Andrew Cohen
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“Never accept ‘good’ – strive for great but only settle for excellence!”
About Andrew
Andrew earned his BA in Studio Arts from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he also was a four-year varsity soccer player. Prior to attending UNC, Andrew played professional soccer in Brazil for Sao Paulo Futebol Clube.
Since 1997, Andrew had been the CEO and Managing Partner at EVOKE, an award-winning Digital Transformation company that partners with our clients to build modern workplace solutions for nearly every common organizational and technological challenge imaginable. In 2019, Andrew launched the EVOKE Engage division that focuses on automation and streamlining of processes. This now allows Netsurit to provide our clients with guidance and solutions on using technology to maximize ROI.
Andrew also serves on the following boards;
Red Cross (Hudson Valley): Board of Directors
People USA: Board of Directors
Pathfinder FC: Board of Advisors
An avid soccer fan and player, Andrew can be found watching or playing soccer when not in the office as well as spending time with his family.
John Iaccarino
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About John
John has been in the MSP business as a leader since 1987. He has been instrumental in the growth, direction, and leadership of the company. John has a BBA in Finance from Pace University. He is past president of the Big Apple Chapter, a consortium of IT leaders in the NY/NJ Metro Area.
John has always been very involved in his community. He is the former Mayor and Chairman of the Planning Board of Harriman, NY. John coached youth soccer and softball for 17 years and is former Treasurer of the Monroe Woodbury Soccer Club. John is prolific bowler with 2 perfect 300 games. He is also an avid NY Mets fan.
Louwki Coetsee
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“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better is best.”
About Louwki
Louwki’s entire career has been devoted to serving companies’ technical needs. After earning his Master Network Engineer qualification, he became a technical trainer for Torque-IT, shortly after this he was promoted to technical manager. He then joined Tronic Trade Technology Holdings and served as Technical Manager. He then spent over a decade at Netsurit starting as a Senior Technical Consultant and worked his way up to Head of Support at Netsurit and part of the executive committee. Following a 3-year stint at Dimension Data as Service Improvement & Enablement Manager and part of the GSC Management team, he re-joined the Netsurit team to help grow the New York business.
Louwki enjoys playing Ice-hockey and spending summer weekends on the boat. He also loves spending time with his wife, Yolandie, and son, Logan
Bill Jacques
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“Always strive to be the very best in everything you do and be kind to everyone you meet along the way.”
About Bill
Bill came to Netsurit with the merger of Real Time. He has a background in field service before moving into the sales arena and playing an instrumental part for the growth of the New Jersey office. Bill has served in the past on the SMB council for Hewlett Packard and was also a past president of the Big Apple chapter, a consortium of IT leaders in the NY/NJ Metro Area.
Bill enjoys a nice glass of wine, a good cigar, and golf.
Orrin Klopper
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“If you can dream it, you are already half way
there; the rest is hard work.”
About Orrin
Orrin’s passion for business creation, people management, and customer service has been a fundamental driving force to the success of Netsurit. Armed with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with Information Systems as an additional subject) he has also completed an Entrepreneurial Masters Course at MIT in the United States. He was also one of the founding members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation in South Africa.
Brian Cooper
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“People inspire me; the rare ones, the givers, the ones who put their hearts and minds and souls into giving, simply for the sake of it, expecting very little in return.”
About Brian
While Brian was busy with a B Com degree, he met his then-future partners Orrin and Rian and it was inevitable that he would join MQS (now Netsurit) in 1998. Initially responsible for the financial management of the business, Brian later took over sales and marketing. After spending a number of years in various management and leadership roles, Brian was promoted to MD of the business in 2009 and Chief Operations Officer in 2012. He has played provincial water polo for many years while also remaining fit by partaking in other various sports such as mountain biking and Triathlons.
