The IT Services Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 IT Managed Services CEOs of 2021. These CEOs and the firms they lead provide businesses across industries with the most advanced and reliable technology solutions on an on-going basis. They come from varied backgrounds; some have a long-standing experience in IT managed services that began early in their career, others found their way to their current position through a less traditional path. One thing unifies these executives, and that’s their commitment to their customers. Offering services spanning overall IT management, workflow improvement, remote monitoring, cloud migration, help desk support, and more, these leaders have maintained a dedication to innovation, pioneering processes so they can continually bring value to their clients.
Moreover, each of these executives has demonstrated a unique ability to lead an organization through constant change in the ever-evolving technology and business environments, and many have leveraged their years of experience whether from their current firm or prior business ventures to forge a more promising path to the future. Notably, many of this year’s awardees have also spearheaded charitable initiatives within and outside their companies, further demonstrating the strong drive within the IT services industry to support the communities they operate in. Please join us in recognizing the achievements of The Top 25 IT Managed Services CEOs of 2021.
1. Pete Butler
Company: MS Companies
Title: Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and President
Pete Butler is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and President of MS Companies, a data-driven technology company and MSP. Butler has taken MS Companies from a 1999 startup to new heights as a cloud-based answer for support service necessities in the gig economy and as a formidable IT consultation tool for the manufacturing and automotive industries. Butler works tirelessly to move his business forward in line with a global expansion strategy. Butler honed his finance management skills during his time as a service professional in fields such as logistics and home furnishings. This was long before hatching his clever idea to bridge the gap between the booming technology and manufacturing industries. Now, MS Companies is in high standing with major global and domestic automakers and manufacturing partners such as Honda and Toyota.
MS Companies has been listed in Business Journal’s Top 25 Fastest Growing Businesses and Best Places to Work in Indiana. Butler’s business participates in several charities, including the pasta food drive for Second Helpings, a hunger relief and culinary job training nonprofit in central Indiana, and the United Way Adopt-a-Family Holiday Drive. Butler attended Indiana University Bloomington.
2. Dan Cooper
Company: Novatech, Inc.
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Dan Cooper is the Chief Executive Officer of Novatech, Inc., a managed IT and print services provider offering on-site and remote support of network infrastructure and business management. Novatech boasts “The Managed Office” program, revamping businesses in the four targeted areas of print, IT, cloud solutions, and cybersecurity.
Cooper is currently a managing partner of Jamcoop, LLC in addition to his Novatech duties. During his 30 years in the industry, he served as president of Electronic Systems Inc. and Xerox Global Imaging Systems and held those positions for over a decade each. 2005 saw Cooper taking over GIS HQ, exercising control over all U.S. operations. Cooper led ESI to become a stalwart in the global imaging market before retiring from the presidency in 2018. Before joining ESI, Cooper spent 10 years as the regional general manager of Danka Industries. Novatech has been recognized 12 times by Inc. Magazine for being one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. Cooper received his degree in business from the Radford University College of Business and Economics.
3. Paul Lidsky
Company: Core BTS
Title: Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Paul Lidsky is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Core BTS. Core provides a tailor-made IT service management experience for clients and features a 24/7 Network Operations Center based in Madison, Wisconsin. The company has teamed with industry leaders such as Microsoft and Cisco to build on its strong reputation for staying privy to technology lifecycle trends. Core BTS was named the Cisco Capital Partner of the Year 2020 for its innovation, leadership, and best practices as a Cisco business partner across the U.S. East division.
Lidsky brings to Core a demonstrated aptitude for building and leading successful management teams and providing thought leadership, growth strategies, and proven execution plans to support significant revenue, profitability, and market cap growth. He had joined Core’s board of directors in 2018 and continues to serve as chairman after becoming CEO. Lidsky was previously president and CEO of Datalink Corporation, leading to an advantageous acquisition by Insight Enterprises in 2017. Before that, he served as president and CEO of Calabrio, COO of Spanlink Communications, and president of OneLink. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Stratix and Image Sensing Systems. Lidsky received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati.
