Channel Futures Presents Most Influential MSPs of 2021
This list features the elite executives from our 2021 MSP 501 list who truly moved the needle this year.
December 21, 2021
![In the rush to digitally transform business lineofbusiness executives LOBs have seized the reins from the CIO in order to In the rush to digitally transform business lineofbusiness executives LOBs have seized the reins from the CIO in order to](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt171d628bcd7e92fa/65243aa028ff120b1181d64a/main_0_0.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
In the rush to digitally transform business, line-of-business executives (LOBs) have seized the reins from the CIO in order to steer technology purchases. But how much of this is true? And who, exactly, are these LOBs? A recent Forrester study sought answers.Forrester found that the CIO still controls a chunk of new project spending – forecasted $182 billion in 2018, largely for IT platforms and infrastructure. The CIO also controls practically all spending on maintenance fees, outsourcing agreements, telecommunication services, staff, servers, storage, network equipment and PCs, which Forrester calls MOOSE for maintaining and operating the organization, systems and equipment.But LOBs are on the rise as tech spenders on new projects, Forrester says. Some control tech purchases from beginning to end. Others bring in the CIO after they’ve made the buying decision. Some collaborate closely from the get-go. Either way, there’s no question the LOB’s influence on tech is growing.Based in Silicon Valley, Tom Kaneshige writes the Zero One blog covering digital transformation, AI, marketing tech and the Internet of Things for line-of-business executives. You can reach him at [email protected].Thinkstock
Christine Lee has led the charge to create Texas Systems Group’s strategic plan and departmental budgets while holding its leadership accountable for meeting their goals. She established the company’s new virtual CIO and project management roles as well as trained and documented key processes. She also leads the company’s leadership team’s professional development by facilitating multiple leadership book reviews and discussions. These leadership book reviews have given all leaders new tools and processes to better connect and lead the company’s team, especially during their fourteen month long work from home operations.
In 2019, Lee designed the company’s work-from-home disaster response and tested during the migration to its new office building. This proved to be critical for their rapid transition to work from home in response of COVID-19. Christine also created and fine-tuned the template, policies and processes of having remote employees working from market expansion cities. This is allowing the company to provide their onsite managed services in locations throughout Texas as they fulfill their long-term strategy.
Lee has made much needed changes across the entire company to keep pace with their new client growth. And she has done all this while ensuring they consistently achieve a better than industry average EBIDTA.
Jeff Schmidt is a successful leader who has led high-growth technology companies spanning startups to large global enterprises throughout his career. He is responsible for establishing and driving the vision for Avertium in addition to developing and executing the company’s growth strategy to drive employee, client and shareholder value within the last two years. All of these initiatives succeeded despite the additional business challenges that everyone faced — employees working from home, businesses needing shifting, and other global issues in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
With support from leaders and key individuals from the three merged companies (Terra Verde, TruShield and Sword & Shield), Schmidt quickly established a vision and mission for the newly formed company based on these fundamental ideas:
1. Build something people would miss if it didn’t exist tomorrow (their customers, Avertium team, and customer first delivery philosophies).
2. Don’t get married to your role. Expect change and growth.
3. Focus on the customer and building the gold standard for security as a service focused on the mid to large enterprise segment.
Avertium started with two solution sets, Sophos and AlienVault, melding three disparate operations into one to provide the best MSSP offering for their customers. Schmidt quickly led the team in integrating all systems and platforms into a single, cohesive unit to seamlessly deliver to Avertium customers.
By the end of 2019, the technology platforms supported expanded to four core managed SIEM platforms and three key EDR solutions – not because they wanted to, but because they listened to their customers. Because of Schmidt’s leadership, Avertium’s security professional services delivery team, combined with its Threat Intelligence Labs, contribute additional value that not all MSSPs can claim.
Exemplifying market intuition and an understanding of key drivers, Rory Sanchez has continually pushed into new territories at TRUE. With the foresight that led to their merging MSP and MSSP services through two highly successful organizations, he has been front and center in the messaging development processes. For most MSPs, messaging is not a challenge – you get in front of the right people to explain what you do, how you help. With the merger and the company’s tech innovation strategies, however, TRUE has rewritten the rules around go-to-market for cybersecurity and IT services.
In a desire to perfectly align the company’s offerings and positioning with felt market needs, Sanchez has facilitated rich and in-depth conversation across countless teams to support TRUE’s evolution of it’s identity post-merger. Each time, he has brought a challenge to the table, pushing his team to hone their message in a way that best articulates the company’s culture, differentiators, and innovative technology offerings to support TRUE’s identity as a cybersecurity integrator.
