Executive Leadership
Rex Frank
Founder & CEO
Rex Frank
Rex Frank is President of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He founded the company in 2010 with the core purpose to “Coach IT Managed Service Providers on achieving operational excellence.”
Rex has over 23 years industry experience in IT Service Delivery, specializing in delivering Managed Services.
He spent 19 years teamed up with Oli Thordarson as the Chief Technology Officer at Alvaka Networks in Irvine, CA. He joined Alvaka in 1988 as a Computer Technician and quickly began supporting early Novell networks. He became the Service Manager in 1992 and began developing a network monitoring service in 1994. Alvaka won the Solutions Integrator Magazine award for The Best Remote Management Solution in 1999.
In March of 2004, Rex was an inaugural member of the True Profits! Service Executive peer group where he learned to be accountable for service financial metrics, documenting and implementing Managed Services best practices policy and procedure and how to focus his time working “ON” Service Delivery rather than “IN” Service Delivery.
In 2008, Rex joined Northwest Computer Support in Seattle, WA as the Vice President of Managed Services. In just eighteen short months, he was able to join the Million Dollar Club (monthly recurring managed services billing of $83,333). He accomplished this by developing the team of NOC/Help Desk engineers, working with the large team of Senior Engineers on how think differently to support MSP clients and most importantly, coaching the sales staff how to understand and sell Managed Services.
In Late 2009, Rex joined JWCS as the Director of operations. The company grew from 10 to 25 employees in just 12 months, while dramatically improving profitability as operational efficiency improved.
Rex founded Sea-Level Operations, LLC in December 2010 and began coaching MSPs, primarily the service managers, on a myriad of MSP Operations tasks.
Ken Sponsler
Partner, Chief Operating Officer
Ken Sponsler
Ken Sponsler is a Partner and Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in 2011, mentoring and training Service Executives in the IT industry. Ken has over 20 years industry experience in Managed Services and over 45 years in Operations Management.
Ken has extensive knowledge of computers and their applications, dating back to 1970; utilizing and working on a mainframe while in High School. A proud veteran, he has held many roles within the US government, utilizing his skillset to be extremely active in the management and leadership of teams to accomplish specific goals; dating back to the mid-1970s.
In 1998, Ken joined Connecting Point of Greeley as a computer engineer and was promoted to the Vice President of Services Position in 2000. Ken successfully assisted in the transition of Connecting Point from a product oriented computer reseller to a managed service provider of over 100 networks.
Ken is certifiably crazy about cars, bicycling, and photography and is active in the community. Ken resides in Colorado, has been married to his amazing wife, Meggan, since 2006 and has one son, Josh, who lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Chris Butler
Partner, President
Chris Butler
Chris Butler is a Partner and Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in 2014.
Chris has over 25 years in Operations Management and over 17 years directly with management of IT Service Delivery.
In the late 1980’s, Chris started working with computers. He studied Computer Science, and majored in Business Management. By 1992, Chris was consulting small businesses and assisting with office IT needs – including building business computers, implementing local area networks, and helping with long term technology planning.
After maximizing help-desk efficiencies as a Network Manager for a large enterprise, Chris found new challenges in MSP Service Management. During this time, he was an intricate part of the executive management team in the startup of two different MSP practices. Chris has firsthand knowledge in what it takes for excellent client relationships, service delivery, employee motivation, and sustaining healthy growth organically and through acquisition.
After 11 years of direct day to day management and continuous growth of MSP revenue with best in class margins, Chris started to look for another challenge. He found Sea-Level Operations as a great opportunity to share his experiences and provide guidance to other MSP’s helping them achieve the same successes.
Chris is passionate about sharing ideas and helping others through tough challenges, and is a proud member of the Sea-Level team. When Chris is not coaching MSP’s he stays busy having fun with his family.
Robin Frank
Chief Financial Officer
Robin Frank
Biography coming soon
James Davis
Managing Director, APAC
James Davis
James Davis is the Managing Director Sea-Level Operations Pty LTD in APAC. Originally from Canberra, he recently moved as far south as he could to Hobart. He joined the Sea-Level family in 2020 to grow the Sea-Level Operations offering locally in the APAC Region.
James has over 14 years’ experience in owning and managing small businesses, with 7 of those being in the MSP industry. He has been tightly involved in the HTG/ConnectWise Evolve Peer Group as a member and as the founding APAC Service Exec Group Facilitator.
He has a wide and varied career working in retail as an inventory manager, in sales roles, owning and operating gardening/trade services businesses, managing an MSP and a over the last 3 years as business coach and consultant to MSPs and other service-based businesses.