4. Thomas Flesch
Company: Gordon Flesch Company
Title: President and Chief Executive Officer
Thomas Flesch is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Gordon Flesch Company, one of Wisconsin’s largest privately held firms and technology providers. Flesch helped the family-owned company expand to 6 main offices and 17 satellite offices in the Midwest, and develop new information technology services, document management, and systems designed to improve workflows as physical printing services decline. Flesch was named CEO and president in 1986, succeeding his father Gordon, and he recently passed on the title of president to his son Patrick.
The Gordon Flesch Company has won the Canon Top Dollar Volume Award for the last 6 consecutive years. Helping to serve others as well, The Gordon Flesch Charitable Foundation provides grants to nonprofits that assist people dealing with disease, illness, or disaster. It has awarded over $2 million in charity funds since 2002. Flesch received business degrees in economics and administration from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.
5. Ryan Denehy
Company: Electric
Title: Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Ryan Denehy founded Electric in 2016 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Electric is an IT solutions company that promises a high level of customer support and an automated IT platform sure to outshine competitors. Denehy has designed a “customer is the business” approach to real-time managed services and the company is known for servicing IT requests in real-time. Electric has provided powerful IT overhauls for Vevo, Mercari, and many other companies. Denehy is a serial entrepreneur, who brings to his role broad experience in revenue strategy.
Denehy worked in operations and strategy at Groupon before the conception of Electric. He preceded that by co-founding Swarm Mobile, a retail analytics software designed for small and mid-sized businesses. Near the beginning of his career, Denehy spent over 5 years with USA Today working in the online sports and lifestyle section. Denehy has made forays into venture investing and enjoys driving race cars in his spare time. He received his degree in mass media and economics from Hofstra University.
6. Nolan Schoo
Company: CompuNet, Inc.
Title: Owner
Nolan Schoo is the owner of CompuNet, Inc., a leading U.S. information technology solutions-based provider, headquartered in Boise, Idaho. The company takes an intuitive approach in understanding clients’ needs, engineers IT solutions that fit the situation exactly, and in turn provides those solutions on-time and under budget. CompuNet deploys dedicated engineering teams committed to delivering personalized, expedited service. The company prides itself on its customer experience, and its regional offices have a local, dedicated engineering team committed to delivering personalized service and an exceptional experience.
Schoo founded CompuNet in 1998 in Grangeville, Idaho, and today, offices can be found in 13 locations across the U.S. This year, CompuNet received the Palo Alto Networks Partner of the Year 2020 award and earned VMware Master Services Competency in Network Virtualization. Schoo received his bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Idaho.
7. Sug Sahadevan
Company: Testhouse
Title: Group Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Sug Sahadevan is the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Testhouse, a software testing and quality assurance firm. In its 20 years of doing business, the company has moved from traditional waterfall and V-model testing to facilitating and driving Agile methodology for uninterrupted service and mitigated IT risk. Testhouse plays with the DevOps philosophy rulebook, dividing managed services into three categories: systems thinking, experimenting, and learning & feedback. Testhouse often makes use of DevOps4Mobile, a quality and testing paradigm relating to mobile application development and deployment on the cloud. In 2018, Testhouse won the coveted Queen’s Award for Business in the International Growth Category.
Sahadevan worked in program management for the Digital Equipment Corporation, Bank of America, Centrica, and Deutsche Bank. He had previously held a position as an electronics engineer for the Government Communications Headquarters in England. In 2012, Sahadevan fostered a merger between the charities NEBP and 15billion and now serves as chairman of the merged organization. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in electronics engineering from the University of Ulster at Coleraine, Northern Ireland.
8. James Olson
Company: Les Olson Company
Title: Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
James Olson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Les Olson Company, an office technology products and managed IT services business. Olson worked his way up in the now 64-year-old family business, starting as a warehouse manager. He rose from a facsimile service technician to VP of corporate service, then served as co-CEO for three years with his father until the latter’s retirement in 2016.
In August, the Lee Olson Company announced that students who enroll in one of three IT programs at Uintah Basin Technical College will receive a new scholarship donated in honor of Matt Olson, who passed away unexpectedly in 2018. Matt Olson had run the IT and software solutions departments at the Les Olson Company and was an early proponent of further specialization in those areas. In addition to running the Matt Olson Memorial Scholarship, James Olson contributes to Uplift Families and the Utah Food Bank. He completed the David Eccles School of Business Executive Education Program for Leadership at the University of Utah.
