Meet Your Colleague: Sachin Bhatt

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sachin recently to learn more his background and how he recently accepted the position of Director of Procurement as well as celebrated the birth of his second child.

Megan: “So tell me a little bit about yourself, your background how you came to the Department of Information Technology (DoIT), etc.”

Sachin: “Just out of law school, I started off in a small law firm in New Jersey. My focus was on general litigation and intellectual property litigation. In 2008, I moved back to Maryland and started as a volunteer in the Office of the Maryland Attorney General (OAG) while I studied for the Maryland Bar exam. After passing the Bar, I accepted a contractual attorney position with the OAG, supporting DoIT, while reporting to Principal Counsel Douglas Carrey-Beaver. As that contract came to an end, I was offered the position of Assistant Attorney General representing DoIT. I have had the pleasure to serve in this capacity for the last 5 years.”

Megan: “So after all of those years of being an attorney why now make the switch to procurement?”

Sachin: “It’s not really a big change in that I was immersed mainly in procurement law during my service as Assistant Attorney General and now I am knee deep in procurement policy and process. And while there are many similarities, there is one distinguished difference; I have to remind myself daily that I am the client, not the attorney advising the client.“

Megan: “There has been a lot of excitement in your life recently with the arrival of your second daughter and this new role with DoIT. How are you handling everything?”

Sachin: “My wife and I talked about the timing- two major life changes happening at once- and you know, you get through it, you prepare as best you can as a team. That’s the only way to do it. I knew there would be midnight feedings and hectic work days. But bottom line, I am very fortunate to have these two significant and positive life changes, even if they happened at the same time.”