Computer Design & Integration

Trish Bakker

Trish Bakker co-founded Computer Design and Integration LLC in 1995 with her husband, Eric Bakker, in their garage in Tappan, New York, and helped drive the hybrid IT solutions provider into the $300M+ organization it is today.

Soon after the company was launched, CDI’s rapid growth enabled it to add professional sales, technical consultants and acquire “real” office space. CDI’s first major client was Quest Diagnostics, which will always be a guarded customer, and served as the foundation for CDI’s extensive client base in healthcare. This account was nurtured out of Trish’s extensive experience of 12+ years as a registered nurse for two major hospital systems in the New York metropolitan region.

Today, CDI has more than 250 employees and operates out of its corporate headquarters located in Teterboro, New Jersey, with offices along the east coast. As CEO with responsibility for sales, marketing and operations, Trish will continue to drive this privately held IT consulting and reselling organization in pursuit of its future milestone – increasing revenue over the next few years to $500 million. To get there, she notes, “CDI can’t do it alone; we need to have true partnership relationships with our people, vendors, and most importantly, our customers.”

Eric Bakker

Eric Bakker has been recognized throughout his professional career as a leader with a vision for the future. He co-founded CDI with his wife, Trish Bakker, in their garage in Tappan, New York, and helped drive it into the $300M+ organization it is today.

Eric possesses a deep understanding of information technology and how to apply that technology to meet core business objectives. He is a true entrepreneur who has always been one step ahead of the marketplace.

Evidence comes in the form of Eric’s ability to successfully evolve CDI’s service organization from a pure technical consulting company into a single-source technology solution implementer by partnering with leading hardware and software suppliers. He knows the keys to creating a successful company: motivating employees, continuously building on their skill levels, encouraging a spirit of enthusiasm and taking care of customers.

Eric received his Bachelors of Science, Electronics Engineering Technology (BSEET) from DeVry Institute of Technology in 1984, and pursued his Master’s of Science in Telecommunications Management at Stevens Institute of Technology. Eric began his professional career at Hewlett-Packard, where he worked for eight years as a senior technical consultant before founding CDI in 1995.

David Reid

Since joining Computer Design & Integration LLC in 1999, Dave Reid has built the company’s operational infrastructure from the ground up — including the design and implementation of key business systems and the establishment of operating policies and procedures.

His expertise in accounting, corporate finance and operations has proven invaluable to CDI and its customers, as the company has grown from $15M to $300M+ during Dave’s tenure.

Relying on the assistance and expertise of his finance/operations staff, Dave’s strength lies in facilitating the financial and business-objective aspects of the customer relationship – ensuring that each alliance is a mutually beneficial one. In addition, Dave manages the business-critical functions of Human Resources, Administrative and Sales Support and Distributor Relationships. He also is a member of Avnet’s HP Partner Council, an advocacy and education group comprised of 11 prominent IT executives from the U.S. and Canada.

Dave earned his Bachelors degree in accounting and his MBA in finance from St. John’s University in New York, and spent the first 10 years of his career in various accounting, finance and operations roles with several entrepreneurial firms. During this time, Dave was instrumental in implementing the systems, processes and controls that helped these organizations achieve extraordinary revenue growth up to 600%. In Dave’s own words, “My goal is to maximize the benefits of the entrepreneurial spirit here at CDI, while providing key balance and structure for the growth that results from it.”

Rich Falcone

Rich Falcone, President of Sales, began his career with CDI LLC in 2002 as a sales associate and was quickly recognized as sales representative of the year for five consecutive years. He was then promoted twice, first to AVP of Sales in 2009, where he was tasked with recruiting and building CDI LLC’s first New York City sales office – which within two years became CDI LLC’s number one revenue-generating location. He was next promoted in 2013 to EVP of Sales, now leading both CDI LLC’s New Jersey and New York City-based sales teams. Under his direction, the Company has had three straight years of record sales growth.

After almost two decades with CDI LLC, Rich was promoted in 2017 to President of Sales, where he is responsible for all revenue streams, including CDI LLC’s Advanced Services Group (ASG), its annuity managed public cloud services and supporting initiatives at CDI Southeast (CDI SE), in Charlotte, North Carolina and CDI Managed Services (CDI MS), in Atlanta, Georgia. In this capacity, he is also responsible for recruiting and developing talent across the organization, leading its go-to-market strategy, overseeing branding evolution and managing key client and partner communications. In his first-year as President of Sales, CDI posted record breaking revenue across all geographies in each of its major product and service offerings.

Rich holds a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from Rutgers University and currently resides in New York City with his wife Valerie, and two young daughters, Stella and Scarlett. In his spare time, Rich enjoys running, live concerts, cheering on the New York Mets and spending time with his family in Central Park.

George Gosselin

An integral member of the CDI technical team since May 2000, George Gosselin was named Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the IT services company in May 2010. In this role, he is responsible for spearheading the evolution of the company’s technical skillset and with staying informed of critical core technologies that will drive CDI’s services and solutions into the future.

“Time and time again, CDI has demonstrated its ability to take on emerging technologies for the data center and develop sophisticated solutions and services around them,” George says. “Our team pioneered real-world solutions for advanced wireless technologies, security, IP telephony, the list goes on. We were among the earliest integrators capable of deploying and supporting private cloud infrastructure, notably technologies from EMC, Cisco and VMware that are part of the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition. By becoming skilled in emerging technologies early in the game, CDI can help our clients innovate ahead of their competitors.”