9. Lewie Dunsworth
Company: Nuspire
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Lewie Dunsworth is the Chief Executive Officer of Nuspire, a managed security services provider. Among the many features of the Nuspire brand under Dunsworth’s leadership are the company’s 24x7 Security Operations Centers, managed detection and response services, and the innovative Health Availability Lifecycle Optimization service experience, which reduces incident response time for clients. Nuspire has recently been recognized as one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work for In the Nation for 2020 by the National Association for Business Resources—for the fifth year in a row.
Dunsworth came to Nuspire in late 2019 after spending time on a global services leadership team for the Herjavec Group while also working as CISO. He had previously been the CISO for H&R Block and the Senior VP of Optiv, Inc. Dunsworth began his management career by leading a team of supervisors at Birch Telecom as a manager of technical operations. In these roles and now with Nuspire, Dunsworth has focused on helping organizations develop strategic security programs and emphasizes a client-first approach. Dunsworth received his Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Missouri and his Bachelor of Science degree in network and communication management from DeVry University.
10. Eric Reisberg
Company: BlueAlly
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Eric Reisberg is the Chief Executive Officer of managed services provider BlueAlly Technology Solutions, based out of Cary, North Carolina. BlueAlly offers IT services in virtualization, server infrastructure, and network autonomy, along with security assessments and cloud business continuity guidance. BlueAlly absorbed the IT solutions company Virtual Graffiti into its operations this year. Joining together Virtual Graffiti’s security expertise and west coast following, with BlueAlly’s powerful managed services programs, has been a success.
BlueAlly was able to make the move after being acquired by private equity firm Source Capital. Reisberg considers the union a testament to the quality of BlueAlly’s team and their deep experience in IT infrastructure and dedication to clients. Reisberg has a long history with the industry, bringing over 35 years of experience in leading and managing sales organizations to his role as CEO. Reisberg co-founded Net Direct Systems and worked there for 14 years, serving on the board of advisors, as president, and then finally as COO. Preceding that, he was VP of sales at Andtech.
11. Michael Burke
Company: MTA
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Michael Burke is the Chief Executive Officer of MTA, or Matanuska Telephone Association, Alaska's leading broadband technology company. MTA is notable for its deployment of fiber optic cables in building a reliable network for customers, with Burke having figured that dense fiber networks are a smart long-term solution for consistency in IT communication. In addition to its broadband services, MTA has also partnered with Ampersand to provide managed IT services to its customers, including help desk services, on-site support, vendor management, disaster recovery planning, IaaS solutions, and more.
In 2016, Burke and MTA developed a scholarship program that issues $50,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors and students from the area to support continued education. Burke remains an Alaskan CPA and previously served on the Alaska Exchange Carriers Association Board of Directors and Alaska Exchange Carrier Association Tariff and Rate Development Committee. He was also the Alaska Broadband Task Force Peer Reviewer. Burke received his undergraduate degree in business administration specializing in accounting from Seattle University.
12. Simon Anderson
Company: Mission
Title: Chairman, Founder, and Chief Executive Officer
Simon Anderson is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mission Cloud Services, a managed services provider and consulting partner for Amazon Web Services. Anderson is also Mission’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mission was founded in 2017 after Anderson’s entrepreneurial efforts to shake up the MSP market with a high-quality model saw him join forces with Great Hill Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on mid-market technology growth investments. Anderson has brought to his role at Mission a wealth of experience in strategy, business development, product, sales, marketing, and operations for startups and emerging growth companies.
Anderson has been the CEO of DreamHost and functioned as a board executive for Aptira, Panasas, and Instaclustr. He also co-founded the software storage company InkTank, which sold to RedHat for $175 million in 2014. Anderson originally launched his career in technology with a partnership in Allen & Buckeridge, which moved him from Sydney all the way to Silicon Valley. Anderson received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Juris Doctor degree from the Australian National University and attended executive education programs at Harvard Business School.
13. Don Carlile
Company: Adams Remco, Inc.
Title: President and Owner
Don Carlile is the President and Owner of Adams Remco, Inc. Adams Remco is an office technology services provider with programs in digital signage, managed printing, and workflow improvement. Its managed IT service plans are customized to best serve clients and reduce the loss of productivity. Adams Remco has won multiple awards over the years, including the U.S. Bank Leasing Platinum Award in 2017, and boasts highly trained, responsive support that allows its clients to focus on their business.
