Our Team
Thrive’s leadership team is comprised of industry and technical experts with decades of experience in managed services, technology infrastructure, security and compliance.
Executive
Rob brings more than 20 years of executive level technology business experience to Thrive. He was previously a principal at 19 Technologies, an executive consulting firm whose clients included Faction Cloud, Oxford Networks, Expedient, Sweetwater Capital, Bay Capital, Spring Capital and others. Prior to that, Rob served as CMO and managing partner at Xand where he oversaw a sale to Tierpoint in 2014, after merging his firm, Access Northeast, with Xand in 2012. Rob was the CEO at Access Northeast, building the company into a $20 million plus Data Center/Cloud/MSP regional powerhouse with more than seven consecutive years of record income, growth and profitability. He executed multiple term sheets with Private Equity Firms, Senior Banks and Mezzanine SBA Lenders generating working capital for the business and liquidity for shareholders in excess of $750 million. Rob has undergraduate degrees in Economics & Political Science from the University of Vermont (1990) and a Masters’ Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Boston College Carroll School of Management (2002), with a concentration in Technology Marketing. He was enshrined into the Beta Gamma Sigma National Honor Society in 2002 for his post-graduate work.
Bill McLaughlin is Thrive’s President. Drawing on his nearly 20 years of MSP industry experience, Bill drives more value, messaging, communication, and faster platform adoption to Thrive’s customers. In his current role, he oversees Thrive’s dedicated team of General Managers, Virtual CIO’s and Customer Success Managers in each U.S. region, and supports Thrive’s expanding global footprint and clientele with the company’s extensive NextGen portfolio of Cloud, Cybersecurity, Networking and Business Continuity services.
Before Thrive, Bill held a senior leadership role at Kaseya, where he completed an expedited one-year IT Management software journey. Previously as an EVP and CTO, Bill assisted in spearheading the growth of Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office, a provider of office automation solutions and one of the largest privately held technology companies in the United States with more than 400 employees and $150 million in revenue. Bill was also a leader at several top-tier office technology companies, including NER Data Corp, Parts Now, and Allied Office Products.
Bill is very active in supporting several nonprofit organizations throughout the New Jersey and New York area. He is a Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation Board Trustee and the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board for The Jillian Fund.
Jay oversees all Financial Operations and Human Resources at Thrive. Prior to joining Thrive, he spent 20 years as a CFO at technology and consulting companies backed by private individuals, venture capital firms, and private equity companies. He spent eight years at Kenan Systems, a $180 million provider of billing software, five years at Bowstreet, a pioneer in the web services space and later served as CFO at Atlantic Data Services, a consulting practice that serviced the banking industry. More recently, Jay was CFO at the Aberdeen Group, where he stood up multiple systems in merging three companies into one new platform with no previously established G&A function. Jay is a CPA and started his career in public accounting at Ernst & Young. He is a graduate of Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and he currently resides in Walpole, MA with his wife and four kids.
John Holland oversees all sales, marketing, and customer success efforts at Thrive. John works with each of Thrive’s regions in New England, New York and the Mid-Atlantic to streamline sales processes; in turn, easing the process of delivering superior NextGen managed services to Thrive’s clients. His focus points at Thrive include increasing organic growth in revenue through geographical expansion, the further development of Thrive’s channel sales team, and establishing the Thrive brand as a key player in the MSP space. Throughout his 20+ year career in the Cloud and managed services space, John has become a notable sales leader in the industry. Prior to Thrive, he spent nine years serving as the Senior Vice President of Sales at TierPoint, as well as leading sales teams at Sungard Availability, Internap and Broadwing.
John is a graduate of Saint Anselm College with a degree in Business.
