executive team

Brian Sutherland, President

Michael Lane, Director of Business Solutions

Frank Panikulam, Consulting Chief Information Officer

Mark Snyder, Director of Technology Solutions

Stu Heiss, Senior Network and Hosted Services Engineer

Brian Sutherland
President

When Brian founded Highland Solutions in 1998, he set out to do what few IT companies had (and few do today): to make enterprise quality IT solutions understandable, accessible and affordable to small- and medium-sized businesses. Today, he leads the Highland team with those same objectives in mind.

Brian has served as a quality assurance engineer for Raytheon Co., business development staff engineer for Impell Corporation, section manager and principal for Gensys Corporation, manager and principal of United Energy Services Corp., and vice president and principal of Decision Design Corp. Brian has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Cal Poly and has completed additional graduate coursework at the University of California at Berkeley.

Michael Lane
Director of Business Solutions

As IT systems architecture specialist, Michael is responsible for planning, developing and deploying advanced, high-performance business automation solutions. He has over 25 years of experience providing professional consulting and systems development and integration to a variety of industries.

During his career, Michael has served as senior project engineer for Sargent & Lundy Engineers and Fluor-Danial, Inc., senior engineer for United Energy Services Corporation, vice president and principal of Decision Design Corporation, and systems architect for Daugherty Systems. Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.

Frank Panikulam
Consulting Chief Information Officer

As chief information officer, Frank specializes in IT leadership, process engineering, and change and technology management.

Over the years, Frank has worked as an assistant product manager for Mellon Bank, senior financial analyst for Bridgestone/Firestone Tire Company, internal IT consultant for Zenith Data Systems, systems integration and development manager for May & Speh, various directorships for McDonald’s Corporation and independent consultant for Cosi, Inc. Frank received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s in business administration in finance from the University of Pittsburgh.

Mark Snyder
Director of Technology Solutions

With over 19 years of experience in IT consulting, engineering and forensics, Mark provides strategic technology consulting, advanced enterprise IT deployments and forensic investigations.

Mark’s work experience includes being a corporate LAN administrator for AAA Chicago Motor Club, project manager for JPMorgan CHASE and vice president for JPMorgan CHASE. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Spring Arbor University, a master’s degree in computer science from DePaul University, and certifications in MCSE 2003, RHCE, MCNE, A+ and Network+.

Stu Heiss
Senior Network and Hosted Services Engineer

With over 25 years of professional consulting experience, Stu specializes in planning, developing and deploying advanced, high-performance Web-based business automation solutions. Stu is a recognized expert in Unix and Linux and has worked comprehensively with numerous systems software and programs.