: : : Leadership Team

Functional Leadership

Patrick Stewart
Chief Executive Officer
Patrick Stewart brings over 25 years of Fortune 500 executive management, company growth and CIO experience to Pepperweed. Most recently, Patrick served as the Chairman of the Board for GSP Consulting and was co-founder and managing director of Idea Foundry, a business accelerator creating and funding over 30 early stage technology companies. His leadership experience extends into his service with Pittsburgh-based MetalSite as CEO and ScrapSite as co-founder and chairman. Prior to MetalSite, Patrick was the CIO/EVP of Technology at Weirton Steel Corporation, the fourth largest steel company in North America during that time.

Greg Downer, Vice President, IT Management Consulting
Greg Downer is a Master certified ITIL Service Management consultant and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) with extensive, hands-on experience spanning the breadth of IT, including Application Development, Operations, Engineering, Security and Internal Audit. This combination of expertise and experience in the field, enables Greg to design and implement IT processes which provide signficant operational improvement and fully comply with regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.

Rick Langsford, Vice President, Technical Solutions
Rick has been at the “tip of the spear” designing and implementing Pepperweed IT service and infrastructure management solutions for the last 10 years. During his tenure with Pepperweed, Rick has also held prior positions in consulting, sales, integration and R&D. Prior to Pepperweed, Rick held application development and senior analyst positions with Navistar International and Eli Lilly. An extensive background in development, management software and IT process gives Rick an “in the trench” perspective when helping clients navigate through the complexities of transforming IT into a business aligned service. Rick is active in the IT management business community, speaking at industry conferences and participating in vendor and customer advisory boards.

Sam Melehy, Senior Vice President, Support Services and Federal Business
Sam Melehy has over 20 years experience in consulting, consulting management, support services, business management, sales and alliances. Prior to Pepperweed, Sam was Managing Partner and principle owner of JCube, a premier partner of Peregrine Systems in North America (JCube was acquired by Pepperweed in 2006). While at JCube, Sam developed consulting practices and resale channels for IT Service, IT Asset and Facilities Management solutions. This included development of partnerships with Peregrine, Hewlett Packard, Altiris, Knowledgebrokers and TRIRIGA. Prior to JCube, Sam spent 10 years with Peregrine Systems, a major software company specializing in IT Service and Asset management solutions, where he held the position of Vice President of Worldwide Professional Services, overseeing consulting and education services in 30 countries. Sam also held the position of Vice President of Global Operations for Peregrine’s Xanadu business unit, a self-maintaining, appliance-based IT Service and Asset management solution. Sam also served as Vice President Technical Services for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Peregrine, and, prior to that, held various operational positions with Alcoa.

Ray Ramey , Senior Vice President, Administration
Ray joined Pepperweed as VP Corporate Development and as a member of its Board of Directors in 2006, bringing extensive management and ownership experience in startup and high growth businesses in North America and Europe. Most recently, Ray was co-Founder and CEO of InterTECH Security, a leading commercial electronic security systems integrator. Prior to starting InterTECH, Ray was a partner and executive at Herzog-Hart Corp, a Boston based architectural design and construction management firm. Ray has held senior management positions with Digital Equipment, ABB and CDI Corporation. He has extensive experience in strategic and tactical analysis and planning, with specialized expertise in financial analysis and mergers and acquisitions which were extensively relied upon during Pepperweed’s acquisition of JCube Consulting Services in 2006.

David Baker, Senior Vice President, Human Resources
David has extensive experience in the creation and implementation of strategic HR processes and systems including, recruitment, employee development, performance management, employee relations, compensation and benefits programs. He was most recently Partner, Human Capital at Adams Capital Management (ACM), a national venture capital firm with $800 million+ under management. He was responsible for assisting portfolio companies with executive recruitment and providing human capital consulting services on a variety of issues. Prior to joining Adams Capital, he was the Director of Human Resources and Recruitment for the billion-dollar BATG Division of ADC Telecommunications, Inc.  David also served as Director of Human Resources for TCI Cable and QED Communications. David began his career with the Carborundum Company in Niagara Falls, and later joined the Swiss aerospace firm Contraves Goerz Corporation, where he was a Human Resource Manager in their Charlotte North Carolina operations.

Gary Mitcheltree , Vice President, Finance
Gary Mitcheltree brings over 20 years of senior financial management experience to Pepperweed Consulting. He has a proven record of successfully guiding high growth technology companies from the earliest stages through introduction to public markets. His background includes raising private equity funding, acquisitions, and expansion into international markets. Prior to joining Pepperweed, Gary was the Chief Financial Officer of Carnegie Learning in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to that, he was the Chief Financial Officer of ECI Telecom Data Networking Division, where he focused on the integration of the financial operations of a private to public company after the successful acquisition of Laurel Networks by ECI Telecom. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Finance for Laurel Networks, where he guided the financial operations from start-up to acquisition and helped raise over $100M in private equity funding. He held other various financial roles with FORE Systems, Ampco-Pittsburgh, and Ernst & Young.

Jim Murphy, Director, Technical Solutions
Before joining Pepperweed Consulting, Jim helped develop and run an enterprise management consulting practice. He also held various consulting and internal technical architectural positions at businesses located in the Chicago area. Jim sits on the advisory board of Kingsport Capital and Crestview funds. He has also served as President of the Chicago OpenView users group. During his tenure at Pepperweed, Jim has led many successful IT management implementations at Fortune 500 companies across the United States and Canada.

