Monty Hamilton is the CEO and founder of Sparq, formerly known as Rural Sourcing, where he leads the executive team and drives the overall strategy. Sparq is a unique digital engineering company focused on helping its clients realize their digital transformation strategies and creating thousands of technology careers in places where they otherwise would not exist. Monty has helped grow the firm through two private equity investments to become the largest privately held digital engineering firm with colleagues across the US and Latin America. He is a sought-after speaker on the outsourcing and domestic sourcing topic and has recently been featured on CNBC, BBC, NPR radio and at various industry conferences including IAOP, Gartner, Digital Georgia and others. In addition, recent articles depicting Sparq’s innovative outsourcing model have appeared in Business Week, CNN Money magazine, CFO magazine, and CIO magazine.
This is Monty’s second entrepreneurial startup venture after leaving Accenture in 1995. He joined together with four other colleagues to build a consulting firm – Clarkston Consulting. He was instrumental in growing Clarkston into a global strategic and systems integration firm with offices across the US and Europe. After Clarkston’s acquisition of Sparq, he became the CEO in 2009.
Monty is on the Board of Directors for Ventures ATL, a technology company in Atlanta focused on providing careers for adults on the autism spectrum, a member of the Board of Trustees for Millsaps College, and an investor in early stage technology companies.
Monty holds an M.B.A. from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a B.B.A. in business from Millsaps College.
As the President of Sparq, Ingrid is responsible for driving collaboration across the organization to deliver industry-focused digital solutions and unique and valuable client and colleague experiences. Ingrid oversees the execution of Sparq’s consulting delivery and drives the future of its services through its new capabilities and acquisition strategy. Her leadership has been pivotal in cementing Sparq’s reputation as a leader in digital engineering and product development, successfully blending
Ingrid’s dedication to fostering a nurturing and inclusive workplace culture is evidenced by her role as the Executive Sponsor of Sparq’s Equity, Inclusion & Diversity (EI&D) efforts. This underscores her commitment to creating an environment of belonging and respect, not just within Sparq but also in its interactions with clients and the broader community.
Prior to joining Sparq, Ingrid defined her skills in technology transformation at Clarkston Consulting, specializing in the Healthcare and Life Sciences sectors. There, she led global teams, demonstrating her expertise in managing complex, cross-border projects and her ability to drive change in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.
Ingrid is a proud alumna of Babson College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management.
Tre Sasser is the Chief Financial Officer for Sparq. He is responsible for the company’s overall financial strategy and implementing the infrastructure needed to sustain Sparq’s rapid growth and expansion plans. He brings nearly 20 years of strategic, financial and operational experience to Sparq.
Tre has held leadership positions in both Fortune 500 companies and startups. Prior to joining Sparq, he served as CFO for eMag Solutions, LLC, an eDiscovery technology and data restoration provider, as CFO for Exaserv, Inc., a global IT consulting firm and as Director of Credit for Sanmina Corp, an electronics manufacturing services provider. Tre began his career at Hewlett Packard, where he served in a variety of roles, ranging from sales to finance.
Tre earned his MBA from Georgia State University with a concentration in finance and his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a licensed CPA. He grew up in Marietta, GA where he lives with his wife and three children.
As the Chief Operating Officer, Brian oversees Sparq’s global delivery organization, solution practices and the development of new offerings and capabilities. Brian works closely with Sparq’s vertical go-to-market teams to create and deliver solutions tuned to the specific needs of the industries we serve.
Prior to joining Sparq, Brian held a number of positions at leading firms in business and technology consulting. Most recently Brian spent eight years at EPAM Systems as Vice President Technology Solutions focused on developing digital solutions and content practices along with building out a delivery organization for a new business unit. Prior to EPAM, Brian spent fifteen years at Publicis Sapient as a Vice President of Technology serving in multiple roles such as leading the transition to Agile and building a wide variety of market facing practices covering data, cloud, performance, platform engineering and others encompassing thousands of engineers.
As Chief People Officer, Robin provides leadership and guidance for Colleague Services, Talent Acquisition and Learning and Development to support Sparq’s entire colleague lifecycle.
Prior to joining Sparq, Robin served as Chief People Officer for Outmatch, a leader in the hiring experience space. She has also served in HR leadership roles for WestRock, Hitachi Consulting and Delta Air Lines.
Robin earned a Bachelor of General Studies in business, communications and political science from Ohio University.
As the Chief Revenue Officer for Sparq, Jeff is entrusted with a range of responsibilities aimed at driving the company’s growth and success. Central to his role is the development and execution of Sparq’s vertical Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy, carefully crafted to navigate market dynamics and foster sustainable growth. He also works closely with his dedicated strategic verticals sales team to ensure they delight clients and continue to drive growth for the company.
