Leadership

Rob Patten is co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Northridge. Mr. Patten is responsible for working with the Northridge leadership team to bring high-value collaboration services and solutions to Northridge clients. After co-founding Northridge in 1999, Mr. Patten led the effort to further fund the company and successfully raised angel financing as well as convertible debt. Mr. Patten has been integral in driving industry-leading Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) at Northridge and the company continues to build on its leadership position as the premier collaboration consulting firm in the United States.

In 2008, Mr. Patten was ranked #6 in Catalyst Magazine's Top 25 Atlanta Entrepreneurs listing. Under his leadership, Northridge has been honored with a Pacesetter Award for being in the top 50 fastest-growing private companies in Atlanta and was ranked 86th in the Inc 500 National I.T. Services Index. Rob is on the Board of Directors at Goodwill of North Georgia and is a past Advisory Board member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to co-founding Northridge, Mr. Patten held key positions with American Card Technology, MCI Telecommunications, and Wang Laboratories. Mr. Patten's professional background includes a strong mix of business management, strategic consulting, and technology development. Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Jeremey Zela is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Northridge. Mr. Zela focuses his attention on consulting delivery, operational efficiency, solution methodology, and related best practices. Jeremey is focused on delivering high-quality solutions for clients with maximum levels of productivity and efficiency in order to yield strong profitability for Northridge.

Mr. Zela has provided leadership for Northridge in both technology and operational disciplines over his 12 year tenure. As COO, Mr. Zela was instrumental in the creation of the company's True North Methodology which is the delivery methodology leveraged for all Northridge engagements.

In his former role as Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Zela led the development of the firm's robust Microsoft.NET class library, designed and built the LIQUID Digital Marketing Platform, and deployed development processes and tools leveraging Microsoft Team Foundation Server.

Mr. Zela has over seventeen years of professional technology experience including consulting, technical architecture, systems engineering, and software engineering. Prior to Northridge, Jeremey has held senior technology roles with several leading firms including IBM, MCI Telecommunications, and Wang Laboratories.

Walter Rowland is Chief Revenue Officer at Northridge and heads up marketing, sales, and partner management for the firm. Mr. Rowland and his team are charged with crafting and informing the marketplace of Northridge capabilities and solutions, building relationships with new clients, managing the Northridge/Microsoft relationship, and forging and managing relationships with other complimentary partners.

Mr. Rowland has over 14 years of consulting and management experience in the areas of project and project portfolio management, IT, internet custom application development, interactive marketing and design, software package implementation, and technology business development across multiple industries. Prior to joining Northridge, Walter worked for UMT Consulting Group – a project and portfolio management consulting firm and a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner – as Senior Vice President; for Commerce One – a business-to-business ecommerce software firm – as Regional Vice President Business Development; for AppNet – a 1,500 person technology management consulting firm – as a Practice Director leading custom ecommerce application development engagements for large commercial clients; and for NMP – a new media consulting firm – as a Team Leader building internet systems for commercial and non-profit clients.

Walter received his undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard University, and holds an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School.

Stephanie Haigler is the VP of Finance of Northridge. Mrs. Haigler plans, directs and oversees the company’s financial accounting operations and financial reporting systems. Stephanie maintains financial relationships with banking institutions and reports performance metrics to Northridge shareholders and Board members. Mrs. Haigler has over twenty years of experience in the accounting and finance field and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Prior to joining Northridge, Mrs. Haigler was a Financial Manager at Wells Fargo’s corporate headquarters in Charlotte, NC and was also the Senior Manager of Finance for a software subsidiary of Charles Schwab, SRT.

Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of North Carolina and her MBA from Queen’s University, both in Charlotte. She is the Treasurer of her homeowner’s association in Alpharetta and enjoys gardening and traveling.

Josh serves as the Senior VP & General Manager Carolinas for Northridge. He’s an active member of the Charlotte business community with more than ten years of experience with technology companies in the region.

He joined Northridge in early 2011. Prior to this, he was Regional Director for Hosted Solutions, where he played an instrumental role in growing the company’s operations and customer base within the region. Josh and his team work closely with customers to understand their IT environments and custom design solutions to meet their needs. They served an impressive customer base in the Charlotte area including Belk, LPL Financial, Bojangles, Speedway Motor Sports, Bank of America, Harris Teeter, and several others.

