TBI Leadership

Geoff Shepstone founded TBI in 1991 and continues to actively lead the company. TBI earned its position as a top Master Agent through Geoff’s commitment to finding the best solutions available to meet evolving customer needs. His experience in telecommunications began at MCI before moving into management with Alternative Channel Divisions of LCI International (acquired by Qwest). Recognizing the need for partners to connect with cutting-edge solutions from trusted providers led to the creation of TBI. Under his vision and leadership, the company remains at the forefront of the technology industry and continues to aggressively grow its extensive network of partners and highly-vetted providers.

Pete Shah joined TBI in 2013 with over 20 years of finance experience and 15 years in the telecom industry. Prior to TBI, Pete served as CFO of Access Media 3, where he oversaw all accounting, corporate finance, and treasury functions. At TBI Pete leads the finance, commissions, human resources, IT, training, and sales support departments.

Mike Onystok is responsible for TBI’s Omni Center, training and marketing objectives. He started his tenure with the master agent in 2008 as a Supervisor of Inside Sales, and has since held the roles of Director of National Telesales and Director of National Channel Sales. Working with contact centers for over 15 years, he has experience in both direct and indirect sales. Having taken on a Vice President role, he oversees the company’s training and marketing departments, building better synchronization across partner sales enablement and education. In addition to his work with TBI, Mike has served as Chicago Chapter President for the Professional Association for Customer Engagement.

Jeff Newton leads the company’s efforts in securing enterprise relationships with agent partner organizations and large end-user accounts. Jeff has over 15 years of experience in the procurement, implementation, and maintenance of cloud-based and facility-based service and software providers. He has managed software systems at nearly every stage of the development lifecycle and has served on the advisory boards of numerous global organizations in the development and launch of their own software products and internet service provider (ISP) networks.

Keith Connolly is Vice President of Sales for TBI’s east region spearheading channel team development and providing strategic direction for partner growth initiatives. He brings 25 years of telecommunications sales leadership, 18 of which were spent in the indirect channel. Prior to joining TBI, Connolly served as Vice President of Channel Sales at Windstream Communications from 2008 – 2017 and Channel Manager from 2002 – 2007. Under his leadership the East Region exceeded YoY sales goals for 9 consecutive years. Additional sales and leadership recognition include: 8-time Vice President President’s Club recipient, 5-time Vice President of the Year honoree, 3-time President’s Club Channel Manager recipient and a Channel Manager of the Year honoree.

Stephen Stillson has over 30 years of information technology experience with sales leadership at AT&T , CIMCO Communications and most recently US Signal. Prior to joining TBI, Stillson served as Vice President of Sales at US Signal where he developed a new division focused on cloud, data security and emerging solution sales within the indirect and direct channels. He regularly exceeded company goals for new revenue in cloud sales and successfully opened new markets. Stillson holds a BS in Business Administration from Ball State University and received Sales and Business Executive Education from MIT and the University of Virginia. He is currently a member of Technology Executives Club and Illinois Technology Association.

As Vice President of Technology and Business Development, Steve Roos is responsible for the development and implementation of TBI’s emerging technologies into IT, BI, and the Channel Sales Enablement Program. Additionally, he’s focused on expanding our solutions and offerings for more seamless provider channel integration. Roos brings over 35 years of telecom experience to TBI’s senior leadership team, having previously been the Director of Technical Sales and the Senior Systems Engineer at Liquid Networx, to most currently the VP of Technical Services at Wired Networks. In the civilian sector, Steve has developed and trained multiple telecom carriers and internal technicians on complex services solutions and how to sell specific voice and data solutions. Steve is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant; he spent 20 years testing and evaluating Department of Defense communications systems throughout the world. Additionally, he served as Lead Engineer for Joint Task Forces in support of Alaskan Command, and he developed a secure command and control structure which the National Security Agency couldn’t breach. Roos received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. He also holds several certifications including Cisco CCNP, CCDP, CompTIA Certified Technical Trainer, Microsoft MCSE, VMware VCP5 and Adtran ATSP.