Prior to his role as CTO, George was director of networking systems, responsible for all aspects of the company’s network consulting business including routing and switching, wireless, security, IP telephony, videoconferencing and operational management. His key achievements include developing CDI’s networking practice, driving the company to earn Cisco Gold Certified status.

George was also instrumental in developing CDI’s advanced consulting skills in converged network communications including voice, video and Fiber Channel over Ethernet and IP networks, advanced wireless services, its proactive security practice and its managed services for network, telephony, server and storage management. Additionally, George is an esteemed member of the Cisco Technical Leadership Council.

From 1991–2001, George served as vice president of engineering for EAC Inc., a former Connecticut-based value-added reseller specializing in many of the same technologies as CDI. George graduated in 1987 from Saint Lawrence University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics and a concentration in computer science.

John Carter

Prior to founding CDI Managed Services, John Carter spent more than 15 years in the technology industry in various management roles in sales, business development and service delivery.

He formulated the concept for CDI Managed Services while in a previous role where he helped build one of the largest application hosting companies in the country with over 7000 end users in the Insurance, Healthcare and Financial sectors.

John attended the University of Georgia and is a die-hard DAWG fan. His favorite activities include fishing, traveling, soccer and other sports. He especially enjoys spending time with his wife Sandy, and their two children, Mason and Lexi.

Frank Romano

Frank Romano joined CDI with 18+ years of IT leadership and a track record of designing and implementing technology architecture and infrastructure solutions.

Prior to his roles at CDI, Frank received a high level of training at Alcoa as the executive IT Manager, Alcoa Business Systems (ABS), a manufacturing best practices program, which he routinely applies to service delivery quality and repeatable IT solutions. Frank has also held the position of CTO for another major solution provider in the New York Metro area.

His experience has given him a deep understanding of business requirements, processes and project management, which enables Frank and his team to deliver cost effective and scalable solutions from Cisco, VMware, EMC and VCE.

This attention to detail allows the CDI professional services team to develop strategies and best practices, and deploy fully integrated converged infrastructure, security, data center, business continuity and virtualization solutions across large-scale environments.

Frank is a strategist and leader — instrumental in building partnerships with manufacturers and enterprise clients. He has been featured as a keynote speaker at various industry conferences, has achieved a high distinction as a Cisco engineer carrying a CCIE certification and brings a wealth of industry recognition and awards.

Frank is a graduate of Ramapo College and his goal is to continue to improve quality in delivery and deliver valuable solutions to CDI clients.

Brian Reid

Brian Reid joined CDI in 1995 with a very deep knowledge of accounting, tax and finance. Brian has been responsible for the design and implementation of the company’s financial policies and procedures.

In recent years, Brian has been tasked with the identification, negotiation and acquisition of strategic targets, which have helped to round out the CDI portfolio of offerings. His tenure has seen the organization grow from a startup to a family of companies generating over $300M in gross revenue.

“Our conservative financial business model has helped CDI weather the economic pitfalls of the past 15 years, and come out the other side stronger and more financially stable,” says Brian.

Brian earned his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Ramapo College of New Jersey.

Vincent Collado

An accomplished software engineer-turned-sales leader, Vincent Collado joined CDI in October 2010 to help spearhead a new generation of growth for the company. During his tenure, he has become one of the thought leaders driving CDI’s go-to-market strategy and has been instrumental in building the sales team and unifying the New York and New Jersey sales teams.

Vincent’s unique combination of technical experience coupled with a business and finance background helps him understand client needs, align the company with industry trends and bridge the gap between IT and the lines of business.

Now leading a team of sales professionals across New York and New Jersey and managing several key account relationships for the company, Vincent joined CDI after a successful five-year stint with storage technology market leader, EMC Corporation (EMC). While at EMC, he was consistently recognized among the top 10% of sales representatives in the U.S.

Vincent began his career in Boston as a software engineer for PARIS Technologies International, where he worked on business intelligence applications. He then moved into disaster recovery solutions at Syncsort, Inc. and obtained sales responsibilities in his second year. Since moving into a sales role, he has compiled numerous successes and accolades.

Vincent graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and a minor in Business Administration. He also received a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Rutgers University. Vincent and his wife Alexis reside in Westfield, New Jersey with their three children.

Josh More

Bringing twenty years of information security experience to CDI, Josh More bridges the gaps between technology, security, and compliance. Internally, Josh guides the development of CDI’s services to maximize their effectiveness and flexibility to meet client needs, while also building in the appropriate controls to help clients select their appropriate security level and meet their regulatory requirements. Externally, Josh leads CDI’s security services consulting arm, helping clients meet these same needs with respect to their own systems and practices.

“Security is not merely about keeping people out. Properly designed security also streamlines existing workflows, effectively shifting barriers from the workers and moving them in front of the attackers. Good security considers the operational (business as usual) practices, as well as the tactical-level tasks and strategic-level goals as a cohesive whole — finding the right balance between protecting against likely threats without consuming resources that could be better used elsewhere. By blending security with existing practices, CDI can help our clients approach security from a nimble perspective, enabling them to adjust to the unexpected, adapting and learning as the attackers do.”

Josh has experience in many industries ranging from start-ups, to financial institutions and healthcare organizations, to established B2B service providers. He has worked in many aspects of security including network, infrastructure, system level, development, physical, social, and IoT and has consulted on the creation of several products, designing the security systems for appliances and web services.

Josh is also a trusted advisor for companies on various business-level concerns, ranging from how to implement and improve vendor management programs to compliance with HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GDPR, NYCSR, and other standards, frameworks, and regulations. Additionally, he’s edited and authored several books and frequently presents at security and technology conferences.