UNAMSIL: The Player Roster

Jason Mayordomo
Chief of Information Technology for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO); Communications and Information Technology Director for Mission to Sierra Leone
Mayordomo—a Filipino originally educated as a mining engineer—and his UNAMSIL team oversee the purchase, deployment and maintenance of all computer and communications equipment used by peacekeepers in Sierra Leone. He’s also assisting the technology setup that will support the U.N.’s mission in neighboring Liberia.

John McKenzie
U.N. Field Service Officer and Interim Communications Manager
McKenzie, who makes his home in Tasmania on the rare occasions when he’s not in the field, supervises radio and satellite operations for UNAMSIL. He also serves as Mayordomo’s backup, and oversaw both computers and communications when the information-technology chief recently took a vacation.

Erzen Ilijazi
Networking Supervisor
Recruited to the U.N. in Kosovo, Ilijazi was a key member of the rapid- deployment team that set up the technology supporting the new U.N. mission to Liberia. He also helped install servers and routers in a pair of vans that now serve the U.N. missions in West Africa as mobile data-and-communications hubs.

Aleksandar Ljamic
Systems Supervisor
Another recruit from Kosovo, Ljamic flew to Liberia in early November to correct problems with a finance system that had been installed there as part of the U.N.’s rapid deployment into the war-torn country.

Ambrose Majongwe
Communications Specialist
A Zimbabwe native instrumental in bringing voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications to the command post in Koidu, in the Eastern Sector of the Sierra Leone mission.

Sivabalan Karuppiah
ontractor, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd.
This network technician from southern India has been called on to sort out problems with Cisco Aironet wireless-networking equipment at the U.N.’s base in Koidu.

Lt. Col. Sohail Hamid
Commanding Officer, Pakistan Signal Battalion, Pakistan Contingent III
Hamid is in charge of communications support at the base in Koidu. While he’s trying to make his unit more self-sufficient, he still needs a lot of support from the U.N. and is pushing Mayordomo and his team to deliver better service.

Rudy Sanchez
Chief of Communications and Information Technology for the DPKO
Mayordomo’s superior in New York. A logistician who oversees information technology, communications and application development, Sanchez approved the plan to use the Sierra Leone mission to stage a technology deployment to Liberia, even before the Liberia mission was officially approved.

Rolf Sjoberg
DPKO Communications Officer
Sjoberg is Mayordomo’s counterpart in the “comms” branch of the global communications and information-technology organization. From the U.N. Logistics Base in Brindisi, Italy, he controls a worldwide satellite network, as well as radio and phone communications.

David Andemicael
Global Account Manager, Cisco
Andemicael has worked to help Mayordomo establish a direct relationship with the network-equipment manufacturer and is helping DPKO get better access to Cisco training and support for its requirements.