Michael has been a strong technology leader at Thrive over the past decade, contributing in the consulting, network engineering, managed services and product development groups while continually being promoted up the ladder. Michael’s technology career began at Dove Consulting and later Praecis, a biotechnology startup that was acquired by a top five pharmaceutical firm in 2007. Serving in his current role, he is now responsible for Thrive’s R&D, technology road-mapping vision, while also heading the security and application development practices. He is a member of several partner advisory councils and participates in many local and national technology events. Michael has a degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University and he also maintains multiple technical certifications including Fortinet, Sonicwall, Microsoft, ITIL, Kaseya and maintains his Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
Marc Capobianco is Thrive’s Chief Operations Officer. Marc served as president of Tier1Net for more than 20 years before the company’s 2019 acquisition. He brings decades of experience in cybersecurity, financial regulatory & SEC compliance, and information technology to Thrive. Marc has extensive experience working with RIAs, wealth management firms, family offices, and private equity firms to solve their business technology, security and compliance challenges. Prior to founding Tier1Net, Marc founded Innovative Network, Inc., a leading Boston-based networking integration company. He also spent six years in the Information System Division at the United States Department of Transportation, where he was instrumental in the design and development of major networking initiatives for the FAA and U.S. Coast Guard. Marc also played a key role in Intelligent Transportation Systems, developing high-speed fiber optic digital video traffic systems for several state highway agencies – which soon became the benchmark for which future systems were based upon. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Finance from Merrimack College and a master’s degree in Computer Information System from Boston University.
John is Chief of Staff for Thrive. In his current role, he oversees key Strategic Initiatives for the business and manages inter-departmental high priority projects. John joined Thrive in 2003 and has managed many departments across Thrive including; Post-Merger Integration, Business Operations, Quality Assurance and Remote Support. John started at Thrive as a Help Desk Engineer and has been promoted multiple times to various positions throughout the company.
Prior to joining Thrive, John served in the United States Marine Corps and achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. During his military career, he received numerous awards and decorations while gaining extensive experience in Information Technology, Logistics, and Process Management.
John received his Bachelor degree from Springfield College. He currently resides in Harvard, Massachusetts with his wife and son.
Corporate
Chip Gibbons
CISOAs Chief Information and Security Officer, Chip is responsible for Thrive’s security and the security of our clients. He directly oversees the Security Operations Center and the Cyber Security platform. Throughout his 13-year tenure with Thrive, Chip has risen through the ranks holding positions such as Field Services Manager, Problem Solutions Manager, Senior Manager of Cyber Security and R&D, and Director of Cyber Security. He began his career as a network engineer, which has served as a foundation to expert status in specialties, including Cyber Security, Management, Windows, Cisco, and VMWare.
Chip has a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and maintains several technical certifications, including CEH and CISSP. He is a highly regarded industry expert and is regularly a featured speaker at conferences, an author of industry and thought leadership blogs, and webinar host of demos and other industry technology.
Brian leads the Product Management and Technical Services teams and brings over 20 years of industry experience to Thrive. Prior to joining Thrive, he served as Vice President of Solutions Engineering at TierPoint, leading the North region team in the New England, New York, Mid Atlantic, and Midwest sales markets. Prior to TierPoint’s acquisition of Xand in 2014, Brian led the Solutions Engineering, Client Services, and Sales Operations teams and created multiple sales enablement platforms resulting in streamlining sales order generation and profitability analysis. He held the same leadership positions at Access Northeast prior to merging with Xand in 2012 with additional responsibilities in Product Development and Vendor Management. Brian previously held management positions at Internap and MCI and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Matt Chabot is the EVP of Technology at Thrive. He oversees the technology that optimizes clients’ business application performance with Thrive’s NextGen Platform of Cloud, Security, Networking and Business Continuity services, powered by the automation and self-service capabilities of ServiceNow.
Most recently, Matt served as Chief Technology Officer at Tier1Net for more than 20 years before the company was acquired by Thrive in 2019. His extensive financial services expertise helps drive Thrive’s innovation and commitment, optimizing the performance of financial business applications for customers.
Matt is a CISSP with a certification in Kaseya and is Fortinet NSE4 certified. Matt graduated from Boston College where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree.
As Thrive’s EVP of Infrastructure, Stevens Demorcy oversees Thrive’s robust NextGen technology platform. He is responsible for the teams and technology that manage Thrive’s NextGen Platform of Cloud, Security, Networking and Business Continuity services all powered by the automation and self-service capabilities of ServiceNow.
