Qwest, WorldCom Alumna Agrees to Upstack Acquisition

New York-based advisory firm United Technology is joining the Upstack family.

Upstack announced the investment on Thursday. It did not disclose financial details. United Technology president Trish Van de Bovenkamp is joining the company as partner and managing director.

Multiple companies had made “unsolicited offers” to purchase Van de Bovemkamp’s agency. She engaged in conversations with the various suitors but found a match in Upstack. First, she said Upstack is looking to engage the entire customer life cycle, which expands from procurement into management. In addition, she said Upstack gives her important resources.

“My No. 1 professional priority is to make sure my clients get more — more from me, more resources, more support,” Van de Bovenkamp said. “Remaining active with my clients and having access to Upstack for collaboration, shared wisdom and best practices has been incredible. I’m thrilled to offer clients more in the way of both pre- and post-sale support as well as lifecycle management. It’s great to be a part of the Upstack team.”

Upstack has been courting consulting and advisory partners with a war chest of private equity funding, which includes a $50 million investment from Berkshire Partners and a $100 million line of credit from MidCap Financial and Morgan Stanley Private Credit.

Background

Van de Bovenkamp founded the consulting firm in 2005 after working on the carrier side. That includes a decade of managing sales at MCI/WorldCom and four years at Qwest.

She tapped into existing relationships to land United’s first five enterprise customers.

“I enjoyed a successful and diverse career working for several of the major telecom players before starting United Technology,” said Van de Bovenkamp. “I formed the company to bring exceptional service to not only suppliers but to clients, and I knew that representing them as a channel partner would accomplish that goal.”

An interview she conducted with the Cyber Spot Event last year highlights more of her story.

Upstack CEO Christopher Trapp praised Van de Bovenkamp’s experience and expertise.

“Trish Van de Bovenkamp has earned the trust of global CIOs and CEOs, helping them understand the strategic merits of digital transformation,” Trapp said. “She’s elevated discussions and deployments — from critical network and computing infrastructure and up the stack to application management.”

The company earlier this week announced an exclusive partnership with data center provider Wyoming Hyperscale White Box.