James’s passion is small business and seeing small business owners succeed by creating freedom from the chaos that owners deal with every day. Nothing is more rewarding than helping a small business owner remove the shackles of working for the business to having the business work for them.
He values personal development, always trying to learn something new to build his body of knowledge to grow as a person and leader. James tries to share his knowledge and experience as much as possible, believing in the go-giver mentality.
When he isn’t working, he spends his time banging up his body by playing rugby. James is also involved with his club as a committee member, utilizing his experience to benefit the rugby community. Outside that he spends time with his partner enjoying good food, playing video games and solving puzzles to unwind.
Jay Hokke
Chief Coaching Officer
Jay Hokke
Jay Hokke is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in 2016. He is responsible for executing client engagements as well as continued development of process and procedure for those clients.
Jay has over 17 years industry experience in IT, including 13 years directly working with multiple Managed Service Providers.
He was involved with a rapidly growing MSP, Xylotek Solutions, Inc. of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Jay was instrumental in building and transitioning their services to a Managed Services model. He hired and mentored talent for key areas within this fast-growing organization, which tripled in size within a 36-month period.
He helped foster a strong company culture at Xylotek Solutions, Inc. as well as ground-up operational process and procedures. His team realized exceptional utilization, breaking annual records of growth in terms of client base, profitability and team size over the course of his tenure. During his time there, he oversaw an 18-member team including Technical Engineers, Project Managers, Team Leads and Professional Services teams.
Scott Hamlin
Managing Director, Sea-Level Back Office
Scott Hamlin
Scott Hamlin is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in 2017. Scott provides coaching in the areas of financial management, owner level coaching, and operational process.
Scott has over 30 years of experience working in the IT industry.
In 1998, Scott founded his own IT Outsourcing company, PacketDrivers. He became one of Sea-Level’s first clients which built mutual respect between Scott,
Rex and Sea-Level. Scott continued managing the business’s operations until its acquisition by Aldridge in February of 2016. At the time of the acquisition Scott transitioned to the role of Vice President of the Seattle Branch to provide stability during the transition. In March of 2017 Scott completed his strategic exit.
During his career, Scott’s focus has been on building a strong organization through employee development, building trust with clients and financial performance. Scott’s passion at PacketDrivers was coaching, developing and growing the team. Several members of the Management team began their career’s at PacketDrivers.
Scott ran a disciplined financial organization focusing on building both organization and personal financial security. He is excited to bring his passion to Sea-Level and to work alongside the rest of the team.
Scott graduated from Seattle University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Finance. He lives with his wife of 27 years in Seattle, Washington and has a 24-year-old son who studies photojournalism. In his free time, you can find him on the golf course, hiking or working to check off items from his bucket list.
David Schafran
Chief Services Officer
David Schafran
David Schafran is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in 2016, coaching and mentoring clients on operational excellence, strategic planning, financial management and leadership.
David has over 30 years of experience in the IT services industry working with services companies and vendors as a consultant, executive coach, and speaker.
In 2007, David founded Transformation Strategies to take his extensive knowledge of the technology service space and use it to enable service providers to create scalable businesses and succeed with recurring revenue models such as managed services, cloud services or Software as a Service (SaaS).
In 1999, David began focusing on managed IT services and recurring revenue models at the beginning of their introduction to IT integrators while Senior Vice President, Technology at Devise Associates, Inc. He became the firm’s Senior Vice President of Managed Services, designing, and implementing Devise’s managed services practice from initial concept to revenue generating service, operating 24×7, serving a wide variety of clients.
In 2003, as Vice President, Managed Services at Exenet LLC, David overhauled all aspects of the firm’s managed services offering, including service definitions, pricing, positioning, staffing, operations, and infrastructure. As a result, client satisfaction skyrocketed, the business became scalable and revenue increased over 300%.
From 2008 to 2011, David was named to ‘The MSPmentor 250’, an annual listing of the top 250 executives and leaders shaping the managed services ecosystem, until 2012 when he was named to MSPmentor’s inaugural “Locked in the NOC” Hall of Fame list. David’s approach to managed services has influenced best practices in many aspects of the industry.
From 2010 to 2013, David was also a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Cogent Growth Partners. At Cogent, David led operational evaluation of acquisition candidates and clients; pre-and post-transaction integration; and client management.
Recently from 2015 to 2016, David took on a longer-term engagement for one his consulting clients as the President of Aldridge Health. In his first four months, David assumed responsibility of a previous acquisition, Clyde Bennet & Associates, vetted and completed a second acquisition, the divestiture of Pact-One’s Texas, Oregon, and Washington markets, including over 600 dental IT clients, and successfully combined the two. As the President, David guided the strategic direction and operational delivery ensuring outstanding service that built lasting client relationships. In June of 2016, Aldridge Health was awarded the number seventeen spot on ChannelE2E’s Top 100 Vertical Market MSPs List for 2016.
