Celebrating Our People | 25 Years | D.J. Plante

D.J. Plante Can Measure His Time at Hopkins School one software update at a time.

When he arrived on the Hill in June 2001, he was fresh out of college, having just graduated from SUNY Albany with a degree in Information Science. He was returning to Connecticut and looking for his first full-time job when a help desk position at Hopkins opened up.

“There were over 250 applicants at the time for the position,” Plante recalled. “And somehow I got that spot.”

According to Plante, the reason he was the one chosen may have been because the passion he has for technology was as evident then as it is today.

Plante’s interest in computers began long before his professional career. He gravitated early toward technology, even before having access to a computer of his own.

“I remember getting a typewriter just so I could practice typing,” he said with a laugh.

At 16, Plante took a job at a local internet service provider, working with dial-up connections in the mid-1990s. He continued in IT roles through college, including four years working in the SUNY Albany library’s IT department. By the time he was applying for jobs out of college, he was ready to take on the challenges—and opportunities—that working in a school environment would bring.

After eagerly accepting the help desk position, Plante joined a four-person technology department, marking the beginning of a career that would grow alongside—and often ahead of—the rapid evolution of technology in schools.

When Plante began at Hopkins, technology played a far more limited role in daily school life. There were no laptops, smartphones, or student email accounts. Internet speeds were slow by today’s standards, and even basic communication systems were fragmented.

“When I first started, our students didn’t have student email,” he said.

That changed in 2007, when Plante was named Director of the IT department, just as student email accounts were introduced across the School. This change reshaped how teachers and students communicated. Other major shifts soon followed, including the arrival of high-speed internet in 2009 and a significant leap in 2012, when Hopkins moved faculty, staff, and students onto a single Google platform. More than a decade later, those systems remain foundational to how the School operates.

At each step in this evolution, Plante was there, focused on how technology could improve daily life for students and faculty alike. As the School’s technology needs grew, so did his responsibilities. Today, as Director of Technology, Plante remains just as energized by what comes next as he was when he first arrived.

As Hopkins has expanded its facilities over the years, Plante and his department have played a critical role in ensuring those spaces are fully functional and connected. He has been involved in major campus projects, including the openings of Heath, Thompson, the Kneisel Squash Center, the renovated Calarco Library, and the Academic & Performing Arts Center (APAC). Soon, the team will turn its attention to the Gibbs Center for Innovation, slated to open in fall 2028.

With each new project, Plante is always thinking a few steps ahead.

“This place moves fast, and efficiency is key” he said. “We want to make sure we can stay on top of everything.”

One of the defining features of Plante’s tenure has been the remarkable continuity of the team he leads. Over the years, he has worked alongside the same core group: Anthony DiNicola, who joined the department in 2006; Karl Anderson, who followed in 2009; and Wilson Lopez, who began in 2019.

That longevity, Plante believes, has been essential to the department’s success and stability. Together, they have a combined century of experience.

“Any success that I’ve had here over the last 25 years has really been a direct result of the team I have,” he said. “I would be nothing without the team that helps drive everything.”

Plante credits his approach to leadership—hiring talented people, trusting their expertise, and supporting them consistently—as a key reason the team has stayed together.

“I’ve always focused hard on finding really good people who know what they’re doing and then taking really good care of them,” he said. “That’s the way you can make progress as a team over time.”

Despite decades of technological change, the defining constant for Plante has been the Hopkins community itself.

“What has always struck me about this place is that the people are great,” he said. “They take care of each other like a family.”

He also credits the School with giving him and his team the support and trust to make decisions.

“I really enjoy the autonomy of the job,” he said. “You get to put your stamp on things.”

That trust, combined with a collaborative culture and a shared commitment to improvement, is what has kept Plante on the Hill for 25 years. As technology continues to evolve, he remains focused on the same goal that has guided his work from the beginning: using the right tools to help people communicate, connect, and do their best work—one update at a time.