Senior Technical Support Specialist, Administration

Photo: Dennis Keeley.

As part of the GCI's administrative group, Kevin Ellis manages the Institute's computer hardware and helps coordinate implementation of Getty Trust data acquisition systems. He also works closely with the Institute's liaison to Information Technology Services at the Getty.

Born in Los Angeles, Kevin was raised in the suburb of Glendale. His parents were also native Angelenos. His father was a computer consultant, and Kevin, at the age of 12, regularly accompanied him at night to large computer facilities where he had rented time for information processing. These were Kevin's first memories of computers.

After high school—where he excelled in water polo—Kevin did construction work for a couple of years before being hired by City National Bank as an entry-level data processor. At the same time, he started taking courses in computer science and business administration at Glendale College. After a year with the bank, he got a job with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where he worked initially doing computer service and repair, then later helped install and maintain JPL's first local area network. Although he enjoyed the exciting and energetic environment at JPL, he left after five years to join a start-up software company where he could pursue his interest in becoming a systems programmer. While there, he worked on the development of information systems for hospitals.

In 1989 he was hired by the GCI to provide on-site computer support at the Institute's original headquarters in the Marina del Rey section of Los Angeles. He went on to implement the Institute's first internal network and project administration system. Since the GCI's move to the Getty Center in 1996, his daily role has changed—he now has more administrative and budgetary responsibilities.

Kevin—who began boating with his family at the age of two—can be found on weekends sailing the waters off Long Beach. A competitive yacht racer since 1992, he is a board member of the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, as well as one of the club's principal race officers. Perhaps his most memorable yachting experience was as part of a five-man crew on a 14-day, 2,800-mile trip aboard a racing sloop that sailed from Honolulu to Long Beach in the summer of 1999.