Further, Sanchez’s support for the company’s president, Dominic Schulte, has been unwavering as Schulte has driven efforts to build a new website, develop new assets, create rich marketing content, restructure TRUE’s sales department, add new team resources to both teams and align both areas with TRUE’s service deliver. Where some CEOs take a functionally disengaged, but highly opinionated, stance on these two departments so closely related to growth, Sanchez has continually remained actively engaged and willing to take chances on new strategies or experimentation. At the end of the day, that support and encouragement to delve into new areas is what allows TRUE to grow, as it allows the company to constantly innovate and develop new strategies.
Finally, Sanchez has worked hard to ensure that the client experience for the company’s historical base of small businesses has remained solid and even improved amid their entry into mid-level and enterprise-grade markets.
Jim Nekos brings to the table tactical and strategic solutions for the alternative asset industry. He has more than 25 years of experience in the securities industry, including senior management positions at large financial firms. He integrates this business acumen with nearly 30 years as a technologist to drive Edge forward with belief in his services and in his team.
He is a prominent leader with a passion for excellence in IT strategy, cybersecurity and cloud services, and is widely respected by clients who in turn recommend Edge to friends and associates for delivering on the white-glove service the industry demands. Perhaps more importantly, he is greatly respected by the global Edge team for his strong grip on IT advancements, financial literacy and operational efficiency. His leadership is of the highest degree, cultivating respect and buy-in from every Edge employee daily.
Edge begins with Nekos, grows with investment in his people, grows further with his unfailing dedication to clients and ends with 99% client retention. Edge has grown organically 10-25% year-over-year since its inception in 2007. Under Jim’s management, offices have expanded geographically including London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, as well as domestically in New York, San Francisco and Austin. Texas.
Customer satisfaction is the first priority for all of Edge and Nekos uses a woven strategy to carry on the positive feedback. Daily metrics-driven management demands accountability from all employees and generates faster response times. Security design is central to all decisions keeping proactivity at the forefront. Nekos developed the client-first mindset now instilled in the Edge team. Any conversation with Nekos is rooted in his passion for learning and he is actively involved in DevOps to create new technologies that enhance the client experience.
Amber Bardon faced adversities in her previous role as a senior IT director in a Chicago-based life plan community combating desolate technology platforms, poorly secured networks and limited financial resources to adhere to government regulations. Bardon recognized these challenges as widespread throughout the senior living industry, as many organizations lacked the basic business systems, automation, processes and a strategic approach to technology necessary for them to keep up with fast-paced and changing consumer demands.
Bardon saw an opportunity to both transform technology culture in aging services, and create a dream workplace culture rooted in core values and work-life balance. With her drive to change the perception of female executives in the technology industry, coupled with her passion to transform technology culture in senior living, Bardon made the risky decision to start her own company.
Parasol Alliance was founded in 2015 along with Bardon’s mission to empower senior living communities and their staff with the knowledge, necessary technology solutions and resources, to provide the highest quality of life for their residents. Bardon strategically aligned with senior living providers as investors and clients to contribute funding for the company’s startup. This joint venture created an immediate client base and a board of directors that brings a wealth of senior living experience to Parasol Alliance.
The Parasol Alliance business model focuses on client partnerships to bring strategy and technology investments together to offer an alternative to traditional IT consulting. The key to the company’s success starts with developing the technology strategic plan. At the start of each partnership, the team assesses the existing technology environment and makes recommendations to advance and streamline technology systems, and to bring IT solutions and initiatives into alignment with the organization.
Josh Kemp has really stood out as a leader, mentor and philanthropist in the local community and peer communities at large. He was a full-time college student by the age of 16 — his hunger for knowledge, understanding of business, and how he could help his community has not decreased since his younger years. Furthermore, he had his first employees by the age of 12, and treated them with the “others first” mentality that has become a cultural norm at Ozark Information Services.
Kemp has worked in multiple business types and models before finding his passion in technology. After several technical roles, he joined his father in opening Ozark Information Services in 2004, and subsequently bought his father out to become the sole owner and operator. Over the years, his driving forces evolved into a very different vision for his company. He wanted Ozark Information Services to be a “destination employer and provider.” This clear vision and focus allowed him to concentrate on providing for his employees and their families by offering a plethora of benefits [i.e., high bonus structures, immediately vested 401(k) matching, monthly massages, annual gifts, employee vacation experiences, etc.] and compensation that is rare or nonexistent in a business the size of Ozark.