Adams Remco is at its heart a family business, and Carlile took over the business from his father in 1993. Under his leadership, the company has grown to 11 offices and services 12 different locations throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Florida in addition to Adams Remco Professional Services (originally Pixel Creek Technologies), a technology services company. Adams Remco also gives back to the community, making regular donations to the Humane Society, local schools, Goodwill Industries, and the Shop with a Cop program. The staff has also organized an annual 12 Days of Giving event to help those in need around the holidays.
14. Sean Charnock
Company: Faction, Inc.
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Sean Charnock is the Chief Executive Officer of Faction, Inc., a leading multi-cloud managed service provider. Faction was born in 2006 as Elementek, with the goals of scaling economies based on the client, and outsourcing complicated IT functions for convenience. Charnock, who was the president of Faction and a member of the board of directors before ascending to his role as CEO, has brought momentum and energy to the organization that has attracted customers and channel partners alike.
Charnock’s diverse background and experience in the field have proven to be an asset to Faction. He previously held the title of president at Humach and expanded the company’s technology partnerships and portfolio. He was also formerly the COO and senior VP at iSIGHT Partners, which was acquired by FireEye in 2016. As co-founder and senior VP, he grew SoftLayer into one of the biggest privately-held cloud infrastructure providers in the world— leading to the company’s purchase by IBM in 2013 for more than $2 billion. He also proffered his advice to Efficient Networks, leading to an acquisition by Siemens AG for $1.5 billion. Charnock received his Master of Business Administration degree in finance from Regis University and his Bachelor of Science degree in finance and banking from the University of North Florida.
15. Greg Gatzke
Company: ZAG Technical Services
Title: President
Greg Gatzke is the President of ZAG Technical Services, Inc., an IT consulting agency presenting solutions for virtualization, cloud computing, systems management, and more. ZAG recently completed the MSPAlliance MSP Verify Program certification process and received the Cyber Verify AA Risk Assurance Rating, which assures its clients full transparency when it comes to ZAG’s cybersecurity practices.
Before arriving at ZAG in 1999, Gatzke was a senior consulting engineer at The Network Technology Group, Inc., and a manager for the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corp in accounting and integrated logistics projects. Gatzke definitely knows about aircraft—he was also a certified flight instructor at Portage Airport in Wisconsin for four years. Gatzke also serves as the director of the board for Youth Homes, Inc., which gives abused or neglected youths the resources to recover from trauma. Gatzke received his Master of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University and his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University at Prescott.
16. Lyf Wildenberg
Company: Mytech Partners
Title: Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Lyf Wildenberg is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Mytech Partners. Mytech Partners, Inc. began in 2000 with four founders recovering from the bursting of the dot-com bubble and focusing their collective efforts on delivering IT solutions to local small and midsized businesses. Mytech thrived in its first decade through solid business practices bolstered by meaningful contributions to the local community. In 2010, Wildenberg was selected as sole president and CEO due to his experience in corporate IT. Mytech has upgraded its office space three times since to accommodate staff growth and geographic expansion.
In addition to helping its clients achieve four times more value and productivity from their IT investments, the company is also involved in philanthropic endeavors. One of the ways Mytech engages with the nonprofit community is through the donation of services to local nonprofits through its Make a Difference Community Partner Grant. The recipient of this grant receives three years of complimentary managed & professional IT services, up to a $250,000 value. The grant is awarded based on the nonprofit's propensity for technology innovation and its ability to leverage the grant to further their mission. Wildenberg’s corporate IT background has been a proven asset to Mytech, as it continues to offer security-centric IT solutions to SMBs, with proven results.
17. Andres Ruzo
Company: LinkAmerica
Title: Chief Executive Officer, Executive Chairman, and Founder
Andres Ruzo is the classic triple threat of business—he’s the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Chairman, and Founder of LinkAmerica. The 26-year-old company had humble beginnings, with Ruzo refurbishing old telecommunication gear until the dot-com crisis redirected his focus on thought leadership and specialization. He stopped selling communications products and started providing communications services. LinkAmerica has grown into a first-choice MSP and IT solutions center under Ruzo’s stewardship. The company was recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine as the fastest-growing privately held Hispanic company in the United States. Additionally, LinkAmerica is a "triple bottom line" organization participating as a Global Growth Company to work with the World Economic Forum.
