External IT

Mr. Matalon was one of the entrepreneurial pioneers of the cloud platform, IT outsourcing sector, dating back to 2000. (One of the External IT founding father "geeks.") His first venture into the field was as co-founder of Offyx, one of the first application service providers in the United States. The company was backed by IBM, Cisco, Oppenheimer Venture Funds, Millbrook Capital, and RKO.

In 2003 he co-founded External Network, served as VP of Sales, and was responsible for three consecutive years of 50%+ revenue growth. In 2005, David acquired Secure Global Networks, and in 2008, he acquired Dallas-based ETCI and Hostnet.

In Texas, Mr. Matalon restructured the companies, built a new operational hub and headquarters, and became CEO of External IT. Under his leadership, the company has continued to grow its client base and innovate its cloud service offerings.

In 2009, Technology Capital Investors was formed with Mr. Matalon as investor and advisor. Also in 2009, External IT launched intellectual property, OS33, as a separate company, licensing this equity to MSPs.

Mr. Matalon is a graduate of the New York University Stern School of Business and received his Masters degree from Columbia University.

"I'm typing this on my iPad, on a train, on a corporate file system, in the cloud, all via the Portal Desktop. Even I'm impressed, and I saw this day coming ten years ago. We're finally getting there."

When the subject turns to cloud services credentials, few people boast a more impressive list than David Kramer. For more than 30 years he has built and managed high performance global technology organizations, with teams that have performed at the forefront of cloud solutions.

His career began in the Air Force, serving as Computing and Communications Specialist. There he was responsible for design, installation and ongoing management of advanced communications systems, including the Defense Data Network (DDN) the military version of the "internet".

From there, he accepted a position at Alcatel as Senior Manager of Global Network and Helpdesk Services. His team tackled the design, integration, support and administration of WAN/LAN technologies, including VoIP, IVR, Unified Messaging, and automated system deployment.

In 1999, Data Return, LLC came calling and he took on the challenge of creating and leading a global operations and engineering organization. The outcome was the emergence of one of the first Windows hosting companies in the world. He followed up by leading the engineering team that developed Data Return Cloud Services, contributing to over $20 million in annual revenues, and the ultimate sale to Terremark.

Recently, Mr. Kramer has held the positions of Vice President of Sales Engineering and Client Services for Incentra Solutions, a privately-held cloud storage and backup firm in Boulder, Colorado, and Senior Vice President of Product Development for SourceCorp, a leading business process SaaS provider.

Along the way Mr. Kramer has earned a well-deserved reputation for assisting companies in developing IT strategies that deliver measurable results, immediate and long-term.

You'll find him frequently lecturing on computing advancements, and is active in the Dallas technology VC community.

"There are really smart ways to build cloud IT solutions, and complicated, less than smart ways to do it. Every company is different, but there are some big, fundamental things that work, or don't work so well, across the board. In the end, it's all about walking the dog. For some people, the dog is cost efficiencies. For others, it's security, or flexibility--scaling up and down. For lots of folks it's easy IT administration capabilities, or the ability for their people to work, and network, from any Internet link in the world. I say, 'Why walk just one dog when you can walk them all?"

Over the years, Michael Davis has earned a reputation as one of the nation's leading authorities on IT security. The list of companies that rely on his counsel includes AT&T, GroupOn, the US Department of Defense, and Discover Financial.

In 2005 Mr. Davis founded Savid Technologies. By 2010 it was number 611 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America.

Mr. Davis was a contributing author to Hacking Exposed, the best selling security book in the world, and has recently penned Hacking Exposed: Malware and Rootkits.

He has worked with McAfee, Inc., a leader in anti-virus protection and vulnerability management, and held the position of Senior Manager of Global Threats, leading a team of researchers investigating confidential and cutting edge security research.

You will find his advice in InformationWeek where he is a Senior Contributing Author, and in Information Week Analytics. His insights can also be found in the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Davis's particular expertise extends to topics such as the relationship between security and compliance, application security, penetration testing/ethical hacking, risk assessment, policy development, and software security development life cycles.

Much of his time is spent lecturing, and conferences and conventions know him well, including Blackhat, InfoSecWorld, Interop and CanSecWest. He is also an active developer in the Open Source community.

"The phrase "I can't" is the most powerful force of negation in the human psyche. When done properly, security controls enable IT to say "we can".

Mr. Garber joined External IT in 2009 as VP/Sales Director. He came to the company with a reputation as being someone who understands technology well, and is particularly good at discussing it in clear and relevant terms.

Prior to joining External IT, Mr. Garber was Senior Vice President of Sales for IT Operations Outsourcing at Data Return (acquired by Terremark in 2007) from 2004-2007. In his first three years at Data Return he served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, overseeing sales initiatives in North America and Europe.

