VP of IT at Cortavo by Aventis Systems
THE STORY: Originally, I’m from Los Angeles. How I got into what I do is an interesting story. When I was a kid, there was a movie called “Congo” that had a scene where people were running satellite video uplinks for video feeds to watch gorillas. That’s where my tech fascination really began.
Eventually, I landed my first gig in IT at the age of 14 building computers for a small company near where I grew up. I later attended the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, learned the industry formally and launched my career in IT. I’ve held roles at CBS, CDW, and iVision. Eventually, I was hired at Aventis Systems, an IT hardware and software provider catering to small to mid-sized businesses.
WHY I CREATED CORTAVO: Well, Aventis Systems is popular, but our customers also wanted intangible services like migration, on-site help, office IT services, training, and warranty support. A fully managed IT solution had taken shape in their minds. And for my part, I had an itch to reimagine IT support. Finally, where my vision aligned with customer demand became Cortavo.
I wanted to provide people with the very solution they wanted minus the all-too-common fear of using it. My colleagues and I strive to provide real IT solutions and support, versus just being another vendor to call. We also want to be present for IT planning, projects, investment and advice — not just when something breaks. Our passion is helping others like us succeed in an area where they might not be the most confident. Folks can focus on their business’ core competency while we focus our core competency on their business.
WHY I CHOSE TO LIVE IN COBB: It was really the commute that clinched it for me; it has highway access while feeling like suburbia in the same stroke.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB? Transitioning from enterprise giants to small to mid-sized businesses puts me in contact with those very customers on a daily basis, and I feel like the relationships are stronger, work is valued, and so my team and I put in even more. In the end, I get to empower small businesses with the knowledge and resources they need to go to work every day and crush it.
LEISURE TIME: From time to time, I ramble over to Glover Park, listen to live music and sample the local brewery. And it’s fun to just shoot the breeze in Marietta Square with my girlfriend, Shannon.
BEST ADVICE: My advice to readers that might be looking for an IT resource is to be careful who you choose. Make sure you put forward the due diligence of asking the questions that are pertinent to your business such as: how can you help with increasing our productivity? What can you do to ensure my email doesn’t get hacked? What other services do you provide that come at an additional cost? On the pricing front, always be leery of low introductory rates, because a lot of essentials that weren’t mentioned on the front end might rebound as surprise add-ons.
WHAT’S NEXT? We’re expanding our overall features to include more products that people use in their office. Namely, we’ll be adding CrowdStrike to secure another layer of defense to better protect our clients. Locally, we’ll be helping Cobb County small businesses gain a sound and scalable technology solution as we grow.
189 Cobb Pkwy N Suite B7, Marietta, GA 30062 • tom@cortavo.com • 866-CORTAVO • www.cortavo.com
