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Gia McNutt,
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
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Lawrence McNutt,
Chief Operations Officer
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Rob Thornton,
Chief Technology Officer
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Patrick Wefers,
Business Practice Manager, Carrier Services
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Jim Bass,
Director of Managed and Microsoft Services
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Reba Bullard,
Director of Help Desk Services
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Michelle Pizzo,
Manager of Marketing & Inside Sales
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COMING SOON
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Ari Azad,
Supervisor of Network Operations Center
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COMING SOON
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Michael Trethowan,
Supervisor of NEC Team
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Gia McNutt, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Gia McNutt is an expert in technology solutions for business. The company she co-founded in 1992, SOS, helps organizations leverage advanced communications technology to serve customers better, work smarter, and increase profits. Her staff of 43 serves a roster of 300+ clients, including the largest city travel and tourism web site in the world.
McNutt has served as an invited speaker at dozens of business leadership events. In 2006, she was a regional winner in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year awards and in 2011 SOS was nominated as an A+ Employer by Sacramento Business Journal. Cisco Systems continues to award SOS its Customer Service Excellence designation year over year. The Sacramento Business Journal named SOS one of Sacramento's 100 Fastest Growing Companies, and Prosper magazine named one of Sacramento's Top Ten Companies to Watch. SOS was also listed as Sacramento Business Journal's Top 25 Women-Owned Businesses. Client VEGAS.com received a national technology innovation award for an SOS-implemented solution.
Affiliations:
Big Brothers Big Sisters, Sacramento - 6yr Board Member; 2009 Chair Elect
Sierra College CACT Board - past member
American River College Foundation Board - past member
VentureTech Advisory Council - past member
VAR Business Advisory Board - past member
Cisco Commercial Channel Advisory Board - past member
Nor Cal Contact Center Association - Steering Committee - past member
Contact Center Networking Group - Bay Area Chapter Steering Committee Member
McNutt holds a B.A. from Webster University.
Read about Gia McNutt in Prosper Magazine
Hear Gia sound off on Cisco and SMB technology
Ask Gia McNutt a question about SOS services
Request a comment from Gia McNutt
Invite Gia McNutt to speak
Learn about careers at SOS
Stay up to date with email updates from SOS
Lawrence McNutt, Chief Technology Officer, Co-Founder
Lawrence McNutt is co-founder and SOS' Chief Operations Officer. McNutt has personally guided 200+ companies through deployment of solutions for converging voice, data, and business processes into one system. His teams have designed and implemented more than 1,000 state of the art advanced communications and data center systems, connecting tens of thousands of users throughout the United States and around the world.
Projects have ranged from global IP contact centers to 10-person help desks with multimedia routing, custom IVR's, and CTI integration. His key innovation is the development of migration strategies from TDM to IP telephony, which has been fundamental to SOS's success in converged communications. McNutt also has developed a methodology for teaching data engineers the voice business, and for teaching voice engineers the data business -- something not dealt with in schools. In addition to advanced data center solutions, including virtualization, storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, McNutt also focuses on contact center solutions, serving up multi-media, mobile, consumer-driven strategies to create competitive advantage, enabling the clients SOS serves to meet their customer needs now and into the future.
McNutt has served on the Ingram Micro CTI Council, the NEC America VAR Council, and the Interactive Intelligence Advisory Council.
Certifications/Qualifications:
Telecommunications administration
Certification in Advanced Telecommunications
Cisco certified design associate
Cisco IP telephony design specialist
Enterprise voice-over-data design
NEC certified engineer
Interactive Intelligence certified systems engineer
Nor Cal Contact Center Association - Steering Committee Member
Contact Center Networking Group - Bay Area Chapter Steering Committee Member
McNutt holds a B.S. degree from California Polytechnic State University.
Read about Lawrence McNutt in CONVERGENCE
Ask Lawrence McNutt a question about SOS solutions and service
Listen to the Podcasts: SOS Clients share how Unified Communications works in the real world
Rob Thorton, Chief Technology Officer
Rob Thornton, Chief Technology Officer, knows computers from the inside out. Back in 1992 he went to work for a used-computer retailer, where he learned how to part out and refurbish mainframes and dumb terminals.
Soon his focus expanded to managed services for messaging and financial systems, as well as server and desktop support. That introduced Thornton to the consulting and networking side of the business, and the whole area of teaching business applications.
In 1999, he was hired at SOS. In time, Thornton took over the service manager job at SOS, then moved to heading the Microsoft Business Practice. He became the Cisco Business Practice Manager in 2004. He became head of the new Managed Services Practice in 2007 and continues to oversee the Microsoft Business Practice from Sacramento, CA. In 2010, Thornton took over as Chief Technology Officer, guiding the key technology principles and practices for SOS, as well as providing mentorship and oversight to the departmental leaders of the SOS Engineering Teams.
