Author Archives: Tori Pazda

Welcome back to another installment of our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” blog series.

Our featured Thrive Executive is Jason Shirdon. Jason is the EVP and General Manager of the Mid-Atlantic region at Thrive.

Jason is responsible for growing Thrive’s footprint in the Mid-Atlantic while also maintaining its loyal client base. His expertise in strategy and process development allows him to focus on helping businesses evolve by providing custom Cloud solutions for clients of all sizes.

You’ll find Jason attending regular meetings alongside the executive management team to discuss budgets, business operations, downstream communication, and strategies to best engage Thrive’s customers. He ensures that Thrive delivers both quality service and the best NextGen cyber security and managed services for its clients, especially in the Mid-Atlantic region. Jason also oversees employee development, day-to-day operations and the delegation of duties to his team of talented employees.

Jason lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Gabrielle and two teenage sons, Anthony and Alex. While his two boys keep him quite busy, he enjoys golfing with his wife, which they recently picked up. Jason also loves spending time with friends and family and hosting backyard BBQ’s. As a family, the four of them enjoy camping, hiking, boating, and all beach/lake/river time they can get — really anything outdoors!

Hi Jason! Can you tell us about your background and how you came to Thrive? 

In 2019, Ease Technologies was acquired by Thrive. I ran the managed services business at Ease Technologies for 15 years with a strong focus on Cloud computing. We were driven to have a ‘Cloud-first’ mentality, which I now incorporate into my work here at Thrive. 

Where did you go to school or get training? 

After high school, I attended the California University of PA, but after my first year, I decided to transfer to York Technical Institute, where I formed my base knowledge for electronics, robotics, and programming. After school, I landed a job with a nuclear medicine company in Columbia, Maryland, working with diagnostic imaging machines that required CT scans to be pushed over networks. Hence, my move into the IT world. From there, the rest is history. Back then, we mostly used UNIX and IRIX, but that quickly changed to Windows in the mid-’90s.

What do you most enjoy about working for Thrive?

No question — The people. I have never been a part of an organization with so many talented individuals who are driven to produce a quality product and want to improve daily.

Any recent exciting projects at Thrive that you can tell us about?

About three months before the pandemic hit, Thrive engaged with a 100 person accounting firm that was completely dependent on its physical office and aging IT infrastructure. After many meetings and analysis, we convinced the client to move to an Azure infrastructure, so they would never have to purchase another server again. As you can imagine, this paid for itself 10 fold.

As a result, Thrive saved this client approximately $500,000 within the first year in hardware costs alone. After about six months into the pandemic, during our Technical Business Reviews that we do with strategic clients, the accounting firm told us that if they hadn’t moved to the Cloud with Thrive, they weren’t sure where their business might be today. Knowing that we changed someone’s view of Cloud computing and saved their business is what I love doing most!

Are you interested in learning more about Thrive? Click here!

And please don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram for the latest news, and continue checking our blog for more in our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” series. Until next time…

Welcome back to another installment of our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” blog series.

Our featured Thrive Employee is Michael Conte. Michael is a Solutions Architect at Thrive.

Michael is the technical lead for the Thrive sales team out of our New York office. He works lockstep with the sales team on solving business issues for clients and prospects with Thrive’s NextGen technology portfolio.

You’ll usually find Michael talking with our customers, including, CTOs, CIOs, and Director of ITs, to identify areas to improve or enhance their business operations leveraging Thrive’s innovative Cloud, Network Management, Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity technology services.

Michael recently moved from Jersey City to his home state of Rhode Island and is thrilled to be closer to his family and lifelong friends. In his free time, you’ll usually find Michael outdoors or on the river. He enjoys cycling, river rafting and paintball with his buddies. Look out – Michael and his friends have been paintballing for 13 years and you don’t want to get caught in their crosshairs!

Hi Michael! Can you tell us about your background and how you came to Thrive? 

