Education: Plattsburgh State University

First Job: In High School, I began working summers as a laborer on a swimming pool installation crew, often logging 70–80 hour weeks. It taught me lessons early on about work ethic and responsibility.

First “Real” Job: My first role after college was selling business phone systems (PBXs) to SMB clients for NYNEX in New York. It was classic, boots-on-the-ground sales—cold calling, door-knocking, and learning quickly how to prospect effectively, handle rejection, and be resilient.

Business Philosophy

Essential Business Philosophy: When integrity guides your actions, trust follows. I strive to lead with transparency, deliver with consistency, and make choices that create long-term value for the customer and for our company.

Best way to keep a competitive edge: Stay as close as you can to the customer—understanding their evolving needs, challenges, and priorities better than anyone else. Pair that with a culture that embraces accountability, agility, and continuous improvement, and you create a winning formula.

Yardstick of success: Success is tied to the value delivered to my customers over the years. If we’re solving real problems, earning trust, and becoming strategic partners—not just vendors—then we’re winning in the right way.

Goal yet to be achieved: Doubling the size of IMS by 2030

Judgment Calls

Best Decision: Accepting my first “real job” with NYNEX in 1987 which not only led me to meeting my wife (of 35 years) but also set me on an incredible journey within the infrastructure technology field.

Worst Decision: I’ve certainly made decisions in my career that didn’t lead to the results I hoped for but I try not to frame them as ‘worst decisions’—I see them as part of the process of learning, improving, and evolving.

Toughest Decision: Parting ways with team members who were unwilling to adapt to the evolving demands of the business. It’s never easy to deliver that message, but leadership requires making hard choices in order to ensure the team and company move forward.

Mentor: My Mentors know who they are as I frequently talk to them and continue to learn from their experience and wisdom. I would be remiss if I did not place my parents at the top of the list as they were extremely supportive and great role models for my family and me over the years.

Personal Interests: Anything sports related, UCONN Huskies, trips and gatherings with my family, being the Sherpa for my wife’s Ironman triathlon events, hiking on weekends with our dog Mandy, free-diving off the coast of New England.

Connect with John