Friday, January 25, 2008

SchoolOne Becomes FIT

One of the great underreported and underappreciated stories in the Cleveland tech community has been the extraordinary growth of SchoolOne. (I have to disclose, however, that after my tenure at the City of Cleveland, I did join the SchoolOne family as part of the company’s management team. So one can I say I am very proud of SchoolOne.) And the Company has a great story, too. SchoolOne was founded in 1999 by Micki Tubbs and Michelle Tomallo, the Company’s CEO and Vice President, respectively. The original technology of the company was a web-based student information system – but has quickly morphed into a full-service IT company (offering so many things to its client base – network solutions, application development, managed IT services, telecommunications) for the K – 12 marketplace. What makes this story all the more special are the two principals involved – Micki and Michelle – they are just tremendous people and we really do have a family atmosphere at the company.

Here is a great company that has experienced tremendous growth (over 300% during the past four years) and has grown from 3 employees to over 120. SchoolOne is a great success story. And now we are about to write another chapter in the company’s history. On January 28th, SchoolOne formally becomes FIT Technologies (although SchoolOne will remain as the go-to-market name for our education division). FIT best represents the new direction of the company – a direction that will move into the corporate IT space and offer an impressive technology menu to companies in the small to middle-market arena. Everyone at FIT is thrilled. Our growth plan is aggressive and, I believe, we have the management team and better yet, the staff to get us over the mountain.

I don’t know of another company that had so many trials and tribulations over the years, but has always persevered. That is a sign of good leadership. I hope you will join us during our celebration this week, please feel welcome to call me and ask for a tour of our facility – I can be contacted at 216.583.5049 or at mdealoia@fittechnologies.net (or hit the website, man, www.fittechnologies.net) – and a chance to meet good people. Having been on the front lines of tech industry here in Cleveland for over eight-years, I can tell you the industry is replete with good people doing great things. And that is true at the new FIT, as well.

Posted by Tech Czar at 21:51:12 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Thank You, Cleveland! (I hope to see you again, soon.)

Good-Morning Everyone:

I wanted to send out a very heartfelt thank-you for all your support these last few years. As many of you may know, I will be leaving my post at the City of Cleveland to join SchoolOne – a tech company located in Playhouse Square. This was a difficult decision. My tenure at the City was incredibly robust, challenging, invigorating – never has one professional post meant so much to me. I was truly living the dream. Who would have thought that over the last three years more than 30 tech companies would have decided to call the City of Cleveland home or that we would have built out nearly 450,000 square feet of the most provocative office space on the planet, or that the City would welcome over 800 new employees to the City? And I am happy to report that there are a handful of companies nearing a decision to join us – in the best City in the world – to continue the tech renaissance that is happening right in the center of Cleveland .

The tech industry must make a commitment to Cleveland and the City must make technology development and on-going exercise. We could have our own mini-Silicon Valley along Euclid Avenue, West Ninth and Superior Avenue (these are the streets were most of the new tech companies have decided to take roost) – the seeds are there and the soil is tilled to make it so. I ask - will you make this commitment? I have. Many of your compatriots have and I hope that all of you will join me in solidifying Cleveland as the next new tech hub for the U.S. and beyond. Don’t scoff – it is very conceivable that this could happen. Don’t let the negative vibe merchants tell you otherwise. They are wrong. And we, my friends, are right. We are the next best hope for a bright and rich future for this city. It is the creative class and the entrepreneurial class that are going to propel this City to its rightful place of national prominence.

We must demand a new paradigm of capital (both human and financial) from the institutions around us (i.e. – the foundations, the banks, the equity funds, the colleges and universities, the various economic development institutions, our government). We, as the collective creative and entrepreneurial class, must demand the championship spirit that defines us from these institutions as well. We must demand attention and loyalty from them, too. It is our manifest destiny to make Cleveland enjoy a new bounty. We must have more tech companies bless our buildings downtown. It is the clustering of tech companies in a tight geographic constraint that spurs all sorts of wonderful things (tinkering, collaborating, inventing and the like). Downtown is ready for you. Please stay connected with me. I have enjoyed talking to each and everyone of you and consider all of you my friends. My personal contact information is:

Mobile :             216.212.4067

E-Mail               mdealoia@mac.com

I hope we can all stay in touch and talk shop. Many, many thanks for allowing me to work with you.

Regards,

Michael C. DeAloia

Post-Scipt: I will continue to write my blog and look forward to a healthy dose of dialogue and debate. Rock on, Cleveland!

Posted by Tech Czar at 18:02:01 | Permalink | No Comments »