Kemp has served on many community boards — Rotary, United Way, and Literacy Foundations to name a few — with the hope of serving others and giving back to the community. Furthermore, his mentorship to his employees has led to growing involvement in these organizations. His mentorship to employees has resulted in the adoption of the company’s core value of “Others First.” His mentorship in this facet resulted in two of his staff members rising to the position of president in both the Rotary and United Way community boards.
Nick Smarrelli has built a company culture founded on the core values of personal and professional growth, accountability and impact. His dedication to these core values has contributed to GadellNet being named to Inc. 5000’s Fastest Growing Companies list for eight consecutive years. Under Smarrelli’s leadership, GadellNet has invested heavily in talent and then provided that talent with the resources to achieve their full potential.
“The story of our growth, from four to 150 (employees) isn’t because we’ve spent tons on sales and marketing,” Smarrelli said in an April 2021 interview. “The reality is, we put those dollars toward our people. We are a technology solutions provider, but the medium with which we convey and sell and speak to technology is through humans.”
Smarrelli believes that “if we invest properly in humans, we are going to create a better experience for our clients, thus helping them do their business better.”
Around the GadellNet offices, you’ll hear another phrase — “100% responsibility, 0% excuses.” Smarrelli uses this phrase to maintain the highest degree of accountability in every engagement. But, to him, it’s more than that. He hosts a podcast, Zero Excuses, where exceptional leaders share personal and professional stories of managing their most limited resource — time.
In 2020, Smarrelli led the organization to B Corp Certification. As a result, GadellNet must meet higher levels of social and environmental performance, legal accountability and public transparency. The annual assessment covers five aspects of stakeholder impacts — customers, environment, community, governance and workers.
“You can talk ’til you’re blue in the face about what a good company you are, but, when you’ve got a third-party auditor looking at every decision you’ve made as an organization, it forces you to hold yourself to a higher standard,” said Smarrelli.
Tech Advisors is located in Medfield, Massachusetts, with a geographical reach that has traditionally encompassed most of greater Boston. Yet over the last couple of years, Konrad Martin has secured some of the firm’s biggest clients in further-away locales – Houston, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, to be specific. Achieving this has proven that Tech Advisors can very effectively manage remotely.
Additionally, Martin’s efforts have involved leveraging partnerships with Dell and Robin Robins, among others, to serve as boots on the ground when needed. He has served as authors of two books – one focused on IT managed services, and the other specifically dealing with cybersecurity – as well as several articles published in trade journals, which have established and expanded his credibility as a thought leader.
In fact, as a nationally recognized authority in the field of cybersecurity, Martin recently had a major role in the documentary, “Cyber Crime 2: The Dark Web Uncovered.” The film chronicles the growing plague of cybercrime where billions of dollars are stolen or lost each year, destroying businesses and lives. Martin and nine other national cybersecurity experts were selected for the film, in which they explore the psychology and techniques of cybercrime, and offer tips on how to avoid becoming a victim.
Under Martin’s leadership, Tech Advisors has gained recognition as a leading technology solutions provider for small-to-midsize businesses. He has guided Tech Advisors onto the national stage through a variety of strategies: adding services, expanding beyond their original client base of CPAs into other industries, and offering cloud-based platform solutions for clients. His relationships with national cloud providers, including OS-33, Coaxis and Microsoft Azure, enhance Tech Advisors’ strong position in the marketplace.
Rob Young has a passion for innovation and new technology adoption, which has enabled the company to grow consistently by 20% for the past four years. This next financial year, he is leading the company to 30% growth, even with the COVID-19 financial hiatus affecting the sales team. His extensive knowledge in the latest cloud technologies and products is reflected in the internal performance of Infinity Group itself. To ensure the staff and fully proficient in implementing and supporting these technologies, Infinity Group is now powered by them.
Young formed this strategy with two benefits in mind — to instill trust in clients who are thinking of adopting the solution, and using Infinity Group’s performance as a case study and to ensure staff are trained and proficient in the latest technologies as they emerge.
Young’s role in engaging and retaining employees is exceptional. He operates with an open door policy and is incredibly considerate of the needs of his staff, letting them work from home, take time off when necessary and more importantly, rewarding them for outstanding performance. Rob also presents the monthly company catch-ups to all staff. He also encourages the development of good working relationships between teams and achieved a score of 100% for the question “my colleagues and I have good working relationships” in the 2020 employee survey.
