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Tom Mercer_ President and CEO of designDATA

Tom Mercer

President and CEO
Dale Weaver

Dale Weaver

Chief Operating Officer

Erik Haas

Vice President of Business Development

Bridget Robinson

Director of Professional Services

Saul De Jesus

Director of Customer Service and Delivery

Denise West

Director of Internal Operations

Chris Ceccone

Director of Finance

Jason Stroud

Deputy Director of Infrastructure Services

Russ Coxe

Director of Data Center and Cloud Operations

Scott Richards

Director of Training and Microsoft 365 Programs

Jake Belcher

Jake Belcher

Director of Security and Compliance

Tom Mercer_ President and CEO of designDATA

Tom Mercer

President and CEO

Tom Mercer is the President and CEO of designDATA. He’s known for inventing, engineering and being a thought leader, setting the global stage for technology.

Before joining designDATA’s team, he started as a developer and quickly transitioned into product development. While he’s been working at Arctic IT alongside designDATA, he used to work at 3M Library Systems Business Unit. He worked closely with the leadership team, merging the sector with Bibliotheca and expanding the Cloud Library to several international markets. In turn, this increased the range of content, including audiobooks, magazines, comics and movies.

Tom has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University and a Master of Science in Management of Technology from the University of Minnesota.

Dale Weaver

Dale Weaver

Chief Operating Officer

Dale Weaver is Chief Operating Officer at designDATA. Dale joined the team to implement the proper framework for driving continuous improvement within the designDATA teams and their clients. He exudes a genuine enthusiasm with his executive leadership for building a strong organizational culture, and his positive energy is truly infectious. This service-oriented culture is highly recognized by the organizations and clients it serves – resulting in growth for all.

Dale has experienced remarkable success improving NPS scores, driving operational efficiency, and creating award-winning customer service programs in previous roles. Dale brings a true entrepreneurial spirit and “Can-Do” attitude with a proclivity for instant connection with the teams and clients around him. He leans on his leadership, military and corporate background to resolve immediate and future business challenges with focus, dedication, determination, and a passion for perfection.

Dale holds a Master’s in Business Administration, Telecommunications Management from the University of Dallas, a Bachelor of Business Administration, Business Management from Radford University, and has completed an Executive Development Program through the Wharton Institute of Executive Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Erik Haas

Vice President, Business Development

Erik Haas is Vice President of Business Development at designDATA. He is responsible for leading new business development, establishing partnerships, and managing key marketing initiatives. Erik and his team are focused on helping organizations choose the right professional IT solution that aligns with strategy, delivers promised outcomes and reliably supports their critical missions.

Prior to joining designDATA, Erik cofounded sb LiftOff, a middle market mergers and acquisitions firm dedicated to helping owners grow business value and transition ownership. Erik previously spent 7 years at AREVA, a multinational energy company. He served as manager of the business incubator, shaping the company’s new product development efforts to deliver the greatest positive impact for clients. The incubator drove $240M in new revenue during his tenure. He then led business development for the company’s cybersecurity division focused on protecting critical infrastructure. The business grew from $400K to $10.5M in under two years with his sales leadership.

Erik earned his degree in Finance and Investments from Baruch College at the City University of New York. He is a graduate of Leadership Fairfax, Past President of the Rotary Club of Herndon, and participates in a broad range of community service initiatives. He enjoys baseball, reading and spending time with his wife Lauren, son Mason and beagle Belle.

Bridget Robinson

Director of Professional Services

Bridget joined designDATA in 2018 as a Client Technology Manager before moving on to a Program Manager role. Because of her strategic orientation, leadership skills, client commitment and accountability, it was a natural fit for her to gravitate towards her current role as Director of Professional Services.

Bridget drives operational excellence for client onboarding, major projects, and service implementations for our clients. This includes the continuous improvement of company standards, performance and auditing processes, and close collaboration with the Business Development and Client Service Delivery teams to ensure outstanding customer experiences.

Bridget carries a bachelor’s degree in business and is Six Sigma Yellow Belt certified.

Saul De Jesus

Director of Customer Service and Delivery

In 2015, Saul joined designDATA as an engineer. He excelled in this role and was quickly promoted to Supervisor, then Client Technology Manager, Program Manager, and finally to the well-suited position as our Director of Customer Service and Delivery. Saul is also designDATA’s Microsoft Teams Telephony practice lead and assists customers in planning and migrating to Microsoft’s cloud-based corporate phone system.

Currently, Saul is responsible for leading the client service delivery teams. This commands close collaboration with engineers, client team leadership, and our professional services teams to ensure technical standards are met.

Saul carries several certifications, including Microsoft Teams and 365 Security, Apple ACMT, A+, and Ne+.

