Business and Technology Allies for SMBs
What We Do
About Us
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Small and mid-size businesses, or SMBs, face greater complexity than ever before. How to drive profitable growth, securely? How to modernize the customer experience? How to protect against risk? Today’s choices impact tomorrow’s bottom line—positively or negatively. Keeping pace and making the right decisions is all the more difficult with limited resources. IT Ally can help. Founded in 2017, IT Ally is a market leader in business and technology advisory services and solutions for small and mid-size businesses. As an Inc. 5000 award-winner for one of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America, IT Ally has maintained a bold vision to maximize business performance and value creation through modern uses of technology. Today, that vision has become a reality as we serve dozens of clients from coast to coast with unbiased and relevant technology insights and services that are purpose-built for the SMB and delivered by our exceptional team of advisors. As your SMB ally, we will help you to grow faster, be more secure, and maximize the value of your technology investments. If you’re looking for an ally that thinks and acts like an owner and is also an SMB, we’re here to help.
How We Got Here
The Timeline
IT Ally Team
“I started this company to ensure that small and mid-size businesses or SMB’s have an ally on their side to help them navigate through today’s business and technology challenges. Since its founding in 2017, IT Ally has maintained a bold vision to future-proof SMBs through modern uses of technology. Today, that vision has become a reality as we serve dozens of clients from coast to coast with relevant insights and unbiased technology advice purpose-built for the SMB and delivered by our exceptional team of advisors.”
Michael Fillios
Founder and CEO
BIO
Michael is the founder and CEO of IT Ally Holdings, a diversified holding company that provides IT and Cyber advice and consulting to family owned and private equity backed small and medium size businesses (SMBs) and Credit Unions. As a former Fortune 500 global CIO, small business CFO, technology entrepreneur and management consultant with more than 25 years of experience, he is responsible for driving the strategic vision and growth of the IT Ally Holdings companies including IT Ally, CU Ally, fraXtion and the IT Ally Institute. His first book, Tech Debt 2.0®: How to Future Proof Your Small Business and Improve Your Tech Bottom Line, was published by the IT Ally Institute in April, 2020. His second book, Tech Equity, How to Future Ready Your Small Business and Outperform Your Competition was published in April, 2023.
At IT Ally, Michael is the lead advisor for SMB leadership teams and their investors, and helps them to increase the value of their company by maximizing their technology investments and managing cybersecurity risk to ultimately future proof their businesses.
At the IT Ally Institute, Michael leads the research, best practices, thought leadership and peer to peer programs for business and IT leaders at small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
At fraXtion, Michael is a co-founder of the “advice as a service” company and lead IT fraXtioner where SMBs can gain access to executive-level experts across business-critical functional areas at an affordable price.
At CU Ally, Michael is the lead advisor for Credit Union leadership teams and their members, and helps them to increase the value of their institute by maximizing their technology investments and managing cybersecurity risk to ultimately future proof their businesses.
Michael earned his bachelor of business degree from The Hagen School of Business at Iona College and is a contributing author of The Alignment Effect (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002) and Winning The 3-Legged Race: When Business and Technology Run Together (BTM Institute/Prentice Hall, Nov. 8, 2005) as well as several articles and research reports.
Michael is on the Board of Directors of INTERalliance, a non-profit that promotes careers in information technology to high school students in the greater Cincinnati region. He is the founding member and chair of the IT Leadership Roundtable for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and Opinion Columnist for several industry publications such as CEO World and CDO Magazine. He resides in Mason, Ohio with his wife and is the proud father of 3 children and became a grandfather for the first time in 2020.
Lucas Asongu
Senior GRC Analyst, Risk Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Lucas brings over a decade of experience in developing, implementing, and improving Governance, Risk, & Compliance (GRC) programs for IT Ally’s SMB clients. Besides Cyber Risk Management, he has a diverse background in Information Technology, including Cisco Certified Network Professional and recognized project manager with the Project Management Institute.
Tony Bezilla
Senior IT Advisor, Technology Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Tony has 25+ years of experience in IT organizational models, change management, product development, program management, and evaluation and implementation of ERP, EDI, WMS, MRP and digital transformation implementations in the manufacturing, financial and services domains.
Mary Ann Burr
Senior IT Advisor, Transaction Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Mary has 25+ years of experience and has led IT and Cybersecurity due diligence projects for over 20 PE backed clients. Her industry experience spans aerospace, consumer goods, hardware/home improvement, funeral services, gaming and emergency/disaster services across public, family owned, private equity owned and non-profit.
Kay Dickason
Senior Advisor and Healthcare Industry Expert
BIO
Serving at some of the nation’s top healthcare organizations, Kay is an accomplished c-level executive and consultant with 30+ years of experience.
Kay is an expert at leading the selection and deployment of effective and scalable solutions for healthcare organizations with a focus on leveraging technology to optimize care delivery, improve quality, and maximize business results.
She is experienced in helping organizations implement data management, governance, and archiving strategies to ensure trusted and accessible data for quality decision-making. Kay also provides guidance on private equity transactions within the healthcare industry.
Joseph Dunsmore
Lead Growth Advisor, Business Advisory Practice
BIO
Joe has over 35 years of business experience and has helped lead and transform technology companies for the past 25 years, including 15 years as Chairman and CEO of Digi International (dgii, Nasdaq).
