Sirius helps organizations solve complex business challenges.  We’ve built a nationwide consulting, sales and services organization that provides best-of-breed technologies from across the full spectrum of information technology.

Consulting

Sirius Computer Solutions

Joe Markwith

Craig Nelson is responsible for leading and managing Sirius’ Services organization.

Mr. Nelson has more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry. He began his career at IBM Corporation, where he held several positions within sales and management. In 1993, he joined (i)Structure, Inc. and was later named Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service Management. Mr. Nelson helped grow the company from a boutique outsourcer serving mainframe accounts to a full-service national outsourcer. During his tenure, (i)Structure expanded their outsourcing services to include all server platforms, as well as storage, networking, and remote operations management.

In 2003, Mr. Nelson joined MSI Systems Integrators, Inc. as Vice President of Storage Solutions. During this time, the storage business grew significantly each year and achieved the highest financial performance in the company. Over the next several years, he held a number of leadership roles including Senior Vice President of Sales and then Executive Vice President of Practice Solutions.

Upon the Sirius acquisition of MSI in November 2010, Mr. Nelson was named Senior Vice President of Networking and Managed Services. Over the next several years he had responsibility for the financial performance, sales, engineering and customer support for these entities, and has most recently joined the executive team as Executive Vice President.

Mr. Nelson, a native of Nebraska, received his bachelor’s degree in economics and marketing from the University of Nebraska. He serves on the [Cisco](/org/cisco) Executive Advisory Council, as well as on the board of directors of many local non-profit organizations including the Stephen Center, Lauritzen Gardens, and [Ronald McDonald House Charities](/org/ronald-mcdonald-house-charities).

Craig Nelson

Muditha Karunatileka’s career was launched at IBM in 1987, where he spent nine successful years as a systems engineer, sales representative and sales manager. In 1996, he became the executive vice president of Sales at ProAmerica, a distributor of IBM midrange systems.

Mr. Karunatileka joined Sirius in 1997 as vice president of Sales, [Open Systems](/org/open-systems), with the task of launching the new division. His leadership skills, extensive experience with IBM [Open Systems](/org/open-systems) and numerous contacts in the industry played a significant role in building Sirius into a national, cross-brand solution provider.

In 2000, Mr. Karunatileka was named senior vice president of Sales, and given responsibility for Sirius’ national sales force of more than 65 employees. Through acquisitions, organic growth, strategic recruiting across the U.S., and his focus on skill development for the sales team, Mr. Karunatileka helped ensure the continued growth of Sirius’ revenue. He was also instrumental in helping Sirius create a team of highly qualified software specialists, and in Sirius’ evolution toward a more solutions-centric company. In 2002, Mr. Karunatileka became executive vice president of Sales, and he now leads a sales team of more than 400 client executives and sales specialists.

Originally from Sri Lanka, Mr. Karunatileka came to the U.S. in 1983 to attend [Texas A&M University](/org/texas-a-m-university), where he earned a BS in electrical engineering in 1987. He earned his MBA in finance from [Southern Methodist University](/org/southern-methodist-university) in 1992.

Muditha Karunatileka

Joe Mertens began his career with Sirius (then known as Star Data Systems) in 1984 and his responsibilities grew to include sales and operations of the company’s wholesale and distribution divisions. In 1997, those divisions were sold to Western Micro and renamed [Business Partner Solutions](/org/business-partner-solutions) (BPS), of which Mr. Mertens was appointed president and CEO. During his tenure at BPS, sales grew from $237.9 million in 1997 to $767.2 million in 1999 through a combination of organic growth and the integration of six acquisitions.

In 1999, BPS was consolidated into Savoir Technology Group and Mr. Mertens took the helm as the combined company’s president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for all sales and operations in North America.

In July 2000, [Avnet](/org/avnet) Computer Marketing purchased Savoir Technology Group and Mr. Mertens was named executive vice president and general manager of the IBM Business Unit, where he was credited with growing sales to $981 million in 2000. In July 2001, Mr. Mertens moved into a consulting role for [Avnet](/org/avnet) and was named executive vice president of Business Development. He returned to Sirius in May, 2002 as executive vice president, and was named president in April, 2008. In August, 2011, Mr. Mertens was named chief executive officer of Sirius upon the retirement of the company’s founder, Harvey Najim.

Mr. Mertens, a native of Texas, received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious IBM Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr. Mertens serves on the IBM Solution Provider Advisory Council, and the board of directors of [Sirius Computer Solutions](/org/sirius-computer-solutions). He has also served on the boards of directors for Network Systems International (NASDAQ:NESI), Appsmall.com, and Savoir Technology Group (NASDAQ: SVTG). Mr. Mertens is a member of the Alexis De Tocqueville Society, and has served on the board of trustees for the [United Way](/org/united-way) of San Antonio and Bexar County.

Joe Mertens

As executive vice president of Managed and Cloud Services, Mike Conley leads the division that combines Sirius’ managed security services, managed hosting services, managed systems services and Sirius Data Centers. Mr. Conley joined Sirius with the acquisition of Forsythe in 2017.

Mr. Conley joined Forsythe in 1993 as an account manager. He became a district manager in 2000, was promoted to vice president in 2003 and to senior vice president in 2007. Mr. Conley was named to the Forsythe Technology board of directors in 2006. He served on the advisory boards of several of Forsythe’s technology manufacturer partners, and was a member of Forsythe’s internal committee to evaluate emerging technologies, with a special focus on the many security and hybrid data center/cloud solutions being developed.

Prior to joining Forsythe, Mr. Conley worked for three years with [Delta Communications](/org/delta-communications), Chicago, Ill. as sales manager of a 13-state Midwestern sales region serving national clients.

Mr. Conley has served as a guest-lecturer for the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management and the [University of Notre Dame](/org/university-of-notre-dame) Executive MBA Program, educating executive business students about IT issues in business context. He is a contributing author for two case studies published by the Kellogg School. Mr. Conley has been a commentator on Tech Talk with Craig Peterson, the #1 Saturday morning radio show in the Boston market, and his observations about how businesses address IT issues have been published in CIO Insight, IT Business Edge, and Information Today.

Mr. Conley holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from The University of Iowa.

Mike Conley

As president of the MessageOps division, Chris Pyle is focused on growing the MessageOps brand and expanding the Inscape platform to support all the major cloud players, as well as growing monthly recurring cloud revenue.

Mr. Pyle began his career with Champion Solutions Group as a sales representative in 1986. Over the years, he became the driving force behind the organization’s development of key strategic alliances and solution portfolio. It was his vision and innovativeness that helped Champion become a $100-million+ organization and one of the most respected solution providers among top technology manufacturers including IBM, Microsoft, VMware and NetApp.

Mr. Pyle serves on several advisory councils, and is an active member of Vistage International, the world’s foremost chief executive leadership organization, providing guidance and leadership to other executives and managers. He is also a distinguished guest lecturer at Florida Atlantic University’s Executive Forum Lecture Series.

Chris Pyle

Sirius Computer Solutions' CEO and Executive Team includes Joe Mertens and 4 others.

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