Ryan is TBI’s Senior Director of Sales. In this role, he leads a channel sales team of nine in defining, initiating and growing revenue-generating partnerships. He is also responsible for building and maintaining strategic relationships, executing on joint selling initiatives, and assisting with the development of strategies to increase revenue for partners and vendors. Ryan started at TBI seven years ago as a National Channel Manager and was promoted to a Sr. National Channel Manager role before being promoted to his current role . Before joining the master agent, he worked for Nitel as a Senior Account Manager for seven years. He is an alumnus of Ball State University and holds a Master of Science in Computer and Information Sciences.

Adam is the Senior Director of Operations at TBI. In this role, he has developed a team of 50+ employees with a focus on customer satisfaction, retention and growth. His responsibilities include leading operational strategy and providing overall management by identifying and implementing processes and procedures to improve efficiencies. During his five years with TBI, he has fulfilled various roles, including Partner Experience Manager, Manager of Sales Operations, Director of National Channel Sales, and Director of Emerging Technologies. Adam holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Management from Bellevue University.

As the Director of Human Resources, Vanessa is responsible for the planning and management of all Human Resources programs at TBI. She works closely with the leadership team, providing human resources counsel and direction and helping to develop strategic staffing plans and offering compensation guidance. Vanessa’s overall goal is to ensure TBI’s employees are happy, engaged and have the resources they need to build their careers in telecom. Vanessa started her career in Human Resources at a boutique executive recruiting firm in downtown Chicago. Prior to joining TBI, Vanessa was the Head of Human Resources at SCB & Associates, an international commodity brokerage firm. Vanessa has over 10 years experience in Human Resources Management and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Illinois Chicago. She is also a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

As Director of Sales, Marco leads a channel sales team of seven to initiate and develop successful partnerships. He is responsible for fostering and maintaining strategic relationships with TBI’s top providers, executing on joint selling initiatives, and participating in strategic planning around increasing profits for TBI partners. He works with his team to bring new value to TBI’s selling partners, enhancing customers’ ease of commerce and improving business outcomes for the end-users through the technology and vendors we offer. Mr. Sanchez has been with TBI for more than eight years, starting in the company’s omni center, working his way up to channel manager and eventually reaching his current role of Director of National Channel Sales. In his free time, Marco likes spending time with his family and cheering on the Chicago Cubs.

Boe is Director of Sales for the East Region; he leads a team of channel managers that spans from the Northeast to Florida, all whom are assisting TBI’s partners in defining, initiating and growing their businesses. He works with his team to bring new value to TBI’s selling partners, enhancing customers’ ease of commerce and improving business outcomes for the end-users through the technology and vendors we offer. Mr. Mellor spent 16 years as a Channel Manager for Windstream/PAETEC, and started his career in telecom at AT&T. He has a long history of supporting partners and strategically helping them grow revenue. Mr. Mellor has been recognized multiple times as a President’s Club winner at both Windstream and AT&T. Boe lives in Pittsburgh and is an alumnus of Robert Morris University.

Bill Vander Vennet serves at TBI’s National Referral Program Director. For the last 15 years, Bill has focused on both building and growing new lines of business within existing organizations such as Bridgevine and Acceller. Prior to that, he worked at AT&T where he stood up the organization’s consumer alternate channel program with major retailers and computer OEMs. Vander Vennet joined TBI in 2016 and spearheads the strategic referral program, augmenting the company’s existing partner base and expanding this program into new vertical markets. He resides in Austin, TX and when not working you can catch him taking in live music, exploring new restaurants and golfing.

