Former RDS Solutions Managing Partners to Lead UPSTACK’s Customer Experience Organization

UPSTACK, the fastest-growing advisory platform for digital infrastructure, announced that it named channel veterans J.R. Vernick and Darren Jones to its executive leadership team as Executive Vice Presidents and Co-Heads of Customer Experience (CX). In their new roles, Vernick and Jones will oversee and orchestrate the UPSTACK customer journey – from solutions architecture and optimization through to advocacy – to deliver a customer experience unrivaled in the technology services industry.

Vernick and Jones are former Managing Partners for RDS Solutions, which is regarded as the largest independent digital infrastructure agency in the United States. In 2021, technology services brokerage Intelisys named RDS Solutions its first and only Palladium Partner for managing more than $5 million in monthly net customer spend. RDS merged with UPSTACK in February 2022.

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“With RDS Solutions, J.R. and Darren built and operated one of the most successful digital infrastructure businesses in our industry,” said UPSTACK Founder and CEO Christopher Trapp. “The acronym ‘RDS’ – Respond, Deliver, Support – represents their relentless focus on the experience of their customers, which has been the driving force for their success with many of the world’s leading enterprises. Following our acquisition of RDS, we have spent the last 12 months working closely with J.R. and Darren to redefine what Customer Experience means for our industry. I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about them taking the helm to architect and deliver this discipline at scale and quality hasn’t been done before.”

Over the last 18 months, UPSTACK has built a strong foundation for the CX organization that includes solutions architecture, service delivery, project management, service desk and account management initiatives. Vernick and Jones intend to take the organization to the next level based on 17 years of hands-on experience supporting IT customers of all sizes – from small and medium businesses to multinational enterprises.

“At RDS, we perfected customer touchpoints and service in the agent model,” said Jones, noting the agency’s NPS scores were consistently 100 percent, a seemingly unachievable NPS score. “Our plan is to extend those best practices across UPSTACK’s ecosystem of partners and customers to deliver a consistent and exceptional customer experience.”

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“What it comes down to is we’re building a people-first culture,” said Vernick. “People-first includes both employees and customers. Employees that feel cared for in turn care for their customers. We want to make every customer – regardless of which partner they work with – a happy UPSTACK customer.”

The new CX leadership team is taking the helm with the support of UPSTACK’s Advisory Partners, such as Jake Cummins, Partner and Managing Director at UPSTACK.

“As an advisory partner, one of the most compelling opportunities UPSTACK offers is the ability to collaborate with and draw from the collective expertise of other top partners in our industry,” said Cummins. “I can think of no better example than J.R. and Darren who are leveraging nearly two decades of experience to lead CX at UPSTACK—a move that is a tremendous value add for our customers and Advisory Partners. Aside from being great individuals, their desire to both support and deliver is contagious, and I could not think of a better team to deliver a world-class experience to our valued customers.”

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