dogs. In all, the Svenssons have adopted 25 senior dogs, giving them a forever home, and fostered more than 100 puppies. At one point they had 17 dogs running around the house. “It gets loud sometimes,” Svensson said.