Before joining Sparq, Jeff has held a number of sales leadership roles, each contributing to his expertise in vertical GTM strategies. For eight years, he led sales within the Manufacturing, Logistics, Energy and Utilities organization at Cognizant. He then joined Fujitsu North America as Head of Sales, further deepening his understanding of vertical markets and refining his ability to lead high-performing sales teams towards success. Most recently, Jeff was the Chief Revenue Officer at 3Pillar, where he drove sustainable revenue streams and fostered continued growth.
Jeff has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Accounting from the University of Alberta and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management from Robert Morris University.
As Chief Client Officer for Sparq, Scott is responsible for one of our core values, ‘Change the Experience.’ He and his team are client-facing, colleague-centered and delivery-focused to ensure that our clients are delighted with our services. Scott works across our Sales, Sales Engineering and Delivery teams to ensure common practices and drive rigor that results in excellent outcomes.
With 30+ years of hands-on technology leadership experience, Scott has led high-performing teams, technology groups, and business divisions through dozens of enterprise initiatives, systems development and digital innovation. He has also led organizational transformation initiatives with a recent focus around Agile, DevOps and Cloud transitions driven by rapidly growing digital demands across a number of industries and organizations.
Scott is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science.
Derek Perry is the Chief Technology Officer for Sparq. His responsibilities include developing innovative and strategic service offerings and implementing solutions for our clients.
A technologist by background, Derek has more than a decade of experience in leading engagements and building solutions. His background has a strong focus in enterprise applications, particularly in Quality Systems, as well as broad custom application development experience. Prior to his role with Sparq, Derek was the Director of the Quality Systems Business Solution and Manager at Clarkston Consulting. During his tenure at Clarkston Consulting, he was responsible for delivery consistency, methodology development, and service offering development for quality systems engagements.
Derek’s industry experience includes the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and consumer products industry verticals. Within these industry verticals, Mr. Perry has deep knowledge of laboratory operations and automation, informatics, quality management and manufacturing operations. Derek is a graduate of Georgia Tech, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science.
As Executive Advisor, Alex is focused on the success of some of Sparq’s most strategic accounts. In this role, he will lead Sparq’s Client Management teams for select large enterprise accounts. The outcomes he is charged with center on client retention and overall relationship success and growth, ensuring these strategic clients achieve great outcomes partnering together with Sparq; with this, Alex continues to report directly to Sparq’s CEO.
Prior to moving into the role of Executive Advisor in 2024, Alex joined Sparq in 2016 as Chief Revenue Officer where he led the Go-To-Market (GTM) and client-facing revenue driving teams and strategy for the firm. In doing so, Alex built the GTM Revenue Organization from scratch into a high-performing engine across Sales, Solution Engineering, RevOps, Sales Enablement and Client Success. During this time, Sparq realized tremendous growth across our client-base, capabilities and revenues fueled by two private equity investments.
Additionally, prior to joining Sparq, Alex led the successful sale of his firm in 2014, LEHAN Partners, as Managing Director and Equity Partner to a Strategic, SOLU Technology Partners. Overall, he has 25+ years of GTM and RevOps leadership, sales leadership and P/L leadership experience helping clients successfully build, buy, implement, and operate digital products and solutions, while helping companies drive profitable growth. He has enjoyed roles across high-growth companies including LEHAN Partners/Solu Technology Partners, Experis/Comsys, Daugherty Business Solutions, S1, Ajilon Services, Lanier Worldwide and Continental Airlines.
Alex is a proud Alum of Auburn University, where he earned his undergraduate degree, as well as SMU’s Cox School of Business, where he earned his MBA.
As Vice President of Service Delivery, Trey’s focus is on supporting his fellow Development Center Directors and helping define the strategies needed to address Sparq’s rapid growth.
Before joining Sparq, Trey was Director of IT for a national insurance claims adjusting firm, where he developed the strategy and execution plans for the Information Services group, which encompassed more than a dozen locations across the United States. He also previously served as IT Manager for a regional engineering firm. Trey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from University of South Alabama.
Tony Robinson is the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. In this role, Tony is taking some of Sparq’s biggest challenges and opportunities and aligning them with the right people to help solve them. He’s also rethinking the configuration and purpose of our development centers so Sparq can build strong ties between our colleagues and our communities, while also creating more value for them. The company’s Equity, Inclusion & Diversity (EI&D) efforts are all led by Tony, who has worked to formalize our strategy so that EI&D is woven into all of Sparq’s goals.
Prior to joining Sparq, Tony’s positions included Chief Operating Officer at a marketing firm and Operations Manager at a large logistics delivery center. Those roles required skills in both strategic thinking as well as operational execution, which Tony uses in his work at Sparq.
Tony has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Augusta University, a Master of Business Administration from Old Dominion University, a Master of Science in Organization Change from Georgia State University, and a Doctoral Degree in Strategy from the University of Alabama.