Our Coaches
Parker Fjeldberg
Parker Fjeldberg
Parker Fjeldberg is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in 2017.
Parker has over 35 years industry experience in IT Services while utilizing equity participation to help empower the business leaders of tomorrow.
In 2001, Parker co-founded and was President of SNS Technologists, a Managed Service Provider in Edmonton, Canada with an exceptional leadership team including 50 dedicated team members; 14 of which are equity partners.
Throughout his 35-year career, Parker has held the roles of both a partner and owner of a small business. His main area of interest and expertise is reviewing and analyzing business processes and finance with a keen eye on improving team leadership, communication and efficiencies.
With an educational background in Electrical Engineering Technology and Computer Networking, Parker enjoys working with businesses to get proper information in and out of database systems along with the associated report building.
Parker builds solid relationships on a foundation of fairness and integrity. He is excited to work with and train other teams using best practices and leadership to enhance all parts of a business.
In his personal time, he runs and rides bike in Edmonton’s great river valley. He also loves spending time with his family camping, traveling or just walking the river valley trails.
Stephanie Heflin
Stephanie Heflin
Stephanie Heflin is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. She joined the company in 2017.
Stephanie has over 18 years of experience in the managed services industry. Throughout that time, she succeeded in many roles with a wide variety of related responsibilities.
In 1999 she began working for a small technical services company in Austin Texas, Riata Technologies, and over the next 10 years was instrumental in helping the business make the shift from technical and professional services to a very successful Managed Service Providers.
In 2003, Stephanie became a member of the first True Profit Group Service Exec Peer group where she learned to manage the financial side of the business and help drive margin and efficiency to new heights.
By 2009, Riata Technologies had grown to be 6M in revenue, 45 employees and a best in class MSP. Riata was then acquired by Whiteglove Technologies, doubling revenue and staff. Stephanie became the VP of Service Delivery and focused on integrating systems, process, people, and culture, always with an eye on client satisfaction. Whiteglove expanded to San Antonio, Houston and Dallas through additional acquisitions and positioned themselves to be purchased by Mindshift in 2012 where Stephanie became with SW Region VP of Service Delivery and served in this role for almost 2 years.
In 2014 Stephanie started down her own path of working independently coaching and consulting with MSP’s who wanted help organizing service delivery to be process driven and have data that can provide key metrics help owners and service managers work on the business. Although Stephanie does not have a traditional technical background she has been able to excel in the MSP industry.
Stephanie has been married for 22 years and has 2 boys, 21 and 16 and a daughter who is 12. Family interests cover many areas including; hockey, lacrosse, formula 1, soccer, taekwondo, outdoor fun of all kinds and a lot of DIY projects.
Rob Hird
Rob Hird
Rob started in IT as part of a Y2K project for a local school board, but quickly moved into the fast-paced life of working Bay Street and the Financial District in Toronto, Canada. Moving up the ranks from a help desk technician, team lead, manager, director and finally vice president, Rob has the “been there and done that” experience that many partners appreciate. He started his own MSP in 2015 and, in a short 18 months, was acquired. Rob’s experience in the MSP industry continued as he assisted other partner companies with starting managed services practices and moving away from the traditional break / fix pricing model.
Rob is passionate about getting to know you and your business. He cares about your success, and your happiness is what makes him happy at the end of the day.
Outside of work, Rob enjoys spending time with his wife and their daughter. He is active in the music scene in his town and is an aspiring singer / songwriter. He picked up guitar as a bucket list item on his 40th birthday and hasn’t looked back since.
Ron Losefsky
Ron Losefsky
Ron Losefsky is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in October 2017.
Ron earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin, served as a Pilot in the US Navy during the First Gulf War, and has over 20 years industry experience in a variety of operations, project management, business development and sales roles.
In 2012 Ron joined a Phoenix, Arizona based Managed Services Provider, where he was a catalyst for dramatic improvements in critical business areas, including operations and project management, data analysis and reporting, lead generation and sales, and employee development.
Ron is a results oriented coach who lives to improve operational excellence, client satisfaction, and business profitability using best practices, a variety of business tools, and a flexible approach tailored to the culture and needs of each client. Ron excels at process and workflow analysis, process improvement, insightful data analysis, root cause analysis and at asking the right questions.
When he is not coaching, Ron enjoys mountain biking, windsurfing, backpacking, spending time with his adult children, mentoring start up companies in the Austin Techstars program, and travelling.