As the Director of Inside Sales at TBI, Matt oversees all Omni-Center Sales and Training operations. His group is responsible for all direct Outbound, Referral, and Retention sales efforts, focusing mainly on new-acquisition and some customer-retention. As one of the longest tenured employees at TBI, Matt has been able to utilize his 15+ years of call center experience to transform the Omni-Center into a well-oiled machine that fuels the growth for the rest of TBI. His strengths include being highly organized, developing efficient processes and procedures, and proving coaching and development for entry-level Account Managers looking to career-path into other roles within the organization. Matt is married with 2 daughters, ages 10 and 8, and also enjoys spending time with his 2 dogs; 6 year old Bernice Mountain dog Ty, and 9 year old German Shepard, Nemy.

As Director of Marketing for TBI, Corey Cohen manages the company’s multi-channel brand strategies, public relations, events and advertising. She directs both internal and external communications to ensure the delivery of valued products and programs to suppliers and partners, alike. Previously, Cohen headed up business development at a B2B brand development and integrated marketing agency, Magnani Continuum Marketing. There, she worked with companies like Siemens, CNA, AARP and Marriott International developing global marketing communications. Ms. Cohen started her career in public relations for consumer and enterprise technology companies, handling all media relations, product launches, analyst reviews, media tours and educational programs.

David Cullum is Director of Information Systems & Technology. He started his career at TBI in 2011 working as a national account executive, then progressing to backend systems, having taken on roles such as sales analyst, data analytics and business intelligence manager. Cullum’s background in sales and market research made him successful in building vendor campaigns for TBI including CenturyLink and Time Warner, where he took his own metrics and campaign tracking and was asked to roll out data tracking company-wide. He was instrumental in selecting TBI’s current CRM and ERP system, integration, implementation and deployment. His team is responsible for systems, infrastructure and supporting employees with business process automation. Cullum resides in Florida, has a 7 year-old son and attributes his successes to identifying great talent, system design and utilizing data to make better business decisions.

Dave Landsberger is the Director of Training and Events at TBI. His team is responsible for designing timely and relevant education for TBI partners and employees via The University of TBI in addition to delivering dynamic learning face-to-face at onboardings or training events across the country. Dave has been leading TBI’s training initiatives since May 2014. Before joining TBI, Dave was a collegiate professor and a technology sales executive focusing on CIOs and CDOs.

Jackie Landuyt serves as TBI’s Director of Finance. She joined TBI in 2013 as a Commissions Analyst and has been promoted to oversee the commissions analyst team, first as a Senior Commissions Manager and now as Director of Finance. Landuyt provides customer support and ensures accurate monthly commission payouts while developing new processes and programs to hold TBI Providers accountable through proactive audits and disputes and also assists with internal reporting as it relates to audits and profitability analysis. When not working, you can find Jackie traveling, trying new restaurants and spending time with family. Jackie holds a BS in Finance from Indiana University.

As TBI’s Director of Post Sales, Bryan works with a team of Project Coordinators, Project Managers, and Program Managers to assist partners with contracting, order submission, and management/fulfillment of small-to-large-scale orders and projects. In this role, his main focus is constantly pushing the boundaries of service by identifying areas where TBI’s post-sales team can add value to our Partners. In his three years with the master agent, Bryan has filled roles such as Agent Recruiter, Partner Experience Manager, and Manager of Sales Operations. Recently, he successfully assisted in implementing Project Management software in order to further enhance the team in achieving excellence in post-sales service and to continue to improve the team's ability to meet customer expectations for install times. Bryan graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in education and taught music at the high school level before joining TBI. While not working, he enjoys attending Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts, seeing Broadway musicals, traveling abroad, and playing with his dog, Lola.

Joel is the Senior IT Administration Manager at TBI. This position is responsible for TBI’s infrastructure and SaaS systems. Additionally, helpdesk falls under his management, this would include both internal employee support along with partner support for services including NetSuite and the TBI on Demand app. Joel's experience in the telecom industry has roots with equipment manufacturers and service providers, with some of the industry’s largest players helping develop solutions to support their customers.