With Young’s careful management, Infinity Group has raised over £20,000 for local charities in the past three years. During the height of the pandemic, he also set up a free IT support service for the elderly and vulnerable in the local area and provided free IT support to local hospices who were not set up to work from home.
In the office, Young demonstrates solid leadership skills with his relationship building, leading by example and his passion to achieve the long-term vision of the company. He is conscious about employee workload and stress management and recruits new staff when necessary.
Adam Centorrino has shown incredible commitment to supporting staff, clients and vendors during the COVID-19 pandemic. His people-focused leadership was the pivotal factor in the company’s ability to maintain a positive internal culture and stay financially healthy despite the pandemic. When it became apparent the virus would be a critical workforce issue, Centorrino made a promise that no employee would lose their job due to the pandemic, which was successfully upheld throughout the year. This commitment was made even before the announcement of JobKeeper, the federal government subsidy for Australian businesses.
Adam created multiple initiatives to reduce stress, improve employee well-being, and preserve employee connections and relations, with an agile leadership approach designed to rapidly implement effective solutions. The successful strategies he implemented during the pandemic included initiating regular professional and social online catch-ups to support staff, hosting frequent polls to continually track employee happiness and feedback, creating a new Employee Assistance Program for anyone who needed mental and well-being support and increasing staff headcount in support roles to meet client demand, while developing a new working-from-home onboarding strategy.
Centorrino also provided crucial support to clients and vendors during the global pandemic, offering discounts to any clients who found themselves in hardship due to COVID-19. Furthermore, he created a parental help desk for the company’s education clients at no additional cost, which served to support parents with students studying at home. For vendors, he implemented faster, one-week payment terms to ensure their businesses could survive. Centorrino demonstrated extraordinary leadership in providing support and assistance to staff, clients and vendors during the most difficult year this century.
Adam Centorrino has shown incredible commitment to supporting staff, clients and vendors during the COVID-19 pandemic. His people-focused leadership was the pivotal factor in the company’s ability to maintain a positive internal culture and stay financially healthy despite the pandemic. When it became apparent the virus would be a critical workforce issue, Centorrino made a promise that no employee would lose their job due to the pandemic, which was successfully upheld throughout the year. This commitment was made even before the announcement of JobKeeper, the federal government subsidy for Australian businesses.
Adam created multiple initiatives to reduce stress, improve employee well-being, and preserve employee connections and relations, with an agile leadership approach designed to rapidly implement effective solutions. The successful strategies he implemented during the pandemic included initiating regular professional and social online catch-ups to support staff, hosting frequent polls to continually track employee happiness and feedback, creating a new Employee Assistance Program for anyone who needed mental and well-being support and increasing staff headcount in support roles to meet client demand, while developing a new working-from-home onboarding strategy.
Centorrino also provided crucial support to clients and vendors during the global pandemic, offering discounts to any clients who found themselves in hardship due to COVID-19. Furthermore, he created a parental help desk for the company’s education clients at no additional cost, which served to support parents with students studying at home. For vendors, he implemented faster, one-week payment terms to ensure their businesses could survive. Centorrino demonstrated extraordinary leadership in providing support and assistance to staff, clients and vendors during the most difficult year this century.
What does it mean to be an influencer? No, we don’t mean those with thousands of Instagram followers who tout their daily skin care routine (although, exfoliating is important) to the masses. We are talking about the industry leaders and MSPs who demonstrated steady leadership and truly moved the needle this year.
There are a great number of partners within our MSP 501 list (and in general) who deserve to be recognized and applauded for their efforts in leading their organizations through one of the most tumultuous periods of time in recent history. Many shops not only survived the worst of the pandemic, but thrived. Those businesses, and their leaders, deserve a huge nod.
To narrow down our choices for this list, we looked at our 2021 executive of the year award applicants. This award is designed to highlight the extraordinary individuals who set their companies apart from the rest. For this list, we dove deep into the achievements of organizations’ top executives and what distinguishes them from others.
These were the partners who demonstrated true influence and leadership in terms of marketing prowess, customer experience, financial success, operational efficiency and community service.
Thus, we are proud to present our list of the most elite industry leaders and influential providers of 2021.
Click through our slideshow above to view our top influential MSPs.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Allison Francis or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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