Meet the Consultants
BTU Consultants Owner/Members has over 60 combined years of experience reducing telecommunications and utility costs for companies of all sizes and E-rate Consulting Services for schools and libraries throughout the country.
Lori Thompson, RTPM |
Carol Underriner |
Janice Kloppe, CCNT |
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Donald Dietrich |
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Lori Thompson, RTPM
E-rate Services
Phone: 636-294-7117
Fax: 636-294-2188
E-mail: Lori@BTU-Consultants.com
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Lori is a Member of BTU Consultants, LLC. She hsa over 30 years of experience providing a wide variety of consulting services including E-rate, Requests For Proposals, vendor proposal analysis, project management, telephone system design and evaluation studies, strategic plans, network design, audit and analysis Cost-Reduction Programs, business relocation, and other special projects.
She is a member in good standing of the Society of Communications Technology Consultants International (SCTC) and the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI).
Lori has been the Project Manager on over 25 telecommunications and cabling projects, including installations ranging up to $26M. Lori has earned the Registered Telecommunications Project Management (RTPM) certification from BICSI.
Lori has worked with the E-rate program since its inception in 1998. She has worked with over 100 school districts, schools and libraries to secure E-rate funding. Lori has been involved in all aspects of the E-rate program including selective reviews, audits and appeals. She has provided project management for several cabling installation E-rate funded projects that came in on time and on budget.
Lori has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science with a minor in Accounting from Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Carol Underriner
E-rate Services
Phone: 314-983-0292
Fax: 314-983-0415
E-mail: Carol@BTU-Consultants.com
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Carol provides a wide variety of telecommunication consulting services for clients. Carol’s primary current emphasis is with a federal program called Education Funding (E-Rate). This Schools and Libraries Program permits school districts to request discounts on telecommunications and internet services.Additional services include: Business Relocation, Audit and Analysis Cost-Reduction programs, Feasibility and Needs Analysis Studies, telephone system design and evaluation studies, Requests For Proposals, Analysis and Implementation, network design, special projects and on-going telemanagement programs.
She is a member in good standing of the Society of Communications Technology Consultants International (SCTC).
. Carol has developed materials and has presented at conferences and seminars for the Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) industry. She has also developed materials on the subject of E-rate and has made numerous presentations to school districts on this topic.
Ms. Underriner has completed her coursework towards a Master's Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, with an Undergraduate Degree in Psychology and Business from Butler University.
Recent Projects:
- E-rate consultant for school district with 16 schools and 9,500 students. Carol was instrumental in advising the Technology Department in the methodology to install a Sonet fiber ring for voice, data and video services. This Wide Area Network (WAN) connects the buildings in the school district, using E-rate discount funds. This funding request is now implemented on an annual basis.
- Responsible for an approximate annual E-rate award of $370,000.00 for the Ritenour School District in St. Louis, MO. This included working with a number of technologies including the assistance of transitioning to a Hosted VOIP telecommunications system, an updated fiber Wide Area Network (WAN) system, a Web Hosting service and an Email service to support the students in the district.
- Responsible for an approximate annual E-rate award of $778,000.00 for the Normandy School District in St. Louis, MO. This included working with a number of technologies including the assistance of transitioning to a Hosted VOIP telecommunications system and an updated fiber Wide Area Network (WAN) system. This was a successful project that helped to save the school district money in addition to providing more reliable telecommunications and data network services.
- E-rate Consultant for a charter school district with three campuses in Chicago, IL. Has been instrumental in helping to obtain both Priority One (Telecommunications and Internet services) and Priority Two (Equipment and Maintenance) services and goods. Responsible for an approximate annual E-rate award of $1,042,000.00 to $1,381,000.00. The projects included the implementation and maintenance of Network Switches and Network Wireless Access Points for the Data and Internet services in three buildings and the implementation of a 1 to 1 initiative for all students using new tablets.
Janice Kloppe, CCNT
TEM, UEM and Bill Monitoring/Problem Resolution
Phone: 417-278-3535
Fax: 314-260-6318
E-mail: Janice@BTU-Consultants.com
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Janice provides a wide variety of telecommunication and utility consulting services for clients. These services include: Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) programs, Utility Expense Management (UEM) programs, Long Distance Evaluations and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes, Audit of Physical Network Inventories, Wireless Analysis and Solutions, Ongoing Telemanagement, Implementation of Client-Accepted Recommendations, Coordination of Physical Conversions, Contract Negotiations and Project Supervision through Implementation and Final Acceptance.
Janice has over twenty-five years of experience with clients who span all areas of the marketplace including educational organizations, general business markets, manufacturers, retail, hospitals, tenant dwelling companies, and non-profit organizations. Her past clients range in scope from single-site facilities to multi-location entities with locations that span the globe.
Janice has worked with hundreds of clients saving them millions of dollars per year with an average savings of 35% of their telecommunications spend.
Janice is a member in good standing of the Society of Communications Technology Consultants International (SCTC). She keeps current with the changes in the telecom industry through educational programs, seminars, workshops, white papers and networking. Janice has earned her Certification in Converged Network Technologies (CCNT).
Recent Projects:
- Project Manager, telecommunications expense management for real estate company; 67 sites, on-time, savings in excess of $310,000.
- Consultant and Project Manager for expense reduction project for International manufacturer with multiple sites. Conducted complete evaluation of current environment, analyzed telecommunications bills and contracts, developed, distributed and analyzed RFP and responses, managed implementation of changes, continued to monitor bills for accuracy. Project on time; savings over $2.7million.
- Consultant and Project Manager for client with 60 retail locations. Analyzed bills and contracts, created, distributed and evaluated RFP and responses; managed implementation of recommendations; monitored bills for accuracy. Project on time; savings over $35,800.
- Consultant for expense reduction project for major law firm. Analyzed long distance expenses, created, distributed and evaluated RFP and vendor responses. Project on time; savings over $ 410,000.
Donald Dietrich
E-rate Services
Cell 314-378-1667
Fax 636-692-5958
E-mail: ddietrich@e-rateprofessionals.com
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Mr. Dietrich has over 30 years experience as a consultant in computer systems and networking and has worked with the SLD’s E-rate program since its inception in 1998. He is experienced in defining business requirements, network design, product selection, startup and support for all areas of Local and Wide Area Networks and Telecommunications Services. Don has developed and presented numerous E-rate seminars in three states over the years.
In addition to networking technology for business and higher education clients, Mr. Dietrich is one of the foremost E-rate Consultants in the country, providing oversight and management to K-12 School Districts that participate in the FCC’s technology funding program. Mr. Dietrich has worked with hundreds of applications by Districts in fourteen states to secure over $200 million in technology funding and to manage all areas of the program including Selective Reviews, Audits and Appeals.
Mr. Dietrich has managed over $200 million dollars in successful, auditable and worthwhile SLD funding applications for K-12 schools and libraries. He is experienced in all areas of E-rate processing, has represented a large school district in an extensive SLD audit and has written and received approval of SLD and FCC appeals. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from the University of Missouri.