The inspiration to build Coretek came from business experiences and lessons learned by Coretek's founding leadership. Ron Lisch, Ray Jaksic, and Clint Adkins spent years working at enterprise IT integration and consulting organizations in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Ron and Ray both became disenfranchised with the numbers-only driven decisions at their companies. In 2003, Ron left to pursue a career in commercial property development, and in 2004 Ray went to work inside an internal Healthcare IT department.
In early 2005, Ron became passionate about starting an IT consultancy business where talented and intelligent people could work with other great people! So in May of 2005, Coretek Services, Inc. was born, and by July 1st, Ray had quit his job and joined Ron working full time with Coretek. Clint joined full-time at Coretek in November that same year.
The initial approach to success for Coretek was simple: Make sure customer projects are successful, no exceptions! And how did Coretek ensure that customers' projects are always successful? That answer is also simple: Hire the best people. These mantras evolved into Coretek's mission and vision statements:
Ron is a native of Indiana and a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington's Kelley School of Business and holds a degree in finance. Ron sharpened his finance skills in technical, sales, and leadership positions at Siemens and Unisys (formerly Burroughs). His broad experiences position him as a leader who truly understands the business and operations of IT services.
Ron also has a strong sense of community and a desire to pay it forward locally and globally. He sponsors the Coretek team as a volunteer with area food banks, home improvement projects through services like Rebuilding Together, blood drives, and 'adopt a family' programs. He also traveled on an international mission trip in 2019 to help build a Coretek-sponsored computer lab and training facility at a school in India. Whether helping customers, partners, employees, or the community, Ron lives and breathes Coretek's core focus, which is committed to building a culture that attracts and retains the best people. Outside of work, he loves boating, camping with kids, and mountain biking. He would love to take you to lunch, so introduce yourself early!
As the Chief Operating Officer at Coretek, Ray leads all aspects of delivery and quality assurance and has over 15 years of hands-on consulting experience. Ray has held critical contributing roles within almost every department at Coretek, including billable consultant, sales, sales management, CTO, and now his current position as COO. Ray brings a unique combination of technical understanding and process execution expertise to the role. He focuses on securing Coretek's place as the #1 Cloud Service Provider in the U.S. and building a culture to attract and retain the best people. In his free time, Ray enjoys spending time with his wife and son, supporting his son's basketball aspirations, donating time and resources to his church, and golfing. Ray holds a bachelor's degree from Purdue University, an MBA from Wayne State University.
Brian is an expert in translating business issues into technology solutions. He leads the most talented group of solution architects in the U.S. Together; they work with customers, partners, and account teams to design an accurate and flexible solution-based approach to Coretek's customers' unique business and technical requirements. Brian was the Vice President of Enterprise Technology, managing the Server, SAN, and Workstation service lines in the financial services and banking industry and served as a senior architect in multiple consulting organizations. Brian is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, providing him the ability to visualize and communicate complex concepts while making them simple for this audience to understand. Brian is a much sought-after speaker, sharing client stories and emerging technology breakthroughs with ease.
Andy is a progressive human resources professional and invests significant focus on company culture and delivering value-added employee programs. He has a background in rapid growth and full-spectrum global H.R. leadership within the technology space. Before joining Coretek, Andy spent 12 years at Secure-24|NTT. During his time with Secure-24, Andy served in various H.R. roles, most recently the Director of Human Resources position. He has a background in human resources, administration, facilities management, and business unit support. Andy is a graduate of Wayne State University. When he is not providing executive-level leadership and guidance to Coretek's human resources operations, Andy enjoys the outdoors, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Brian has over 25 years of industry experience in IT, security, data privacy, and managed services. He has filled roles in engineering, architecture, leadership, and industry speaking. He has an extensive background supporting clients in over 20 industry verticals, most notably financial, insurance, healthcare, government, education, aerospace, critical manufacturing, and service providers. Brian has provided advisory services for many clients, especially those with high compliance and stringent security requirements or unique security and IT requirements. Brian's security experience spans the full spectrum of security. His expertise spans the tactical side of security, including audit, compliance, controls, technology, and incident response. But he has also worked from the strategic side in building enterprise security and risk programs, business risk management, board advisory, and business incident response. Brian has spent the last six years as a Security and Data Privacy Executive and board advisor for organizations providing managed IT, cloud, advisory, consulting, and security services.
Jim Mitchell is a seasoned financial veteran who has served both public and privately held businesses. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a member of the AICPA and MICPA. With over 25 years of experience in the financial industry, he has successfully led organizations through intense growth, mergers and acquisitions, financial turnarounds, and crisis management. Jim understands the unique challenges that service organizations can face when dealing with rapidly changing customer demands. Jim is passionate about helping organizations reach their highest potential. Outside of work, Jim is dedicated to his family of six with four boys who keep him grounded in fun. He enjoys mountain biking, skiing, golf, and staying active.