Ruzo co-founded and serves as chairman for CareExpand, Schok LLC, Torch.AI, and Cognix Networks. He also sits as chairman for and co-founded the Santa Monica School of Innovation in Costa Rica. Ruzo has been named one of the most notable Hispanic leaders in the IT industry by the Hispanic IT Executive Council. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University and his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of St. Thomas. He also holds a certificate from the Corporate Governance Program at Harvard Business School.
18. Todd Eaton
Company: Visual Edge IT
Title: President
Todd Eaton is the President of Visual Edge IT, a coast-to-coast managed IT services provider. Visual Edge offers full-service IT management, including 24/7 remote monitoring and administration of networks, service desk, and data backup/restoration. Eaton was the owner of N2N Technologies, Inc., which also handled consulting and managed IT services and was acquired by Visual Edge in 2018. N2N was known for its private cloud hosting platform that now provides Visual Edge clients with an option for private cloud hosting. Eaton had previously been the manager of information systems for Gibraltar Design, Inc.
Although his first foray into business tech was as owner and operator of an eCommerce retail store, Eaton began his career teaching industrial technology and baseball at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis. He received his Bachelor of Applied Science degree in industrial engineering from Ball State University.
19. Kent Schimke
Company: DRN ReadiTech
Title: Chief Executive Officer and General Manager
Kent Schimke is the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of DRN ReadiTech. Proactive managed network services, business continuity, and IT support are the foundational operations of ReadiTech, but its parent company DRN also specializes in state-of-the-art fiber optic services for telecommunication in the office or home. ReadiTech has bought out two technology companies, CompQuest and Insight Technologies, since its inception in 2010. The latter now operates under the banner of ReadiTech IT Solutions.
Schimke has played an integral role in DRN ReadiTech’s history. For more than 20 years, Schimke was the plant manager of Dickey Rural Networks, which accounts for the acronym preceding ReadiTech. The network company expanded in its MSP-like functions through the guidance of Schimke. Before joining the DRN team, he had worked for James Valley Electric in Edgeley, North Dakota. Schimke holds a business management certificate from Rasmussen College.
20. Sandeep Allam
Company: STLogics RADcube
Title: Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
Sandeep Allam is the Chief Executive Officer of STLogics RADcube, a technology holding company, and is a member of its board of directors. STLogics, founded in 2004, is the conglomerate of five companies: NLogix, RADcube, SkillDemand, and STProfessionals, each of which brings unique services to the overall operation. The RADcube subsidiary specializes in custom application development, mobile application services, enterprise portfolio management, and project management.
Allam is responsible for the development of the strategy that drives STLogics’ business objectives, pinpointing the specific strength of each of its services from the five branches, instead of lumping everything together and overwhelming the client. He also created the unprecedented Innovation Digi Conference (previously named IndyBigData), which showcases the emerging tools in technology built to handle and analyze high-volume data sets. Allam maintains other business interests and is the founder and principal of HireCenter, and a partner at Syra Health. Prior to joining STLogics and working with the four companies it oversees, he was a technologist at Eli Lilly. Allam received his Master of Science degree in information technology from Ferris State University.
21. Roger Veach
Company: Axia Technology Partners
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Roger Veach is the Chief Executive Officer of Axia Technology Partners, a managed IT services provider specializing in application design and cloud services. Although Axia covers 30 states, it does half of its business in its home state of Indiana. Veach founded ADS IT Solutions in Ohio and served as CEO for 25 years before the company merged with Axia in 2019. It was during his time as CFO of Veach Trucking in the years previous that he started writing software that became the industry standard, spurring Veach to double down on cornering the IT managed services market.
Axia partnered with Traders Point Christian Schools to create a multi-year STEM program and plans to install a year-long internship for technology students. Axia has also collaborated with Special Olympics Indiana to streamline its application approval and training completion processes for thousands of volunteers. Veach’s son Zach is a race car driver for the Andretti Autosport racing team and the busy CEO has attended nearly every race. Veach received a degree in accounting from Shawnee State University.