Stevens has two decades of demonstrated information technology and services leadership experience. His expertise spans datacenter technology, disaster recovery, public / private cloud and cybersecurity. Stevens also has a passion for R&D, which allows him to create innovative solutions that meet or exceed client IT needs.
Before Thrive, Stevens held infrastructure leadership and engineering roles at RFA, a global IT, Cyber Security and Cloud provider to the financial services and alternative investment sectors.
Stevens graduated from Pace University in New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems.
Lee Slap is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Thrive. He has more than three decades of legal and leadership experience.
Before joining Thrive, Lee was General Counsel of a publicly-traded international telecommunications and distributed generation solar energy company. In addition to acting as the principal legal advisor to the Board, CEO, and executive management, he managed domestic and international M&A and investment transactions totaling over $1.5B in value.
Lee previously was a partner with a national law firm representing private equity and venture capital funds in a broad range of corporate transactions, including portfolio company investments, mergers and acquisitions, debt financings, recapitalizations and regulatory compliance.
He earned his Juris Doctor degree from The George Washington University Law School and Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Boston College.
Rich Gardiner leads Thrive’s global marketing operations, with responsibilities spanning the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific.
Before joining Thrive in July 2022, Rich served as Chief Marketing Officer for Edge Technology Group, where he was instrumental in building the brand and growing revenues for the global IT service provider by more than 37 percent during five years. Prior to Edge, Rich held various strategic marketing, branding and communications roles at General Electric. He has also served in account management and creative positions at advertising agencies from Main Street to Madison Avenue.
Rich holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication & Public Relations from Boston University. He lives in Bedford Hills, NY with his wife, their two children and their dog, Doug. In his free time, Rich likes to spend time with his family, illustrate, race motorcycles and sports cars and compete in obstacle course races.
As Thrive’s EVP of Project Delivery & Business Operations, Justin is responsible for creating, implementing, and managing Thrive’s customer onboarding processes. He focuses on creating protocols that can scale, do their jobs efficiently, and satisfy clients to the highest level.
Before Thrive, Justin spent more than 15 years at Eze Software leading and creating teams to match the pace of a growing business as Director of Product Engagement and Director of Consulting. Throughout his career, Justin has positively impacted every facet of the software industry. He has expertise in new target operating models, organizational management, software implementation, organizational management and more.
Justin earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Computer Science at Providence College. He received a High Tech MBA from Northeastern University.
Dave Sampson is the Vice President of Consulting Services at Thrive. He oversees Thrive’s Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) services and is a dedicated strategic advisor for customers regarding Next Generation Managed Services, including Cloud, Disaster Recovery and Cybersecurity.
Dave has held multiple industry leadership roles throughout his 18+ year career, including Senior Consulting Technical Solution Manager for IBM, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Itrica, CEO of Cloud Provider USA and Chief Technology Officer at ColoSpace.
In addition, Dave was named the first full-time technology leader for New England’s largest timeshare hospitality company, where he was responsible for technology operations and strategy for over 700 end users.
Dave received his MBA from Northeastern University in 2011. He graduated from Emerson College with a BS in Communication and Media Studies.
Foster Hardie is the Vice President of Digital Platform Architecture at Thrive. He is a hands-on enterprise software veteran and the technical executive leader for The Thrive Platform, powered by ServiceNow. Foster has gained industry recognition for his leadership in customizations and rollouts of ServiceNow’s IT Services Management (ITSM), Customer Service Management (CSM), Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and other modules in multi-domain MSP implementation.
In addition, he provides software and architecture expertise/input on strategic planning, execution, leads, and overhauls major processes that streamline efficiency and reduce costs while supporting Thrive’s aggressive growth.
Foster began his career at Thrive in 2008 where he started as the Director of Software Engineering and in 2020 was promoted to his current role. Before Thrive, he served in several software leadership positions where he built and managed business systems. Foster holds several industry certifications, including ServiceNow, Scrum Master, Project Management, and Microsoft SQL.
Foster earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and then gained a degree from The Citadel in Technical Project Management.
Stephanie Farrell is the Vice President of Marketing at Thrive. She is a marketing communications leader with more than 20 years of experience working in the technology and telecom industry. Stephanie’s expertise lies in building and enhancing brand awareness with a passion for being challenged to work in entrepreneurial environments, supporting and stimulating both direct and channel sales.
