Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said Schirling’s appointment was part of an effort to reboot the two-year-old BTV Ignite initiative: Officials also announced that a board of directors has been appointed, and that the organization was filing for nonprofit status.
“This creates the footing for BTV Ignite to take off,” Weinberger said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference outside the Burlington Electric headquarters. “Burlington has the building blocks to be a great tech city. The simple idea was if we got people from throughout the city together, we would accelerate its arrival.”
Schirling, a Burlington native, started work last week. He is the first full-time employee of BTV Ignite, a group focused on bolstering educational opportunities in technology and helping Burlington’s established tech companies and startups grow.
“What we’re envisioning is everything from getting elementary students, all the way through high school, engaged more in [science, technology, engineering and math] and thinking about tech jobs, to making enhancements to the college and university curriculums so that Dealer.com, MyWebGrocer and Social Sentinel can find local talent,” Schirling said in an interview.
Launched in 2013, BTV Ignite is a joint initiative of the national nonprofit group US Ignite and the city of Burlington to leverage Burlington Telecom’s fiber-optic network — which boasts speeds up 100 times faster than the national average.
BTV Ignite has relied on volunteers since its inception. Several partners, including the City of Burlington, the University of Vermont, UVM Medical Center, the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, Burlington Telecom, Bluewater and Champlain College all contributed $25,000 to fund the executive director position and enable BTV Ignite to offer future programs.
BTV Ignite plans to host a conference in October featuring tech experts from Ignite initiatives across the country.
Schirling’s is a one-year position, and the board will have an option to renew for a second year, Schirling said. He will make roughly $120,000, officials said.
His is not a typical career turn for a law enforcement officer. But Schirling, who started with the Burlington Police Department in 1992, has always been known as something of a tech geek. He was heavily involved in the inception of that state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and designed a records management system for the department after becoming frustrated with the available options. The system he created is now used by dozens of other law enforcement agencies in Vermont.
“I’ve had a passion for technology for a long time,” Schirling said in an interview. “It’s always fun to be standing at the intersection of technology and operations, and that’s where the opportunity for BTV Ignite is. It’s a good fit. The goal was to continue to serve the community in a different way.”
Schirling doesn’t currently have an office, though he said several of the funders have offered him space. He plans to be on the road most of the time, he said.
BTV Ignite’s first board of directors will include Burlington Electric Department general manager Neale Lunderville, Burlington Telecom interim general manager Stephen Barraclough, UVM vice president for research Dan Harvey, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce president Tom Torti and others.
Schirling was scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon at a roundtable discussion on BTV Ignite with Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Weinberger and others at Burlington City Arts.
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Its hard to imagine that Michael Shirling will have the patience to match up job skill training necessary with major companies listed above. His father worked at IBM and that was the original idea for Essex Tech but they found it didn’t make any money so they had to diversify. If the technology doesnhe’t meet the demands necessary for the job training then the businesses won’t support BTV financially nor donate to the supposedly non-profit. I think its just another boon dock project that is only catered to the few and the money is being circulated through a non profit for tax purposes to benefit the few shareholders of the above companies and their kids looking for jobs that will already be lined up for them…between Burlington Mayor Miro’s housing project for the rich not the poor and Shirling’s job openings at BTV…the rich downtown closed society of Miro town will be all set….no jobs for the poor only club members of Miro’s World. I have to say the Jewish Community is certainly investing a great deal with the money of the Asian community lately. Maybe Pecor gave Shirling a job since he almost fell overboard drunk on one of his Ethan Allen Cruises blitzed out of his mind! Birds of a feather do flock together don’t they? PLease lets keep tract of the results of this great tech project shall we?
I wonder if daddy is a shareholder of BTV? He donated to Colchester PD in order to get Michael sponsored as a police officer and practically paid his position as chief at BPD. Its really sad isn’t it. That a twenty year old that speeds down a school zone with no concern for a child’s safety or his own that has a reckless disregard for life by ordering a poor homeless man dead with two of his rookies as the former Burlington Police Chief can be offered such a job….maybe if he is behind a desk he won’t hurt anyone but if funds disappear like they did at Colchester Rescue I’m sure Shirling’s free ride through life will be sure to end abruptly as he enters handling job training technology so to speak….sometimes you can only hack and take first five hundred dollars off a hotel bureau as an example of course, and a few thousand from a rescue fund as an example of course and use your wife’s job to rob a bank so to speak as an example before you get caught at the next big bank account….I hope its understood I’m not accusing but just creating examples of tech mistakes that could have happened in the past and that others should be aware of. Sometimes smart technology isn’t smart at all!