Jonathan Mack
Jonathan Mack
Jonathan has over 20 years’ experience in the IT field, 17 of those in managed services. He has a passion for seeing people be successful in whatever they put their mind to. Jonathan counts kindness, integrity and hard work as his core values.
As part owner and on the leadership team for an MSP Jonathan participated in strategic planning and tactical execution for both the MSP and its clients. He has expertise in cyber security operations, service operations, service delivery, project management, project delivery, vCIO, account management, documentation, team development, training and mentoring. Continual and lifelong learning currently takes him to the subjects of interpersonal communication, personality types, and generational leadership.
Jonathan has a background education in commerce and enjoys creating and implementing systems that produce accurate data and then using that data to drive and substantiate decision making.
Jonathan and his wife of 20 years have two sons, 13 and 11. On his personal time he can be found outdoors rock climbing, mountain biking, golfing, skiing and snowboarding.
Keith Marchiano
Keith Marchiano
Keith Marchiano is an Executive Coach of Sea Level Operations, LLC. Keith has 30 years’ experience in leadership, management, sales and executive roles. The last 15 years, Keith has been involved in the managed IT services industry with start up MSP’s to larger, operationally mature providers. He has expertise in strategic planning, operations, service operations & delivery, sales, marketing, vCIO, leadership, team development, and account management.
Continuous personal development has him focusing on the subjects of the ever-changing IT industry, team building, communication, and business improvement. Keith joined Sea-Level to share his experiences to help coach others through their journey to scale and mature their MSP.
Keith has an education in business with concentrations in management, finance, and economics. He obtained the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America. Keith and his wife of 25 years have a daughter and son. During his personal time he enjoys smoking BBQ, gardening, exercising, or spending time with his family. Family time usually consists of going to sporting events, baseball, softball, and vacationing anywhere there is a beach and it’s warm.
Josh Moree
Josh Moree
Josh Moree is a diverse professional with IT industry experience since 1999 with degrees various technical certifications in networking, infrastructure, and security. As a PMP and CSM, fifteen of those years are in implementing IT projects from small to large-scale deployments. Josh has excelled in management, project management, engineering, process development, consulting, and coaching within manufacturing, hospitality/entertainment, and MSP verticals. He offers value through creativity, technical skills, process-driven performance, and effective communication. Additionally, his background in coaching psychology, with a focus on cognitive-behavioral techniques, enhances the work environment with an engaging communication style for coaching and collaborating.
Josh joined Sea-Level Operations in 2020 as an Executive Coach to share his industry experience with a passion for process and motivating others. Before joining Sea-Level as a coach, Josh was a client of Sea-Level; he was able to experience first-hand the coaching process and successful outcomes which the Sea-Level processes provide.
Outside of work, Josh is a family man with a wife and 3 children. He enjoys creating art and music together with his family. He also enjoys teaching, training, and competing in martial arts which helps to keep his mind and body sharp.
Jeremy Nelson
Jeremy Nelson
Jeremy Nelson is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. He joined the company in October 2018.
Jeremy earned a BA in History with Honors from the University of Rochester. Jeremy was a Surface Warfare Officer onboard CVN-71 during the first Gulf War. He has also held an Unlimited AB and a 50 Ton Merchant Marine Officer license from the US Coast Guard.
In 1995 Jeremy founded FCS Inc., a Managed Services Company that he sold in December of 2015. Jeremy is an expert in managing companies and setting up recurring revenue streams. He is all a professional salesperson, having worked for a hardware manufacturer with a territory of 26 Countries and one US State.
With over 30 years of experience, Jeremy has worked with all size companies and has experience in all aspects of the IT Industry. Jeremy has been married for 27 years and has three children. Jeremy is a board member of a non-profit and is works with start up companies in the Tampa Bay Area.
Todd Schorle
Todd Schorle
Todd Schorle is a Senior Executive Coach of Sea-Level Operations, LLC. Todd is a Penn State Graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Management and Marketing.
Todd has over 22 years of industry experience in the IT service delivery field. Todd founded his MSP, TS Tech Enterprises, Inc., in 1996. Starting as a break-fix company, Todd quickly pivoted TS Tech to be an early adopter of the Managed Services business practice. Todd championed the push to fixed fee recurring revenue because the managed services “win-win” relationship framework aligned with his core beliefs. In 2011, Todd traveled with Level Platforms as a guest speaker sharing with others how he built his Managed Services practice. In 2012, Todd engaged with Rex Frank of Sea-Level to refine and scale the Managed Services offering to the next level.