Markus Schweizer, Director, Center of Excellence
Markus Schweizer is an industry recognized expert in IT management, with 19 years of experience of systems engineering and product management for IBM as well as Business Development and Management Consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting in Europe & North America. Markus created and lead PwC’s Global Center of Excellence for Systems and Service Management in Bethesda, Maryland. He was responsible for developing key methodologies and solution sets being leveraged globally today. Markus built vendor alliances and served as an International Subject Matter Expert for IT Process Management and Strategy. He has successfully designed and implemented IT Management programs for Fortune 500 companies throughout Europe and the United States. Most recently, Markus developed two Service Management practices for Computer Associates and Protiviti . Markus is a co-author of the book “Dynamic Management in the 21st Century – a Guide for CIOs” (Zurich, 2000) and regularly speaks on IT and ITIL at numerous conferences in the US and Europe. He has been an ITIL-certified Service Manager since 2001.

Dutch Sullivan, Director, Technical Solutions
Dutch is a Senior Manager with over 15 years experience in Global Information Systems Consulting, Implementation and Project Management. Dutch's background includes building and running consulting practices in the areas of IT Service and Asset Management, application development and implementation. He specializes in the management, delivery, technical architecture and integration of solutions supporting the ITIL standards and processes for Fortune 500 companies, utilizing his in depth knowledge of the HP/Peregrine technology framework. Dutch continues to provide value- added consulting for the global implementations of Consolidated Service Desk and IT Asset Management solutions enabling IT Process automation.

Cory Watson, Director, Support Center
Cory Watson has over 18 years experience in the IT industry. He began his career in software development, working for a number of Fortune 500 organizations. Before joining Pepperweed Cory, worked as a senior consultant specializing in network, systems, database, and enterprise systems management. Cory's diverse experience in the field and a track record of successful engagements provide a solid working knowledge of IT Management infrastructure and processes.

Alex Ryals, Director, Research and Development
With almost 10 years in the Enterprise Management industry, Alex has served as a customer, consultant, Solution Architect, HP OpenView Integration Product Manager and Director of R&D. This natural career progression has given Alex a unique understanding of the Enterprise Management space and the ability to architect a wide variety of customer solutions. Specializing in the HP OpenView suite of tools, Alex has served as a speaker for past OpenView conference events and currently holds over 8 OpenView certifications. Most recently, Alex was selected to run the Pepperweed Software Development organization which develops integration solutions for the HP Software portfolio.

Stevie Peterson, Director, Project Management Office
Through integrating the disciplines of organization development, process improvement and project management, Stevie helps organizations rapidly achieve their strategic objectives through assessment, consultation, education/training, and customized interventions.  Stevie earned a Master’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities in Human Resource Development with specialization in organization development and holds a graduate certification in Program Management and Leadership from the Daniels College of Business, Denver, Colorado. In addition, Stevie holds the PMP (Project Management Professional) designation from the Project Management Institute and has earned the ITIL Manager’s (Master’s) certificate, marked with Distinction. She has also completed Green Belt training in 6 Sigma.

Michael Robinson, Director, IT Management Consulting
Michael Robinson, prior to joining Pepperweed, established a successful 12-year career specializing in managing ITAM outsourcing and consulting services for numerous Fortune 500 companies. His experience and vast knowledge also transcend on in-house practices for large companies.
He has focused his expertise on ITAM Transition Management, IT Audit, Relationship Management, Off-Shore Staffing, Steady State Operations, Transition Cost Modeling, Policies & Procedures, Asset Management and Configuration Management Implementations.  Before joining Pepperweed, Michael lead ACS’s first Asset Management / Configuration Management department by building the practice from the bottom up. Prior, he also lead Ernst & Young’s first Asset Management department, designed and documented all new Policies and Procedures Manual and was responsible for the life cycle of technology equipment used by Ernst & Young LLP.

Ari Tomboulides, Director, IT Management Consulting
Ari brings 24+ years of very broad IT management experience both in industry and consulting, focused on IT & business management and transformation. Prior to Pepperweed, Ari held national lead roles with Protiviti, CA and PwC where he chaired centers of excellence and led multi million dollar consulting projects with many Fortune 500 companies delivering CIO Services, IT Infrastructure Management (Asset & Service Management), IT Governance & PPM, IT and Business Alignment, Strategic Sourcing/Outsourcing and M&A solutions.  Prior to this, Ari worked at SmithKline Beecham as the global head of IT Sourcing and at Textron as a senior project lead for turbine systems for the US Army. Ari has worked closely to develop solutions with leading IT vendors such as HP, CA, BMC, IBM, Oracle, SAP and others.

Richard Hawkins, Director, IT Management Consulting
Richard has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry. His background includes the full spectrum of practices in Operations, Application Development, IT Engineering and Enterprise Architecture. He has been consulting since 1996 with a proven track record working in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure architecture, outsourcing management and IT Service Management. At Pepperweed, Richard is focused on the management, delivery and architecture required for implementing high quality integrated processes based on industry standard frameworks including ITIL, ISO20000, CobIT, Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture and others.