A Marine and a Tartan: Phil O’Hara is Proud to be Plaid

Phil O'Hara grew up in a small town near Kansas City, but the draw of athletics and a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship, drew him to Carnegie Mellon University and the city of Pittsburgh.

O'Hara, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1998 with a degree in electrical engineering, played football for the Tartans and just loved to compete.

"As a student-athlete I got the chance to continue to compete in college," said O'Hara, who didn't start playing football until high school. "And that was a big deal for me."

That drive, along with the camaraderie which comes with being part of a team, led to O'Hara's success off the field and why he frequently returns to his alma mater.

As a member of the United States Marine Corps, O'Hara reported to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina as a communications and information systems officer in the Second Marine Division following graduation. During his four-year tour, O'Hara helped plan the networks for the division when it would deploy into the field.

"When picking my occupational specialty in the Marine Corps, I decided on communications because it has a tie to engineering," said O'Hara. "At the time, the Marine Corps was teaching radio and phone communications together with data and my first assignment was heavy on the data side."

His work in the Marine Corps built his background in IT, which enabled him to get into technology in the corporate world.

Following his four years at Camp Lejeune, O'Hara moved back to Pittsburgh with his wife and worked for MEDRAD, a company that specialized in power injection systems that were used in medical imaging procedures.

While at MEDRAD, the opportunity to continue his education landed at O'Hara's fingertips and he returned to Carnegie Mellon as a flex-time master's student in the Tepper School of Business.

"Once I was in the corporate environment I really liked the business side of technology," said O'Hara. "I was interested in business but hadn't taken many courses in it. The flex program gave me the opportunity to learn what it takes to run a technology shop in a major corporation while working full time and raising a family. It is still one of my proudest accomplishments."

After eight years at MEDRAD, O'Hara moved on to his current post, where he is the Director of Technology for Saint Kilian's Parish School and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry Twp., Pennsylvania, about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh. O'Hara is responsible for keeping up with the ever-changing technological world and securing devices for all the students from sixth through 12th grades.

"We've provided all our students with an iPad (middle school) or Windows laptop (high school)," said O'Hara. "With that comes the challenge of building a secure network as the students take their devices home at night."

Curriculums are evolving and the way students are given information is changing, from online textbooks to classroom management tools.

"There is a lot to keep up with but that's what makes it fun," continued O'Hara.

When O'Hara can, he returns to Carnegie Mellon to catch a football game or speak at a recruiting luncheon and the pride he felt while competing as a Tartan is evident to those in attendance.

"Recruits are facing the choice of which school they should go to," said O'Hara. "I just want them to know they can't go wrong by choosing CMU. From playing football to being in NROTC, from just going to the university, being in Pittsburgh, the friends I made and what I learned, specifically around the football team, it was such a great experience."