Michael Ifraimov
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“No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm.” – Charles Kettering
About Michael
Michael joined Netsurit in 2022 as the Vice President of Corporate Development. Michael has over 15 years of experience in the investment banking and principal investment industries, having completed M&A, debt and equity financing transactions with over $38 billion in deal value and made investments in over $3 billion of debt and equity securities across the capital structure. Michael has worked on complex M&A and strategic advisory transactions and debt and equity financing transactions for companies across a wide variety of industries, most recently within the Technology, Media & Telecommunications sector. Michael received an MBA degree, with distinction, from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Science degree, Cum Laude, from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Jeff Loeb
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“Never stop learning and getting better.”
About Jeff
Jeff is a global marketing leader with significant success driving growth for IT Services, SaaS and Technology companies across North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia.
Jeff has helped companies ranging from start-ups to large enterprises become industry leaders, including dynatrace, Oracle, Logically, RSA Security, Ipswitch and Oracle. Jeff has a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering and an MBA from MIT with a concentration in technology strategy. He combines his technical background with his passion for marketing to create winning positioning and unbeatable value propositions.
Steven Grobler
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“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.” – Theodore Roosevelt.
About Steven
An IT training job in college turned into an IT supervisor position at Sun Coast and then Montecasino over the first 4 years after school. Steven then took the opportunity to move to London where he filled various IT roles and got his first taste of working for a managed services provider (MSP). Returning to South Africa he started with Netsurit and worked his way up to Support Operations Manager. When Netsurit merged with Marathon Consulting, Steven joined to become Director of Technical Services for the US company and found his way to the Big Apple. When he is not at work, Steven is most likely tending to his houseplants, taking photos, exploring or shredding up the slopes on his snowboard.
Henry Swanepoel CA(SA)
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“Wear your passion. Love what you do. Good things come to those who never give up. Grow. Persevere. Evolve.”
About Henry
As Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Henry Swanepoel is responsible for all Netsurit’s financial functions including accounting, audit, treasury, corporate finance and investor relations. Henry’s career spans more than ten years of varied experience in multi-national and multi-cultural organisations. Before joining Netsurit Henry served as CFO for LAWtrust, Africa’s leading trust centre. Prior to that he served as Financial Manager for Internet Solutions. Henry earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) as well as a Masters of Taxation from Northwest University. On a personal note Henry enjoys the outdoors, is an avid golfer and loves spending time with his wife Leigh and beautiful daughters Mila and Sharla .
Shaun Davis
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“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, then I can achieve it.” – Muhammad Ali quote”
About Shaun
I started my IT career in 1997, working 10 years for Sony Electronics and was responsible for looking after their African continent infrastructure and international connectivity. I then moved over to Vodacom South Africa where I continued expanding on my enterprise IT knowledge. In 2011 I joined Netsurit South Africa as a Solutions architect and worked in this position for 6 years before deciding to make the next step and took on the role as Support Operations manager. Throughout my 23 years security has always played a big role of my day to day function and has led to my appointment as Chief Security Officer in 2020.
When I am not working, I love spending time with my wife, family, friends, CrossFit and off roading.
Louis de Klerk
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“The ‘next level’ is reached by combined focused creative energy with capacity.”
About Louis
Louis is a self-taught academic at heart, with a passion for tinkering with algorithms and puzzles. He started his career as an IT support technician, working on Novell and Unix networks. After a few years, he made the transition to the Microsoft ecosystem, where he soon specialized in database design and software development. Later Louis joined Windows Academy as a Microsoft Certified Trainer which provided fertile ground for learning new things.
Being a founder and part of the management team of Inobits Consulting for the last 16 years, Louis was a central figure in Inobits’ software development projects at enterprise customers. Often the lead developer, solution architect or quality assurance on projects, Louis has been leading delivery teams through the lifecycles of solutions at many customers. At the moment Louis is passionate about how the cloud is transforming how we design IT systems, and the accelerating rate at which these systems are becoming more reactive and intelligent. A favorite pastime is the reading of fiction, history, and philosophy.
Eugene Perumal
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“People don’t follow great companies or great ideas; they follow good people who can include them in a great purpose.”