Before coming to Thrive, I held engineering roles at Atrion, a Rhode Island managed services provider. I started as an Associate Engineer, and then moved up the ranks to Network Engineer and then Security Engineer. Along the way, I completed multiple Cisco certifications and oversaw the deployment of security-related technology and tools. 

Where did you go to school or get training?

I earned an Associate’s degree at New England Tech for computer networking, but made tech headlines in high school with Warwick Area Career and Tech Center. I represented Rhode Island in a national competition called Skills USA, which was related to Cisco internetworking. Recently, I was added to that program’s advisory board to help improve the courses.

What do you most enjoy about working for Thrive?

The opportunities for recognition and growth at Thrive are things I’ve never experienced before. IT is often a thankless job. If it works, nobody complains. When it doesn’t work, it’s not so great. However, the Thrive culture makes you feel valued with an emphasis on teamwork, recognition and positivity. We are a tight-knit group and that has advantages when working together on projects and in high-pressure situations. As a team, we know our strengths, weaknesses, and expectations when working closely together. That is a huge benefit for our company and our customers.

Any recent exciting projects at Thrive that you can tell us about?

ServiceNow has been wildly successful and is having a positive impact on businesses. It’s exciting to see how the platform helps modernize processes within the IT organization for our customers. I’m also working more on automating our sales process internally so I’m able to spend more time with prospects and customers and drive revenue.

Are you interested in learning more about Thrive? Click here!

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest news, and continue checking our blog for more in our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” series. Until next time…

Welcome back to another installment of our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” blog series.

Our featured Thrive Employee is Robbie Luethold, Regional Vice President of Sales.

In addition to his pivotal role driving Thrive’s sales and improving the customer experience, Robbie is also known for many talents, including playing the trumpet, surfing and rollerblading. Keep reading to learn more about Robbie!

Hi Robbie! Tell us about your role at Thrive as Regional Vice President of Sales.

My role at Thrive is to learn every day, create an atmosphere with my team where we love what we do, enjoy getting better every day, which in turn, results in an improved experience for our customers. They gave me a fancy title, Regional Vice President of Sales, but I believe my role is ensuring the employees around me love the environment they work in, translating into our team providing a better customer experience across the board. If we can accomplish this, revenue and sales should be the bi-product of the incredible culture we have here at Thrive. 

Can you tell us about your background and how you came to Thrive? 

I graduated from The College of New Jersey in 2004 with a degree in Marketing (which is code for “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.”) So here I was, the first job out of college in a sales role, selling copiers. In my delusional mind, this was going to be the “amuse-bouche” to my illustrious career. However, 17 years later, it would be the only place I would call home.

When it all began in 2004, copiers were analog, but quickly becoming digital printing and scanning devices. This led to much more interaction with IT and the network overall. As a result, many copier companies, including my company, began to provide Managed IT services along with the copiers. As technology evolved, I found myself gravitating towards IT solutions and wanting to learn more. Had I remained in an outside sales role, my stay may have been a few years shorter, however, the opportunity presented itself in 2015 for me to take a role as a sales manager.

Management unlocked a world of challenges far beyond anything I could have ever imagined in sales. For whatever reason, I loved it. My sales team was an incredible group, we were a family, and we all grew together, challenging each other through both good times and bad. In 2020, along with all the challenges that came from that year, my company began to pivot, resulting in a “reorganization” of sorts. Part of the reorganization resulted in a promotion for me to run the region I was a part of, taking over the role of my long-time boss, and friend, Rob Bain. He hired me in 2004, and I reported to him my entire career.

With all this change, Rob retiring and leaving my sales team which was like family, I started thinking that the timing is ideal for a more significant change. I hoped to find a company that was entirely focused on IT and cyber security. I researched the best companies in this space, and I connected with Rob Stephenson, who introduced me to John Holland. They say timing is everything. The timing was mutually beneficial for me to make a change, and Rob and John to fill a newly formed role at Thrive.

Where did you go to school or get training? 