Prior to joining Hosted Solutions, Josh was the Division Director for Robert Half Technology in Charlotte. In 1997, Josh was one of the original employees in Charlotte with Trivergent Communication, which later became NuVox Communications. In 2004, he launched a local chapter for a non-profit trade organization called The Help Desk Institute and served as President in its first year. Josh is the founder and current President of the SaaS User Group as well as a founding member of CRTEC. He has grown the group to be become a powerful networking organization with nearly 1,000 individuals from the SaaS community in the Southeast. Josh was named a “Mover & Shaker” by Business Leader magazine in 2009. He is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, GA and prior to that a graduate of Providence Senior High School in Charlotte. Josh resides in Charlotte with his wife and two children.

Matt Barman is a Senior Vice President and Practice Director at Northridge. Mr. Barman is responsible for the delivery of value-added services and solutions to clients through the formation of a lasting, sustained partnership which enables the client to focus on its core business and leave the execution and management of other initiatives to Northridge.

Matt has extensive experience with application lifecycle management and project management methodologies, as well as software engineering frameworks such as Agile Software Development and the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). With considerable programming and Microsoft infrastructure expertise to complement his knowledge of solution lifecycle and project methodology, Matt has a unique set of skills that enables him to be keenly aware of all aspects of a solution’s workings and helps him ensure the successful ongoing delivery for those engagements.

Prior to joining Northridge, Mr. Barman was a senior consultant for both Cambridge Technology Partners and Semtor where he developed his proficiency in designing and delivering large-scale software development projects on time and within budget.

Matt received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with High Honors from the University of Florida.

Tony Egl is a Senior Vice President and Practice Director at Northridge. Mr. Egl and his team are focused on the development and successful delivery of business solutions, building and continuing relationships and providing strategic consulting to Northridge’s largest, most strategic clients.

Mr. Egl has over 15 years of consulting and management experience specializing in the areas of Practice Management, Systems Implementation, Project Management, Business Process Optimization, Resource Management and Portfolio Management. Prior to joining Northridge, Tony was a founding partner at BE Consulting (acquired in 2009 by Northridge) and served as Director of Outsourcing and Consulting Operations at Alliance Data, Vice President of Consulting at ADERANT, and in several key management positions at Sabre. During his tenure with these companies, he focused on helping clients to visualize and successfully implement complex, culture changing initiatives balancing their people, process and technology resources. Mr. Egl’s experience spans multiple industries including transportation, legal, utilities and consulting/advisory including work with some of the largest, most recognizable companies in the Consulting and Advisory, Legal and Transportation industries. He also has extensive international experience, with work completed in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

Tony received his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida.

Scott Burba is a Senior Vice President and Practice Director at Northridge. Mr. Burba is focused on the development and successful delivery of business solutions, building and continuing relationships and providing strategic consulting to Northridge’s largest, most strategic clients.

Mr. Burba has over 17 years of consulting and operations management experience. Prior to joining Northridge, Mr. Burba was a founding partner at BE Consulting (acquired in 2009 by Northridge) and served as Vice President of Outsourcing and Consulting Operations at Alliance Data. Mr. Burba has been part of many companies over his career including Capstone Consulting, Excelergy, Computer Associates, and Accenture. Mr. Burba has served in numerous roles with these companies including managing business operations and professional services groups, leading technical programs, and implementing business efficiency programs for multiple clients. His experience crosses many industries and includes driving operational excellence through identification, assessment, and mitigation of business challenges via implementation of the right combination of People, Process, and Technology components.

Scott received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University.

Jason Barrett is a Practice Director at Northridge. In this role, Jason is responsible for managing relationships and solution delivery for key Northridge clients. Jason has an extensive background in consulting, technical architecture, and software development, and has held senior roles in all facets of software consulting and engineering.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia. In over 12 years of professional experience in the Information Technology field, Jason has successfully architected, developed, deployed, and managed solutions on a variety of platforms for organizations such as NASA and Ernst & Young.

In his time away from the office, Jason enjoys spending time with his wife Julie and their son Logan, playing tennis, watching Bulldogs football, and he is an avid music fan.

As Practice Director at Northridge, Sean ensures clients receive simple, user-friendly and industry-leading collaboration solutions the deliver a strong return on investment for clients. This is accomplished by driving both functional and creative design coupled with great vision and strategy. Sean encourages his team to be passionate, stay current with trends and think outside of the box, in order to continually deliver innovative solutions. Sean is often found at the whiteboard with sleeves rolled up diving into the work and brainstorming with his team

Sean works to evangelize the importance of human factors, user feedback and data-driven decisions in designing the end-to-end user experience, while acting as a brand steward throughout the process, for Northridge and its clients. Before Northridge, Sean began his career as a Creative Designer, eventually leading to roles as Creative Director and Digital Strategy Consultant. Sean shares background in both print and interactive media, making him well-versed in cross-platform initiatives. With client experience ranging from big, well-known brands like MTV, Cartoon Network, Char-Broil, Warner Brothers and Habitat for Humanity, to mid-market brands like Printpack, Big Time Products, Walle and RHIP Toyz, Sean brings a wide range of expertise to the table.

