After serving as Service and Portfolio Manager for UbuntuNet Alliance for three years, Chris Rohrer finally bade farewell to colleagues at the secretariat in Lilongwe, Malawi in June 2019 when he left UbuntuNet Alliance and returned to his home in Switzerland.
A lighting talk on eduroam switchboard at TNC19 in Tallinn, Estonia was the parting shot for Mr. Rohrer who the UbuntuNet Alliance Community agrees has been instrumental in spearheading the adoption and uptake of Value Added Services (VAS) in the Alliance region since he joined from SWITCH, the Swiss NREN, in 2015.
At a farewell luncheon in Lilongwe, Malawi, CEO, Dr. Matthews Mtumbuka led staff in wishing Chris a hearty send off and also expressing gratitude to the former Service Portfolio Manager for dedicating his time to the Alliance.
“As CEO I would like to thank you for your time and dedication to the Alliance and also for the progress you have helped the Alliance achieve in the area of Value Added Services. As you will be going back home, we would like you to be our ambassador and we also hope that we shall continue working together virtually when need be. It is the obligation of the Alliance to keep up the good work you started and we will strive to achieve that,” said Eng. Dr. Mtumbuka.
Taking her turn, Finance and Administration Manager, Beatrice Ng’ambi said the Alliance would miss Chris who she said does not only have great professionalism but also a great personality.
“Ever since we started working with Chris, we have not had any disagreements. This shows that Chris is not only a great professional but also a person with good interpersonal skills. In terms of work, he was always the first to complete tasks that my office would require from staff, we will surely miss his presence at the Alliance.”
Chris himself was delighted to have worked with the Alliance and said he would, together with his wife Rebecca miss the Alliance and Malawi in general.
During the Luncheon, Dr. Mtumbuka presented remembrance gifts to Chris and Rebecca.
During his time as Service Manager, Chris fast tracked the deployment of services such as eduroam, helping in deploying the service in over 10 NRENs in the region. Other services which Chris helped to deploy and provide technical assistance to NRENs include edu.ID and eduGAIN. He has also been involved in technical expertise transfer as he has presided over 4 service deployment training workshops that were co-located with UbuntuNet-Connect conferences and the Council of Members meetings.