As Sparq’s Regional Colleague Director for the West region, Margret ensures her colleagues are well-aligned to their projects, so they can provide optimal client service. She’s also responsible for her colleagues’ continued growth, development, and satisfaction.
Before joining Sparq in 2017, Margret worked for a number of large software companies including Thomson Reuters and America Online (AOL). Margret received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the College of Wooster and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University.
As Regional Colleague Director for the Northeast region, Natascha’s role is to ensure that Sparq acquires and retains a talented and diverse group of colleagues. Her focus is on supporting their growth and engagement while ensuring they have the tools they need to be successful in their careers and in the community.
Natascha has nearly 15 years of project management experience, including six at Sparq. Prior to joining the company, Natascha had roles at the Walt Disney Company and Electronic Arts (EA).
Natascha has a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from University of California, Los Angeles.
As Regional Colleague Director for the Southeast region, Jeanne is responsible for supporting colleagues as they grow in their careers and removing roadblocks so they can deliver for Sparq’s clients. She also works closely with community organizations to build partnerships that help create a strong, tech-focused workforce.
Before joining Sparq in 2013, Jeanne worked in senior Quality Assurance (QA) and Product Management roles for a number of organizations, including Peoplesoft for over 10 years.
Jeanne has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Ithaca College.
As Delivery Director at Sparq, Ian Fox drives the company’s engineering strategy and direction for the expansion of service offerings and capabilities, based on tech trends, business needs and vertical alignment. He supports colleagues on their technical growth journey, elevating the voice of engineering within delivery and account management and providing a clear technical escalation path.
Ian is dedicated to optimizing software development processes, driving efficiency, standardization and quality, and ensuring the successful delivery of projects. He acts as a trusted advisor to clients, offering insights on emerging technologies and industry best practices to help businesses stay competitive in the ever-evolving tech landscape.
Previously, Ian was Vice President of Delivery at Centare, a digital business and technology consultancy, before its acquisition by Sparq. In his role, he collaborated with other senior leaders to build and drive organization-wide strategy, was responsible for the Milwaukee delivery team consisting of 70 consultants and partnered with sales to build and pitch approaches for incoming opportunities and manage active client accounts. He also managed the resourcing process to align delivery team members on to client engagements. Ian has a passion for solving business problems through technology and has taken advisory roles on client engagements ranging across industries to help teams and clients deliver world-class software products that delight customers.
Ian has an Associate Degree in Applied Science, IT-Programmer/Analyst from Waukesha County Technical College.
As Regional Vice President of Sales, Michael manages a team of senior client executives and is responsible for helping to grow revenue for the company. He’s also the Chairperson of Sparq’s Equity Inclusion & Diversity (EI&D) Council.
After starting his career as a Labor Union representative in Boston, Michael soon transitioned to an outside sales position where he discovered his passion for selling. He’s spent the last 10 years in the domestic IT outsourcing industry, where his roles have ranged from business development to B2B sales.
Michael received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Morehouse College.
As Regional Vice President of Sales, Mike leads a team of senior client executives, while also helping clients achieve their digital acceleration goals. Mike has over 30 years of sales and divisional leadership experience in technology, workforce and advisory services.
Previously, he served as Director of Client Service and Strategic Accounts at RGP, a global consulting firm, and Managing Director of Central U.S. Divisional Operations at Jefferson Wells, a global leader in resourcing and project-based workforce solutions. Mike has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Economics from Oklahoma State University.
As Regional Vice President of Sales, Peter leads a team of senior client executives, while also helping clients achieve their digital acceleration goals. Peter has over 30 years of sales and divisional leadership experience in consulting, advisory services and technology.
Prior to joining Sparq, Peter served on the leadership teams at Robots & Pencils, and Nerdery, both digital product strategy, design and development firms. He has been involved in the strategy and planning of many mid-large scale transformation initiatives.
Peter has a BA in Economics from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY.
Monty Hamilton is the CEO and founder of Sparq, formerly known as Rural Sourcing, where he leads the executive team and drives the overall strategy. Sparq is a unique digital engineering company focused on helping its clients realize their digital transformation strategies and creating thousands of technology careers in places where they otherwise would not exist. Monty has helped grow the firm through two private equity investments to become the largest privately held digital engineering firm with colleagues across the US and Latin America. He is a sought-after speaker on the outsourcing and domestic sourcing topic and has recently been featured on CNBC, BBC, NPR radio and at various industry conferences including IAOP, Gartner, Digital Georgia and others. In addition, recent articles depicting Sparq’s innovative outsourcing model have appeared in Business Week, CNN Money magazine, CFO magazine, and CIO magazine.