I went to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and received a B.S. in Marketing, which was far from my intended path or major. I invested my middle school and high school years in classical trumpet and musical theory and composition. After getting into some prominent music schools, my father, fearing I would forever be broke, chasing a dream of being the second chair in the New York Philharmonic, decided to sit me down and deliver a speech that only a father could…  He meticulously and methodically broke down every expense in my life, month by month, year by year, decade by decade. By the end of it, I was so scared, I sold my trumpet for a guitar and surfboard, enrolled in TCNJ and walked on to the college golf team. This extreme deviation from all my life’s choices, had it happened 20 years later, would most certainly have been considered a mid-life crisis. Thankfully, I was 18 and everyone chalked it up to me being young and confused. Here I am, 8 months away from 40 and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I am so thankful my dad gave me that speech. I also have no plans or desire to buy a convertible sports car.

What do you most enjoy about working for Thrive?

I enjoy the people and culture at Thrive. The employee-first mindset and the family-like atmosphere that welcomed me in with open arms was unexpected but so important for me.  When you leave a company after 17 years, I don’t care how tough or confident you think you are, you are scared, and you have doubts and second thoughts on your decision. However, when you have a culture like Thrive and the support of such an incredible group of people, it’s only a matter of days before you realize the decision you made was perfect. What Thrive has is rare, and I am extremely proud to be a part of it.

Any recent exciting projects at Thrive that you can tell us about?

Right now, I am simultaneously working on two critical areas within our Mid-Atlantic region.  First, with my outside sales team, we are meeting with new customers and discussing security strategies daily – with everything going on in terms of cyber security today, the opportunity to help organizations is tremendous. It’s been fantastic to work with this team and learn from their professionalism and consultative approach.

Secondly, I have had the privilege to work alongside one of our most recent acquisitions, The Apex Team. We have been laser-focused on transitioning Apex clients onto the Thrive platform and ensuring the absolute best customer experience. Acquisitions have many moving parts and while certainly, the customer’s transition is important, for me, my highest priority has been the employees — our new team. Fortunately for me, Apex already has an incredible family-like culture, coupled with talented individuals who are not only fitting in, but enhancing all Thrive has to offer.

What do you like to do in your free time?

My free time is spent in a few different ways. Playing golf, sometimes competitively, but mostly for fun with friends, as well as with my wife and kids who enjoy it enough to put up with the fact that “Dad loves it.”

The beach and surfing. The beach is a short walk away from where we live and has always been a part of our lives. I used to love to surf hurricanes, which seems like a good idea on the east coast because it’s the best waves, but after my daughter was born, I realized I was responsible for another human I decided that wasn’t such a good idea.  Fortunately, my kids love it and I go out with them now, not in hurricanes — yet.

My daughter Ryleigh loves music and theater. She plays the trumpet and I have become the resident music teacher. I once again own my own trumpet, and we have been practicing her school music together for three years now.

My son Brendan loves hockey and plays on a travel hockey team. I think I am younger than I am and find myself practicing with him both on the ice, and of course, I also had to get myself a pair of rollerblades to relive the 90’s and show the kid that Dad still has it. The family has the over-under on the inevitable hospital visit from this behavior set at my 40^th birthday which is fast approaching…they all bet the under.

Thanks, Robbie! When you are ready to start the Thrive band let us know!

Are you interested in learning more about Thrive? Click here!

And please don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram for the latest news, and continue checking our blog for more in our “Thrive Employee Spotlight” series. Until next time…

Thrive, a premier provider of NextGen Managed Services, announces today that it has acquired S7 Technology Group, an information technology services provider for the financial industry.

Scot Guido, CEO, Michael Bilenkis, CTO and Fred Bruno, COO, will all assume senior leadership roles in New York, home to Thrive’s largest office. The S7 transaction marks the 12th acquisition for Thrive since 2016.

Thrive’s cybersecurity and digital transformation solutions offer a unique blend designed to boost market clout.