Todd enjoys a passion for lifelong learning and the challenge of solving problems. He enjoys bicycling, hiking, camping and outdoor adventures with his Wife and their eight year old twins. Following a personal dream, Todd earned his private pilot’s license in 2006. Todd volunteers for one week each summer at the Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week, a program dedicated to teaching young people about Entrepreneurship and leadership in fun environment. Todd is a Ham Radio Operator and an assistant Scout leader. Todd and family share a passion for traveling and enjoy experiencing culture, language, and cuisine from around the world. In 2016, Todd and family lived in Costa Rica for two months where they enrolled in Spanish language immersion classes, surf school, and local cooking classes. The trip started as a sabbatical celebration for 20 years running TS Tech, but the experience of running a company, while completely removed from day-to-day operations allowed Todd and his team leaders the opportunity to grow.
Todd enjoys being curious and is a creative and analytical problem solver. Todd participated in HTG executive peer groups from 2013-2018. In 2018 Todd joined Sea-Level to share his experience and help coach others as they journey through building, scaling, and leading their MSPs. In 2019 Todd completed the merger of TS Tech Enterprises, Inc. into CompassMSP to focus on coaching.
Steve St John
Steve St. John
Steve St. John, an executive coach of Sea-Level Operations, joined the company in September of 2021.
Steve has been in the IT Industry since 1987, starting in sales for a family-run business in Denver. After managing various divisions within this company, including Administration, Services and Engineering, he left to join EMC as a channel manager for the Rocky Mountain Region. In 2006, Steve joined Lewan Technology in their IT Solutions Division and, by late 2018, he was promoted to president, leading the IT and Print Division.
His focus is assisting partners to grow profitably and be successful. Key core values include trust, passion, teamwork and accountability.
A couple of his favorite quotes are “The only thing constant is change” and “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Steve enjoys spending time with his wife of 33 years and their son and daughter. Exercising and reading a good business book are a couple of his hobbies.
Specialists
Tia Butler
Back Office Consultant
Tia Butler
Tia Butler has been working with MSP’s to ensure accurate invoicing since 2007. She began working with an individual company collaborating with the management and sales teams to get the invoicing process organized and predictable. In 2011 Tia returned to school to pursue a degree in Medical Administration. Earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Care Administration, she pursued a career in the medical field as the assistant to the Director of Nursing in the Department of Corrections. This career path was ultimately unfulfilling and she returned to the IT world. Since joining Sea-Level in 2016 Tia has been primarily responsible for assisting in creation of a new product offering for Sea-Level clients – Back Office Services. This practice is relatively new and she looks forward to continuing to expand and grow this portion of the services offered by Sea-Level.
Amanda Glidden
Content Specialist
Amanda Glidden
Amanda Glidden is the Content Specialist at Sea-Level Operations, LLC. She joined the company in 2019 and is responsible for management of our Operations Guide content and portal.
Amanda graduated with a BA from McGill University in Montreal. She came to Sea-Level from a rapidly growing MSP in the Northeast where, in addition to administering their backbone applications day to day, she executed two acquisitions in her role as the internal systems admin.
In her off time, Amanda enjoys snowboarding, travel, and aerial yoga. Before moving to New York state, she lived in Korea for more than four years. Amanda’s husband is an Instructor Pilot in the US Army.
Mikenzie Butler
Back Office Assistant
Mikenzie Butler
Kenzie is a dedicated, ambitious high school student. Taking high school classes in middle school and now college courses in high school, she plans to be in full-time college while in high school. By the time she gets her diploma she will have an associate’s degree.
When she isn’t working hard on schoolwork, Kenzie loves to play video games with her friends and read books in her free time. She really enjoys traveling and seeing the world with her dad.
Kowanda Anthony
Back Office Consultant
Kowanda Anthony
Kowanda is a Back Office Consultant and joined the company in 2020. Her background is in accounting and bookkeeping and has over 19 years of experience in the field. She was in charge of accounting and payroll at William E. Wise Veterinary Clinic for 5 years. Following that, Kowanda worked for Barber Trucking, Inc. for 13 years auditing driver’s paperwork and payroll information for 50 drivers and owner operators. She also handled the accounts payable and billing for the company.
Kowanda stepped out of the workforce to homeschool her boys for the next 10 years. After having 4 of the 5 graduated, she returned to the workforce and joined the Back Office team.
Kowanda lives in Pennsylvania with her family. They are involved in soccer, hunting, white water kayaking, and rock climbing. She enjoys gardening, camping, and exploring new places.
Our coaches have been there, done that. Work with coaches who have the experience to teach you how to fish.
Work With Us
Success Stories
Who We’ve Helped
Meet The Coaches
Meet Our Coaches