Originally hailing from the Baltimore and D.C. area, Sean holds a bachelor’s degree from McDaniel College in English Literature and one from Shepherd College in Graphic Design. Outside of work, Sean enjoys time with his family, Great Danes, photography, motorcycles and soccer.

Scott Middlebrooks is the CIO and Senior Infrastructure Architect at Northridge. In this role, Scott is responsible for all aspects of enterprise infrastructure projects as well as hosting, collocation, and managed services. Mr. Middlebrooks has extensive experience in network design and architecture, systems engineering and infrastructure security. Scott was originally responsible for architecting the Northridge hosting network infrastructure to ensure stability, redundancy and scalability.

Prior to joining Northridge, Scott served as a senior network engineer at Harry Norman Realtors where he was responsible for network design, implementation, and administration. Scott is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on both the Windows NT 4.0 platform as well as the Windows Server 2003 platform. In addition to his deep expertise with Windows operating systems and enterprise applications, Mr. Middlebrooks also has significant experience with network appliances from major vendors including Cisco, Juniper, SonicWall, Watchguard, Barracuda Networks, and others.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia. In his time away from the office, Scott enjoys time with his family and friends, pursuing his private pilot’s license, and is an accomplished grill master.

Tor Gundersen serves as Creative Director and also as a leader in the UX team for Northridge. In these roles, Mr. Gundersen is responsible for all aspects of the creative delivery process and for leading a team of highly talented designers. Tor provides core leadership in the area of successfully blending design, information architecture and technology through online user experiences that ensure goal driven results for our clients. In his time with Northridge, Mr. Gundersen has led successful client engagements for major accounts including Coca-Cola, CNN, Time Warner Cable, Lowe’s Racing, Chick-fil-A, Atlanta Gas Light, Home Depot, Peracon, Harry Norman Realtors, and many others.

Prior to joining Northridge, Tor had successful tenures at several leading design and marketing agencies in the Atlanta area. Clients he has worked for in the past include: Cartoon Network, ACOG (Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games), USOC (United States Olympic Committee), IOC (International Olympic Committee), Randstad, Shaw Industries, CLAUS.COM, Georgia Power, Kimberly-Clark Healthcare, Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, MedAssets and Chik-fil-A.

Mr. Gundersen has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and an Associate degree in Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. With a career that started in branding and print design and includes 15 years of web and interactive media experience, Tor has a highly valuable blend of traditional and new media expertise allowing clients to successfully utilize all available channels.

Holly Nicholson is the Director of Human Resources at Northridge. Holly is focused on the company’s most valuable asset, its people. Her mission is to attract, develop and retain outstanding talent for Northridge, and provide industry-leading benefits and HR support for all Northridge employees. In this role, Holly is responsible for setting the strategic direction for HR policies and procedures relating to all phases of personnel activity including: benefits administration, organizational development, performance management, regulatory compliance, and employee relations.

Holly has over thirteen years of professional experience working for companies such as Inacom Information Systems, e^deltacom, and BellSouth. Ms. Nicholson was a founding member of the Atlanta chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) and served as the Director of Operations. She is currently a member of WIT (Women in Technology), TAG (Technology Association of Georgia) and SHRM (Society of Human Resources).

Holly holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Georgia.

Jason Swenk is responsible for growing enterprise accounts and providing strategic leadership and subject matter expertise around social business, user experience, and collaboration.

Prior to Northridge, Swenk was the co-founder, CEO and CMO of Solar Velocity for 11 years. Under his leadership, Solar Velocity became one of the leading technology and digital agencies. Solar Velocity received Best Place to Work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Innovative Company of the Year, Top 10 Most Dependable Web Design Firms, as well as one of the Top 25 Small Businesses of the Year for seven consecutive years (2003-2009).

Jason has become one of the pioneers and thought leaders on Social Business and has appeared as a featured speaker for Microsoft. In 2008, the Atlanta Business Chronicle featured him as one of the top 40 under 40.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems from Florida State University. He is an avid race car driver, cartoonist, and enjoys the challenge of Ironman competitions.