22. Jaydeep Ruparelia
Company: Infopercept Consulting
Title: Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
Jaydeep Ruparelia is the Chief Executive Officer of Infopercept Consulting, a managed services provider that brings optimized technology and security solutions to its clients. With headquarters in India, Infopercept has branched out to 12 countries with over 15 physical offices across the globe. The “Invinsense” security evaluation tool is one of Infor percept’s main operational features, using cutting-edge AI software to diagnose vulnerability to cyberattacks. Ruparelia brings to his role more than 15 years of experience in establishing cybersecurity vision, nurturing relationships for long-term growth, and conceptualizing products and services.
Ruparelia was formerly the chief technology officer of Crystal Solutions Ltd. after tenures in the information security field for Indusface and MIEL e-Security. He managed presales of the Elitecore Cyberoam for Elitecore Technologies Ltd. in 2010 after working as a network security engineer for Allied Digital Ltd. Ruparelia received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer applications from the H.L. Institute of Computer Application and postgraduate diplomas in cyber law and cybercrime investigation from the Asian School of Cyber Laws.
23. John Kampas
Company: EMPIST
Title: Founder and Chief Executive Officer
John Kampas is the Founder & CEO of EMPIST, a full-service technology firm that offers managed IT, digital marketing, website, and development services to businesses around the world. John founded EMPIST (formerly Digerati Group) in 2000 in Chicago shortly after obtaining a degree in Management Information Systems from Loyola University Chicago. While EMPIST was initially founded as an IT services company, John has spent the last 20+ years growing it via expansion and acquisitions into a one-stop-shop for all business technology needs.
In 2020, EMPIST was featured for the 8th straight time as one of Channel Futures' top 501 Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in the world, coming in at #116. It was also recognized by CRN as one of the top 100 Cybersecurity firms in 2020 and a multi-year winner on the Inc. 500/5000 list as one of the fastest-growing privately-owned businesses in the US. For the first time, EMPIST was honored to receive a place on Expertise’s Top 20 Best Managed Service Providers in Chicago list. EMPIST’s industry-leading global services are delivered out of four offices across the United States and Europe.
24. Brett Helgeson
Company: Adopt Technologies
Title: President, Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Partner
Brett Helgeson is the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Partner of Adopt Technologies. Adopt started as a traditional IT services company but quickly became an early proponent of virtual desktop implementation. The cloud-computing side of the business has grown 36% annually since 2009 and Adopt’s hand-selected staff is instructed to make IT management as hassle-free as possible for clients. Helgeson purchased Adopt in 2012 after serving as director of operations for six months and has brought the company further into the digital space with great success. Adopt Technologies has been named on Forbes Magazine’s list of best management consulting firms in America and CRN’s Fast Growth 150 list for 2020.
Before taking over at Adopt, Helgeson founded and served as the president of Helgeson Construction Management, which handled thousands of commercial projects in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Prior to that, he acted as project manager for The Weitz Company and Brown & Associates. Serving on its board of directors, Helgeson supports New Way Academy, an independent day school for children with learning disabilities or differences. Moreover, a fundraising initiative from Adopt recently raised $26,000 for the Phoenix Rescue Mission food bank. Helgeson has a certificate from the Stanford University Executive Education Program in mergers and acquisitions. He also received his Master of Business Administration degree from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and his Bachelor of Science degree in building construction technology from Purdue University.
25. Gary Thomas
Company: Leap Managed IT
Title: President
Gary Thomas is the President and a Partner of Leap Managed IT, an IT services company based in Indiana. Leap’s overall process, called The IT Master Plan, stakes out a strategy for clients through careful consultation, evaluation, plan development, and implementation. The company serves a wide community of businesses, working with government agencies, medical offices, manufacturers, and more. Leap Managed IT also offers complimentary cybersecurity protocol and prevention training to nonprofit organizations. In his role, Thomas is a problem-solver who particularly enjoys helping clients to reach their goals—a hallmark of Leap’s customer-centric business.
Thomas was an integral member of Leap Managed IT in its previous incarnations, working as a sales representative and manager for Thomas Office Machines until it became Thomas Office Solutions, and he its president, in 2007. Leap Managed IT was conceived when Thomas no longer wanted to outsource technology service solutions and instead wanted to install them as a key component of his own business’s offerings. In his spare time, Thomas volunteers as a board member for the Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County and is training to compete in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Thomas received his Bachelor of Science degree in business, management, and marketing from Ball State University.