About Eugene
Eugene’s love for technology blossomed in high-school, learning Turbo Pascal and Dig Dug. His formative years in technology were spent as a technical consultant as well as a student of software design. Following this, Eugene spent many more years occupying management and leadership roles.
Having journeyed through big brands like Nashua and Sterkinekor, Eugene joined Netsurit in 2016 as a Senior Technology Advisor. He took to the Netsurit family culture and assumed the title of Client Services Manager in 2017. Eugene went on to spend the lion’s share of his tenure in the role of Client Services Executive, playing an operational and fiduciary role, before being appointed Managing Director of the Netsurit business in South Africa late in 2020.
At time of writing, he’s a work-from-home-dad with a passion for sport, music and multitasking-gone-wrong.
Nicolas Hocquet
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“I love what I do and I do what I love. I believe that my passion for IT helps me going out of my way for Netsurit employees and customers.”
About Nicolas
In 2010, after working as a Senior IT Engineer for three years in France, Nicolas decided to pursue one of his greatest dreams and made the choice to relocate to South Africa where he joined the Netsurit Team as a Support Consultant. Through the constant development of his technical & managerial skills, Nicolas has been promoted a number of times, occupying crucial roles such as Team Leader, IT Manager & Operations Manager. In his private life, Nicolas loves spending time with his wife Phumzile and son Enzo. Nicolas is also an avid rugby fan and trains his son on a regular basis. He also enjoys traveling throughout South Africa to visit some of the most beautiful places that this country has to offer.
Hud Krause
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“Never sacrifice future success for short-term gratification.”
About Hud
Hud graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a degree in B Com Financial Management. While completing his degree part time, an opportunity presented itself to work within the IT department of Sasol Technology. During this time, Hud completed a CNE Qualification and soon after that entered the Microsoft realm, getting a Microsoft certification and a position as a Certified Microsoft Trainer. It is here where he met his future partners and co-founders of Inobits Consulting. He filled the role of Financial Director at Inobits Consulting until 2010, after which he was appointed as the Managing Director. Hud was also extremely instrumental in establishing Inobits ME in Dubai in 2002, setting up the Microsoft partnership there and negotiating the distribution agreement with K2 in 2003. After the recent merger with Netsurit, Hud now heads up the Professional Services Division (Inobits) within the organization. Outside of work, Hud enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his kids Katrina and Carl.
Sarika Thakor
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“One should never mistake kindness for weakness…for it is in the moments that we apply kindness that our strength is revealed”
About Sarika
Sarika is a registered Industrial Psychologist who started her career working at MAC Consulting. Throughout her 3 years in Consulting she has gained skills within the Leadership Development and Psychometric Assessment areas of Industrial Psychology as well as opportunities to further develop other areas within the field. She then entered the world of HR at T-Systems South Africa as an HR Business Partner. Her role involved playing a more generalist interface between HR as a function and the various areas of business she was responsible for a further 3 years. She subsequently joined the Nesturit family in May 2017 in the role of HR manager. Her passion is people and is keen to learn more about the mechanics of business linked to people dynamics and HR elements. She hopes to make a lasting impact on the people of Netsurit and leave a lasting legacy in the awesome Netsurit culture. Outside of work her passion revolves around her son and husband.
Sharon-Lee Bloem
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“Be passionate and bold. Always keep learning. You stop doing useful things if you don’t learn.” – Satya Nadella
About Sharon-Lee
Sharon-Lee graduate from CTI in 2003 with a diploma in IT. She joined Imperial Online as the only female IT engineer in 2004 and proceeded to blaze a trail for the decade that followed. After joining Inobits in 2012, she focussed heavily on being the most certified technical resource in the consulting team. Earning a reputation for her diligence and her eye for detail, Sharon was responsible for a number of enterprise projects that delivered value to customers using the Microsoft ecosystem. In 2014 Sharon was promoted to the Consulting and Pre-Sales team lead role as well as being responsible for Technical Account management on key Enterprise accounts. Additionally, Sharon also leads efforts with Microsoft to ensure the Netsurit relationship is as fruitful as it can possibly be. Sharon is a dynamic leader with a people first approach. She enjoys motorsport and travel in her free time.