This is Monty’s second entrepreneurial startup venture after leaving Accenture in 1995. He joined together with four other colleagues to build a consulting firm – Clarkston Consulting. He was instrumental in growing Clarkston into a global strategic and systems integration firm with offices across the US and Europe. After Clarkston’s acquisition of Sparq, he became the CEO in 2009.
Monty is on the Board of Directors for Ventures ATL, a technology company in Atlanta focused on providing careers for adults on the autism spectrum, a member of the Board of Trustees for Millsaps College, and an investor in early stage technology companies.
Monty holds an M.B.A. from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University and a B.B.A. in business from Millsaps College.
Michael Reene is a senior corporate strategist focused on business growth, market value growth and innovation. He recently served as a senior vice president within PRGX where he supported their turnaround initiative, and has served in senior advisory roles to CEO/Board levels for First Sports International, SunGard, Dasient, Avocent, and ChoicePoint. Michael started his career in technology at Accenture where he became a managing partner responsible for the Telecom and Media industry practice and then moved to IBM where he was global VP of IBM’s Telecom vertical.
Michael has played an active role within the Atlanta community including founder and chairman of the Technology Association of Georgia, vice-chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, a trustee at Georgia State University, visiting lecturer at Emory University, board roles at Boy Scouts, the Business and Technology Alliance, and the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technologies.
Michael holds an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Illinois.
Susan Penfield is the Chief Technology Officer of Booz Allen Hamilton, a global technology and consulting company and the largest provider of federal AI services.
Over her 30-year career at Booz Allen, Susan has served in various leadership and technology roles driving transformation across the business. As CTO, Susan oversees a scaled global technology team and is charged to accelerate growth and help advance the government’s digital future through emerging technologies and AI implementation, scalable innovations and infrastructures that meet our nation’s most critical mission challenges. Prior to being CTO, she was Booz Allen’s Chief Innovation Officer, responsible for accelerating growth through mission-centric innovation and new business models. She also led the company’s billion-dollar digital business and drove the health account to become the company’s largest and fastest growing business, providing transformational consulting and technology to public and private-sector healthcare clients.
Susan is a dedicated philanthropist. She chairs the board of The Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is Secretary of the board for the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a group focused on attracting and developing the tech industry in Virginia and the metro area. She also serves on the boards of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and the globally recognized social good incubator, SEED SPOT.
She’s is a passionate advocate for the recruitment, retention and the advancement of women in technology and speaks routinely on STEM-related topics.
Anil currently operates as an advisor in the firm he founded – Phase IV Ventures LLC. Leveraging his Board, CIO and consulting experience, he has worked closely with McKinsey & Co, Private Equity and Venture Capital firms in providing advice to banks, technology firms and late-stage growth start-ups.
Anil’s previous positions include Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Cognizant Technology Solutions, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Truist (formerly SunTrust Banks), Vice President/senior partner at IBM Global Business Services and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). He also served as the White House Presidential Appointee in charge of Technology Transformation Services with the mission of “making the lives of the public better through technology”.
Anil has held several industry and non-profit Board roles such as Chair of the Financial Services Roundtable (Banking Policy Institute) Executive Advisory committee, Technology Business Management Council, InspireCIO Innovation Committee and is a member of several boards such as Oglethorpe University, St Joseph’s Health System, InspireCIO, Gartner’s Research Board and Wall St. Journal CIO Network.
Anil earned his Master of Science and Master of Philosophy Degrees in Management Science and Bachelor of Science in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from Imperial College in London, UK.
Justin Lipton is a member of Sparq’s Board of Directors. Justin is a Partner and Co-Head of Harvest Partners Ascend, the lower middle market private equity fund within Harvest Partners. Harvest Partners is a 40-year old private equity fund based in New York and has multiple strategies focused on investing in services companies. Harvest Partners Ascend was launched in 2022 with a focus on partnering with management teams in the Business and Technology Services sectors.
Prior to joining Harvest, Justin was a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of CIP Capital, where he completed a number of private equity transactions in the technology-enabled services sectors. Before CIP Capital, he held several positions at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, where he focused on middle market private equity and started his career at Credit Suisse in investment banking. Justin is a member of the Harvest Partners Ascend Investment Committee.
Justin has a B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.
John Josif is a member of Sparq’s Board of Directors. John is a Vice President at Harvest Partners Ascend, the lower middle market private equity fund within Harvest Partners. Harvest Partners is a 40-year old private equity fund based in New York and has multiple strategies focused on investing in services companies. Harvest Partners Ascend was launched in 2022 with a focus on partnering with management teams in the Business and Technology Services sectors.
Prior to joining Harvest, John was a Vice President at CIP Capital, where he focused on private equity investments across technology-enabled services sectors. Prior to CIP Capital, John was an Associate at HIG Capital and he started his career as an Analyst at Jefferies.
John has a B.S. in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