Ken Kruthaup
Lead Data Engineer, Technology Advisory Services Practice
BIO
He helps our clients with their Data transformation needs and is a leading Data Engineer and Certified Microsoft Trainer since 1996. He holds 41 Microsoft certifications and assessments and has worked heavily with SQL solutions and migrating SQL databases, leading efforts to create data sets as “the single source of truth”. He specializes in the creation of data marts, using methodologies that cater to individual business requirements resulting in rapid implementation and the early and often delivery of incremental value.
Andrea Minnillo
Senior Business Analyst, Technology Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Andrea is responsible for delivering Digital Ally services to our clients. She has nearly 20 years of experience in leading and coaching business analysts and project managers. She has led multiple projects anywhere from small enhancements to large multi-year business and process transformation efforts. She also has a strong operations background holding various leadership positions in the banking, automotive, IT, and logistics industries.
Helmut Oehring
Senior IT Advisor, Technology Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Helmut Oehring is an accomplished global executive leading IT departments primarily in manufacturing, healthcare, and global supply chain management companies. He has extensive experience supporting LEAN manufacturing with ERP deployments, pursuing global markets with advanced CRM solutions, automating shop floors with AI & Industrial IoT innovations, and delivering cutting edge Business Intelligence solutions. Helmut has helped manage IT transitions through over 40 M&A transactions.
Joe PaskVan
Client Success Executive
BIO
Joe brings a wide breadth of experience in IT consulting and services leadership. His focus is to ensure that our clients are successful in achieving their goals, regardless of the challenges they face. He brings over 30 years of experience in IT strategy instantiation covering applications, infrastructure, security, analytics and talent development. He is a retired Navy Captain that served in technology enablement roles as well as a leader in Civil Affairs where he gained expertise in coordinating with government and non-government organizations in the accomplishment of large complex projects including multiple international roles. He has worked in the commercial space over the last 20 years leading teams addressing technology modernization strategies for fortune 500 companies as well large scale integrations resulting from mergers and acquisitions. He brings a collaborative and pragmatic approach to transformation planning and execution to drive resilient operations and maximize value achievement with the available resources.
Marc Pillon
Risk Program Manager, Risk Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Marc is responsible for the Cyber Ally portfolio of services to our clients. He specializes in cybersecurity, infrastructure an operations management and often works with PE firms leading IT due diligence efforts.
Chris Schmidt
Senior Cybersecurity Advisor, Risk Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Chris is responsible for delivering our cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance services and providing overall fractional Information Security Officer services. In addition, Chris leads cybersecurity due diligence on behalf of our PE partners. His has a broad IT and cybersecurity background and a proven track record of managing risk and maximizing value for our clients.
Jason Steiner
Senior Cybersecurity Advisor, Risk Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Jay is responsible for delivering our cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance services and providing overall fractional Information Security Officer services to IT Ally clients. He is an accomplished, highly skilled advisory professional with broad experience in healthcare and industry as a management consultant in information security, data privacy management, and regulatory compliance.
Dave Stouffer
Chief Financial Officer
BIO
Dave is a proven Fortune 1000 Executive and consultant with over 25 years of experience establishing, leading, and reengineering organizations of various sizes and scales including multiple start-up and turnaround leadership successes. Dave worked in key positions with large consumer firms and brands including LensCrafters and its parent the $2.6 billion retailer/manufacturer US Shoe where he rapidly rose through the ranks to become the SVP Planning & Strategy.
Bob Strong
Senior IT Advisor, Technology Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Bob has 35+ years of experience in the IT industry and has held a variety of roles and responsibilities involving infrastructure strategy and execution, application and operational transformation, merger/acquisition integrations, as well as divestiture and separation activities.
Nick Suranyi
Senior IT Advisor, Transaction Advisory Practice
BIO
Nick is an accomplished global executive with 20 years of experience in both consulting and corporate information technology that has provided guidance on over 200 private equity transactions globally across all industries with revenues from $10M to $10B.
Nick been has involved in both domestic and multi-national divestitures by both designing and building a technology infrastructure to support the transition and ongoing operations as a standalone entity. He has provided guidance on over 500 private equity transactions across all industries with revenues from $5M to $5B.
Mike Varney
Senior IT Advisor, Transaction Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Mike is an experienced IT and Finance executive with over 20 years in the commercial banking and credit union markets. As a transformative leader, Mike has held CIO and technology leadership positions in institutions from small to large, including being a ground floor executive for a de-novo institution that grew to be one of the most stable commercial banks in the country.
Mike Womack
Senior HR Advisor, Talent Advisory Services Practice
BIO
Mike is a Human Resources consultant with 30 years of experience as a management side employment law attorney and Human Resources Executive. He is a former Senior Human Resources Executive with two Fortune 500 companies where he led all aspects of human resources including recruiting, onboarding, talent management, employee engagement, compensation, benefits, employment practices, workforce planning, performance management and succession planning. Mike is also a former partner with a national labor and employment law firm.
Our Strategic Allies
IT Ally has intentionally cultivated strategic partnerships with local and national firms to augment and deliver our advisory and managed services. Our partners include boutique advisory firms, software companies, and managed service providers.