Riaan Davis
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“I strive towards delivering tasks in time and will go out of my way to do so no matter what. It is not about working hard, but working smart.”
About Riaan
Riaan graduated in 2004 from North West University with a degree in BSC Information Technology.
In 2006 Riaan joined Netsurit as a Junior Technology Advisor and developed his skills as a Network Architect Designer, and within a relatively short period was promoted to Senior Technology Advisor. Continually striving for more in his profession, Riaan was promoted to Head of Projects and Online Backups in 2010, and later in 2012, the duty of managing the ISP department was left in his very capable hands. In 2015 Riaan took over the HW/SW Sales department to focus more on product sales with the drive around the Netsurit cloud services and offerings. In his private life, Riaan enjoys spending time with the love of his life, Hayley, and his two kids Ethan and Callan. Riaan also enjoys outdoor activities involving sports such as golf, rugby and cricket and enjoys a brisk ride on his mountain bike.
Dewaldt du Plessis
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“You can buy a person’s time; you can buy their physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of their skilled muscular motions per hour. However, you cannot buy enthusiasm . . . You cannot buy loyalty . . . You cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these.”
About Dewaldt
Dewaldt’s journey with Netsurit started in 2003 when he joined as a Helpdesk Consultant. This was at a stage where bandwidth in South Africa became cheaper and more readily available and this was the start of Netsurit offering Remote Support to its customers. Through hard work and dedication, Dewaldt was promoted to Senior Technology Advisor in 2010, and a year later appointed as Client Service Executive leading the team of Technology Advisors. With more than a decade of experience, Dewaldt made the decision to go back into the support side of Netsurit, but this time he was leading the biggest department in the business as Support Services Executive. In 2018, Dewaldt yet again demonstrated his experience and versatility in the role of Strategic Account Executive looking after key accounts. In 2019 he took over the New Business team. When he is not working, he enjoys gardening & spending time with his wife, Jo-Anne and children, Dejan & Joné.
Barbi Goldblatt
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“You realise value by turning a good business into a great business. But more fundamental than that, is turning good people into great people” – Brian Joffe, Bidvest
About Barbi
Barbi has spent her entire career, which spans over 30 years, in various sectors of IT. Her goal is and always has been, a strong focus on her people – grow your people, grow your business, coupled with an exceptionally high focus on “Partnership for Life” with our clients, constantly ensuring our clients derive value from IT. Barbi started her career in 1984 as a Management Consultant at Ernst and Young, in 1995 she moved into the world of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Consulting in the SME market. In 2000, she sold her ERP business to EOH, and over the next 10 years built the EOH SME ERP and Managed Services business in Cape Town, where she was MD. In 2011 it was time to leave the corporate world, and Barbi joined Netsurit, to head up their Cape Town branch. This branch continues to grow from strength to strength, through the combined focus of “growing our people” and delivering exceptional client services, a strong “Partner for Life” focus.Born and bred in Cape Town, South Africa, Barbi’s love for the sea and infamous Table Mountain make her a true “Capie”.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Adam Coffey
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Adam has led and built three Private Equity back platform roll-ups – of which two reached over $1 billion valuation. He has completed 58 add-on acquisitions over 21 years. Adam is a bestselling author, engineer, and pilot all while being part of the Fortune 500 Executives. We are beyond excited to learn from the wealth of experience Adam has.
Tim Wallis
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Tim is a visionary who founded Content and Code in 2001 to help organizations digitally transform to become more collaborative and competitive and engage their employees to better realize business goals. Tim grew Content and Code to become one of the most awarded Microsoft Partners in the UK before becoming a trusted consultant to a host of companies. A gifted entrepreneur and invaluable resource, Tim has been coaching and advising the Netsurit team for the last six months.
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