She manages, maintains, and implements the appropriate marketing initiatives to meet sales targets and exceed Thrive’s business goals. Her comprehensive, acquired skill set includes working and communicating within all levels of an organization, demonstrating strong attention to detail, and executing and achieving goals with little direction.
Stephanie received a degree in business from Becker College in Massachusetts.
Marc DesRoches is the Vice President of Employee Experience at Thrive. He oversees all aspects of human resources at Thrive, one of the fastest-growing outsourced IT providers in the U.S. with 12+ acquisitions since 2016.
Before Thrive, Marc was a Placement Consultant for an IT staffing company that focused on consulting and direct hire placement in a variety of industries, including healthcare, software, financial services, government, utility/energy, biotech/pharma, retail and education. He also served as a Legislative Liaison in the Massachusetts State Senate for several years.
Marc was named Commissioner of the Yawkey Baseball League, one of the finest amateur baseball leagues in the country. He also held the position of Director Travel Ball at the RBI Academy in Boston.
Marc earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Providence College in Rhode Island.
Chris Moore is the Vice President of Solutions Architecture at Thrive. He works with existing and prospective clients to architect the best-in-class compliant Cloud, Cybersecurity, Disaster Recovery and SD-WAN managed solutions.
During his more than 20-year career, Chris has assisted companies of all sizes to plan, develop, manage and implement business strategies through technology while building and leading IT teams.
He first joined Thrive in 2004 as a Senior Business Strategist and then held IT architecture and operations leadership positions at TriCore Solutions, Navisite, XOS Digital, and HiWired. Chris returned to Thrive in 2016 and now creates the vision and solutions that digitally transform companies securely and efficiently.
Chris has a Bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and also maintains multiple technical certifications including Fortinet, Cisco, Microsoft, and his Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
Ananta Hejeebu is the Managing Partner, Corporate Development at Thrive, focused on Mergers & Acquisitions. He assists with evaluating companies to join the Thrive family and helping them integrate operationally.
Ananta founded and led Howard Tech Advisors for 12 years before the company was acquired by Thrive in 2021. Prior to that, he was employee #7 at F5 Networks, serving in multiple roles from startup to global leader in application delivery over an 8-year period. Ananta has also held sales leadership roles with Workspace.com and Southwestern Company.
Ananta has 20+ years of sales, management, and leadership experience. In addition, he has demonstrated expertise in building repeatable, sustainable sales processes in both technology and direct-to-consumer markets.
Ananta earned his BS Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University and his MBA from Johns Hopkins University.
Meghan is the Vice President of Professional Services and manages onboarding new clients onto The Thrive Platform and large-scale implementation projects for strategic accounts. Over the years at Thrive, she has also managed the project managers, customer service groups, dispatch coordinators and project engineers.
Meghan began her career in retail operations as a district manager at a major grocery chain in New England. She then moved to Corporate IT Solutions and served as Director of Professional services before the company merged with Thrive in 2012. Since then, Meghan has spearheaded automating internal processes within the Project Delivery team, which allows the Thrive team to spend more time with customers in strategic conversations.
Meghan graduated from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She also holds ITIL and PMP certifications.
As Thrive’s Vice President of Technology, Integration, Jeff Boardman is responsible for integrating acquisitions on to the Thrive technology stack.
Jeff previously served as the Chief Technology Officer at Corporate IT Solutions before the company merged with Thrive in 2016. He was responsible for all technology solutions and helped architect the corporate data center.
Jeff is a lifelong technology guru. He has two decades of information technology and service leadership experience along with certifications in VMware, Microsoft, and other technology platforms.
Bill is the Vice President of Revenue Integration at Thrive. Bill previously served as Corporate IT Solutions CIO and played a critical role in growing the company into one of the top MSPs in the region. Before coming over to Corporate IT Solutions, he ran his own IT Consulting practice for more than five years servicing customers in the New England SMB marketplace. Bill has over 15 years’ experience in the IT Services industry and is a second generation technologist. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and holds several technical certifications, including Cisco, Microsoft and VMware.