"Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal."
- Vince Lombardi
"Verticomm has been managing our technology for more than ten years and with their Office Everywhere solution we have been able to focus on caring for our patients rather than our IT."
"We have had the pleasure of working with Verticomm for well over nine years now. They not only provide excellent customer service, but also possess outstanding technical skills on a wide variety of platforms."
Eric Nastri, CEO and Rich Kennedy, President
Eric is the founder and CEO of Verticomm Technologies. In taking Verticomm from a technology reseller company in 1999 to a Tier-4 provider of cloud services Eric has used his technical expertise as well as his business development skills garnered from positons at all levels in the IT industry. He began his IT career in the mid 1980's, manufacturing and assembling high-tech add-on circuit boards for PC's at Persyst in California. He then became an account executive for PacTel Infosystems, where he provided design, implementation, and post sales support for local and wide area networks while building his knowledge of manufacturers including AST Computers, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Cisco, 3COM, Microsoft, and Novell.
Eric was the Reseller Account Manager at AST Computer, a Fortune 500 Company based in Irvine, CA, in the early 1990's where he led development and marketing efforts for AST's first Intel-based multiprocessor computer servers. In taking this product nationwide he was in charge of both reseller authorizations and OEM negotiations. In 1997 Eric moved to Colorado and managed Navidec Inc's infrastructure startup as a computer reseller, estblishing credit, vendor authorizations and relationships, and technical services contracts.
Eric's solid foundation of technical knowledge, corporate sales and account management enabled him to start his own company in 1999, and grow Verticomm from a reseller of networking equipment and services to a technology management provider. Verticomm has been adept at staying at the forefront of technology for the business sector, moving from PC's and networks to hosted voice and data solutions, including cloud services and VoIP business phone systems.
Rich brings a wealth of leadership knowledge and experience with him in his role as President. His career spans over twenty years of creating business services and partnerships in the technology management industry. Rich has worked for and with technology consultants, engineers, resellers, system integrators, and application developers in Colorado. He has worked or partnered with countless technology manufacturers and service providers, including Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Sun Microsystems, Peoplesoft, Novell, Qwest, Level 3, Cisco Systems, Dell, AT&T and IBM. He has served hundreds of Colorado clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies with 50,000 employees to small businesses with 15 employees. In addition to his focus on providing clients with technology-based solutions, he founded an investment company in 1995 to place private equity into Colorado's burgeoning technology sector, and in 1999, he served as President and CEO of a startup company that provided web hosting and application services.
Rich was a Vice President and Managing Director for the Denver practice of Greenbrier & Russel Inc, a national business technology consultancy with nine offices in the US and over $60 million in annual revenue. Greenbrier & Russel specializes in business intelligence and custom application development. In addition, Rich led the Denver practice of The Revere Group, another national business technology consultancy with five offices and over $50 million in revenue. The Revere Group's focus was package application implementation and e-business consulting. Rich was the Director of Strategic Business for a leading Colorado network and system integration company and was responsible for projects with national and local clients totaling over $25 million in annual revenue.
In 2002 Rich founded ROI TekPartner, a technology management company. He provided strategic vision and spearheaded marketing and business development. He also served ROI TekPartner's clients as a resource in the areas of business and IT alignment, business process re-engineering and outsourcing, and strategic initiative consulting. In 2011 Rich merged his company with Verticomm to focus his efforts on the cloud services industry.
Rich's career began with Ernst and Young; he earned a CPA designation while working in a variety of industries. In 1990, he shifted his focus to marketing and business development within the technology industry.
Rich received a Bachelors of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame, graduating with high honors, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Columbia University, also graduating with high honors.