Denise West

Director of Internal Operations

After owning her own dance studio for 14 years, working as a legal assistant, and being designDATA’s Office Administrator for two years Denise West has joined the executive team as our Director of Internal Operations. This rich background brings great value to designDATA’s clients; Denise has perfected her leadership and organizational skills and brings an innovative, forward-thinking approach to everything she does.  

 Denise manages taking care of our people at designDATA. This includes onboarding, reviews, employee benefits, and other HR items. She is also responsible for our facilities and co-owns the development of our operating budgets with our Director of Finance and Administration, Chris Ceccone.

Denise holds a Bachelor of Fine Art, in dance from Wright State University, studied at The George Washington University for her Master’s in Paralegal Studies, and has a variety of fitness and personal trainer certifications.   

Chris Ceccone

Director of Finance

After seven years at designDATA working as Accounting Manager and now Director of Finance, Chris Ceccone embraces his position within the leadership of our organization. Before joining our accounting team, Chris gained extensive experience dealing with nonprofits. This experience has been highly valuable as designDATA specializes in delivering for the association and nonprofit sector. In addition, his proven ability to effectively strategize and implement systems and processes for long-term growth has contributed to his success in this role.

 Currently, Chris focuses on developing a successful direction for the Accounting Department at designDATA. He works directly with our leaders to create a strategy that adds value for our clients. This decision-making includes finding ways to increase efficiency, opportunities to increase profitability, and improving employee productivity and resource use.

Jason Stroud

Deputy Director of Infrastructure Services

Jason Stroud is Deputy Director of Infrastructure Services at designDATA. In 2010 he started on our Service Desk before moving on to User Support Manager for one of our of largest customers, Systems Administrator/Technical Account Manager, and Escalation Team Supervisor. With each of these roles Jason proved to be effective at meeting and exceeding customer expectations, maintaining industry best practices, and mentoring/collaborating with other team members.

As Deputy Director of Infrastructure Services, Jason is responsible for the overall day-to-day operations of the Shared Services team; setting and implementing the company’s tactical direction when it comes to new technology offerings for customers and our internal staff; and implementing technical standards and business processes in direct support of the client teams.

Jason holds certifications from CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco Meraki, Kaseya, VMware, Barracuda, and Sophos. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology and Information Assurance from the University of Maryland.

Russ Coxe

Director of Data Center and Cloud Operations

Russ has over 35 years of experience in the engineering and information technology fields and has been improving the technology experience of designDATA’s staff and clients for more than nine years. He started his career as an electrical engineer supporting US Navy defense initiatives; eventually, his interest in computerized data acquisition and processing systems led to a successful career in the information technology industry. 

Russ’ areas of expertise include data center design and construction, enterprise computing systems, storage arrays, backup solutions, and networking. He is a graduate of Penn State University and holds certifications from Microsoft, VMware, Veeam, Sophos, and CompTIA.

Scott Richards

Director of Training and Employee Engagement

Scott Richards joined designDATA in July 2017 as the Training and Development Manager. In this role, he plans and executes weekly webinars for clients and delivers onsite training as needed. Scott focuses on providing “communication excellence” and works hard to incorporate this into the training programs he develops for both designDATA clients and employees.

Prior to joining the company, Scott enjoyed a long and successful career with IBM. He began as an assembler programmer and product tester and eventually took on different roles such as customer support representative and presales software engineer. In 2002, Scott became a technical sales manager and was responsible for supervising a team of 16 employees. He also took on a secondary position as a training manager and continued to work in both roles throughout the remainder of his IBM career.

Scott is a Certified Microsoft Office Specialist trained in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word and is a member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Brown University.
Jake Belcher

Jake Belcher

Director of Security and Compliance

Jake Belcher is the Director of Security and Compliance at designDATA. He is responsible for leading our cybersecurity practice, staying up to date on the latest cybersecurity threats and the latest thought leadership in the cybersecurity industry. His top focus is designing and implementing countermeasures to protect our client’s and designDATA’s IT networks and data in a cost-effective, pragmatic manner.

Prior to leading the cybersecurity efforts at designDATA, Jake has worked for over 20 years in IT and cybersecurity across multiple industries including Big 4 consulting, financial services, healthcare and retail in both small and large enterprises. Jake comes to designDATA with many years of designing, implementing and maintaining comprehensive cybersecurity programs for numerous companies leveraging industry leading practices. Jake has led compliance efforts including HIPAA, HITRUST, PCI, SOX, SOC1 type II, SOC2 type II GDPR and CCPA. As such, he is well versed in leading cybersecurity frameworks such as NIST 800-53, NIST CSF, CoBIT and ISO 27001/2

Jake obtained an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business, two Bachelor degrees from Allegheny College and currently maintains CISSP, CISM, A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications.  

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