Certifications/Qualifications:
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
Citrix Certified Administrator
Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator
Interactive Intelligence IC Handler Development
Cisco Certified Network Associate
Cisco Certified Security Professional
Cisco Qualified Specialist - Cisco Firewall Specialist
Cisco Qualified Specialist - Cisco Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) Specialist
Cisco Qualified Specialist - Cisco Information Security Specialist
Cisco Qualified Specialist - Cisco Unity Support Specialist
Cisco Qualified Specialist - Virtual Private Network (VPN) Specialist
Cisco Qualified Specialist - SFS
Read about Rob Thornton in CONVERGENCE
Ask Rob Thornton about SOS Managed IT solutions
Ask Rob Thornton about SOS Microsoft solutions
Patrick Wefers, Business Practice Manager, Carrier Solutions Practice
Heading SOS's Carrier Services Division is Patrick Wefers. He brings 18 years of telecommunications experience to the job, starting at AT&T in equipment sales.
After five years he moved over to the carrier side of the industry. He has since worked in sales, engineering, operations and management AT&T, MCI/WorldCom and XO Communications. Through the Carrier Services division at SOS, Wefers helps clients work with their communications service providers, acting as a broker and directly representing SOS clients with more than 30+ different carriers.
Read about Patrick Wefers in CONVERGENCE
Ask Patrick Wefers about SOS carrier services
Jim Bass, Director of Managed & Microsoft Services
Jim is Director of Managed & Microsoft Services at SOS. He stays on the bleeding edge of advanced networking technologies in order to deliver best-in-class advice and solution designs for our clients. In addition, Jim leads the teams of over 15 full-time Microsoft and Managed Services Engineers, ensuring customers always come first.
Prior to SOS, Jim was responsible for designing & implementing enterprise-wide Windows initiatives for California’s major oil and energy utility, Calpine, which included over 2,000 employees, 2 major data centers, and hundreds of remote sites. Jim joined the SOS Team in 2006 as Convergence Engineer, designing smart solutions for clients’ Microsoft Exchange, SQL, Active Directory, server virtualization and storage environments.
Certifications/Qualifications:
Microsoft Windows Server
Microsoft Active Directory
Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Networking Essentials
Microsoft for Small and Medium-sized Business
Dell EqualLogic Storage Specialist
VMware ESX and vSphere
Citrix remote access & virtualization
HP Storage
Reba Bullard, Director of Customer Support
Reba is Director of Customer Support at SOS. She ensures the help desk dispatch and project coordinator teams consistently exceed the needs of our service customers. With an eye on productivity and efficiency, it’s no wonder SOS customer service scores are top notch.
Reba has been focused on efficient operations her entire career. Prior to SOS, she engineered processes and procedures for a technology equipment manufacturing organization. With extensive knowledge of Six Sigma Principles, she established reports and standards for the organization while partnering with multi-national corporations, like Hewlett Packard. Reba joined the SOS team in 2006, and has spent time supporting the Trader Joe’s National Account and other top service clients.
Michelle Pizzo, Manager of Marketing & Inside Sales
Michelle is the Manager of Marketing & Inside Sales at SOS. She ensures a connection between the SOS marketing efforts and the sales team members, including coordinating events, developing case studies, award submissions, marketing collateral and more. She supports the Inside Sales Team through continuous process development, documentation and training.
Michelle earned her Bachelors Degree in Business Administration at CSU Sacramento before joining the SOS team. Throughout her college career, Michelle worked in various office positions, honing her administrative and organizational skills. Michelle joined the SOS team in 2005, and has enjoyed supporting various client accounts, sales teams and exploring opportunities to share all about what SOS can do!
Affiliations & Qualifications:
Nor Cal Contact Center Association
Contact Center Networking Group
Cisco Northern CA Users Group
Inside Sales Management Group
Delta Sigma Pi: Co-ed Business Fraternity
Pizzo holds a B.S. degree from California State University, Sacramento.
Read about Michelle in CONVERGENCE
Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn
'Like' SOS on Facebook
Ari Azad, Supervisor of Network Operations Center
Ari Azad supervises the Network Operations Center at SOS. He sets standards for how the SOS Help Desk Team operates and collaborates with other department leaders to ensure customer needs are not only met, but exceeded. Ari continues to keep an eye on training and development as he supports his team of 10+ NOC Engineers and Support Specialists. His dedication and hard work has earned him the respect of his peers and fellow leaders.
After many years of experience as a Systems Engineer/Administrator, Ari joined SOS Sacramento headquarters in 2010.
Read NOC Tech Tips in the SOS Blog
'Like' SOS on Facebook
Michael Trethowan, Supervisor of NEC Team
Michael Trethowan supervises the NEC Telephony Team at SOS and has an extensive background in Telephony and Data Networks. Prior to working at SOS, Michael worked at NEC in the communications division for over 7 years. He was an intricate part of the nationwide deployment, leading to a worldwide infrastructure. Throughout his career, Michael has designed and implemented enterprise-level Call Centers with multiple remote locations. Michael’s diverse knowledge base and his ability to collaborate with customers allow him to implement the most appropriate solution design, customized to each business he serves. He is committed to advancing in his field, continuing his education while focusing on leading edge technologies.
Michael supports the SOS NEC Engineering Team by ensuring each team member has the knowledge and tools to solve complex support issues.
Certifications/Qualifications:
NEC-NEAX2400NEAX
NEC-2000IPS, IPS Trunking, Peer to Peer, IPS-DM
NEC-SV8300 Advanced
NEC-SV8100 Advanced
ICCE-Interaction Center Certified Engineer 3.0
IOCE-Interaction Optimizer Certified Engineer (Pending)
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