His career in technology includes holding the position of VP for Sales and Business Development at ChromaVision Medical Systems, Inc., a manufacturer of medical imaging systems, and was part of the management team who took the company public.

He has worked for Eastman Kodak, as well as Hughes Network Systems, Inc.

"Many things make us different, and better. The one fact that I think says the most: ninety-eight percent of the clients who have ever worked with External IT still work with External IT. Not bad."

Mr. James is a rare, and particularly valuable commodity in the world if IT. His knowledge set lives at the intersection of technology and business.

On the IT side, he has held titles that include Director of Client Delivery for Alliance Data-- responsible for IT infrastructure delivery covering both internal and external clients, across mainframe and distributed systems--to Senior Operations Manager, ACNielsen. In this role he managed operational groups responsible for client interface to capture, point-of-sale data, from 46,000 stores weekly.

His IT credentials also include Director of Core IS-South. There, his team monitored, supported, and maintained the infrastructure serving 700,000 customers, generating revenue of $1.2 billion.

On the business side of his business card, Mr. James has experience as Category Business Planner/Manager for ACNielsen, Electronic Investing Consultant for Fidelity Investments, and Brand Manager for Norwest Financial, all of which is enhanced by an Executive Mini-MBA from the University of Chicago.

In the summer of 2012, Mr. James will additionally receive an Executive MBA from Baylor University.

At External IT, he leverages his range of knowledge and insight by working with every operational group that touches our customers. These include Migrations, Application Support and Account Management. Ultimately, it is his job to help ensure that everything runs smoothly, and that External IT brings a customer-needs perspective to every internal conversation, and decision--technical and otherwise--and does so every day.

"Every company has a Client Services department, but those companies that develop the strongest client relationships consider client service to be at the core of everything they do. It is woven into the fabric of how a business is constructed, and guides even small ways in which it operates."

Mr. Pettus sets the standard for the External IT Help Desk. The concept of treating every client as if they were your only client is fundamental to who he is.

Joining External IT in 2004, Mr. Pettus stands as one of the longest-serving members of the External IT management team. He has played a leading role in building what is often talked about as one of the most well-respected support groups in the IT outsourcing world.

His IT background dates to his days at Washington University working as Support Engineer. Before joining External IT he also worked in a number of customer service positions. Among those, serving as Manager for the Body Shop stores in both Denver and Manhattan markets. His organizational, trouble shooting and people skills were such that he also teamed with two Regional Directors helping to oversee both East Coat and Midwest operations.

"We are not simply selling a widget, we are serving a critical, technical, and often times time-sensitive partnership role. We're a high-skilled group that prides itself on having the answers, and, ironically, making people actually look forward to getting in touch."

In Mr. Kelemen's role as Application Support Director he oversees the department that designs and deploys software environments for on-boarding clients. It's his team that also expands, upgrades, and troubleshoots client software packages.

Well schooled, he holds a MS in Business Administration from Budapest University of Economics. He has a CPA certification in Hugary, and is Certified in Microsoft and VMware technologies.

Mr. Keleman's prior position was Senior Systems Engineer with CGS, a large New York-based software firm serving international apparel clients. His team was responsible for designing and implementing systems used by Urban Outfitters, Marc Jacobs, Haggar, Diane von Furstenberg, and other national names.

Prior to CGS, he served as Senior Business Analyst at Online Business Technologies, Ltd., managing a team responsible for designing accounting and reporting modules for financial institutions.

Mr. Kelemen is more than at home with technologies ranging from thin client application deployment, server and storage virtualization, enterprise-class database management systems, security, encryption, performance tuning, and more.

"Logic. Patience. Determination. A sense of humor. These are basically the tools every technical person needs to bring with them to work each day."

Mr. Fields describes himself as "The keeper of the brand personality." This not only means expressing to the world what the External IT values are, or highlighting the company's technical capabilities, but shaping the way the company sees itself.

Over the years Mr. Fields has worked as writer, Creative Director, and Strategic Planner for a wide range of clients including IBM, NISSAN, Foster's Beer, and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

He has been a guest speaker at Michigan State University, North Carolina State, Columbia College in Chicago, the School of Visual Arts in New York, and has written for Communication Arts Magazine.

He places a premium on the art side of the art-meets-commerce equation, and views the role of advertising, and brand building, as more than making a sale, but helping a company connect with people in meaningful ways.

"Marketing has moved past the era of selling, past the era of servicing and has now entered the era of collaboration. Though unconventional, one of my goals is to find ways in which our own marketing helps our clients to grow their businesses as well."