Dr. Jeff Reed

When he’s not leading teams developing enterprise-class software for customers like Amazon.Com or T-Mobile, Jeff Reed, Ph.D. might be writing a scholarly article on Greek punctuation in early Judeo-Christian literature. Or he might be guiding a fly-fishing trip to his native Montana, where he maintains a cabin and guide business. Or he might be on a site tour of a project in Bend, Oregon, where he develops commercial real estate.
 
By age 37, Jeff — chief technology officer for Logicalis USA — had already had a half-dozen careers, and there’s no end in sight.
 
In his day job as CTO for Logicalis, his challenges ranged from overseeing teams installing enterprise-level computer systems involving hardware and software from vendors like HP, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Sun, and EMC to brain-storming new products to fit market gaps from those vendors and others.
 
“I like to wake up every day and know that I’m doing something different from the day before,” says Jeff. “In technology, you lose ground if you try to stay in the same place. At the same time, I take pride in building sustainable and profitable businesses.”
 
His responsibilities include overseeing Logicalis’ professional services P&L and the company’s extensive R&D efforts across both products and services. He has proven to be an invaluable member of the executive team, having been with the company from its founding via the acquisition of three separate companies. He helped guide the integration of the three companies and played strategic roles growing the combined businesses from $150M to over $300M. He has managed several key divisions, including software development services, managed services, infrastructure services, product marketing and vendor channel relations, where he managed relationships with key like HP, IBM, Cisco, Sun, Microsoft, Sybase and EMC. His technical background is broad, including expertise in the use of wireless data technologies for business process automation.
 
A Seattle local, he has helped shape the landscape of Washington business systems by designing and managing teams who have developed enterprise-class software for the likes of T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, QPass, Amazon.com, Corbis, Frank Russell, and a host of Washington State agencies. He also manages teams that are building systems in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston.
 
Jeff’s avocations and parallel careers include his completion of a Ph.D. in ancient history and religion with specialization in early Judaeo-Christian history, artificial intelligence, and linguistics from Sheffield University in England. He has published three books and over 20 articles about ancient history, first century religion, and linguistics and has a master’s in Greek.
 
“I’ve been dealing with serious IT for 20 years since I was a kid, but I had no interest in an academic career in computer science,” he explains. “That was how I made my money, but my academic love was cross-cultural studies. I lived in L.A., the best place in the world to experience divergent cultures in a single location, and I’m very comfortable traveling anywhere and blending in. I got into Greek because I love ancient history, especially Hellenistic history from Alexander to Constantine and the development and spread of early Christianity. That’s what I’ve published in — Da Vinci Code sort of stuff.”
 
Until 2000, Jeff was co-owner and VP of technology with Puget Sound Systems Group, a Seattle based technology solutions provider. He initiated and managed the sale of PSSG to Logicalis for $56 million in 2000, staying on with Logicalis to ensure its continuity as a viable and healthy company.
 
“I made a lot of money and could have left, but I wanted to see our PSSG team through the bursting of the tech bubble,” says Jeff. “I wasn’t going to leave when things got tough. We’re a much stronger company today than the sum of our separate parts.”
 
Logicalis has a dispersed management team, with top executives scattered from Seattle to Boston. “We’re all road warriors — field executives,” says Jeff. “Our organizational structure is a model of many of the networks we install: it’s dispersed, but it operates seamlessly.”
 
Jeff worked with Logicalis CEO Mike Cox (who’s based in Chicago) to develop his company’s relationship with Rahal Motor Sports, the team that made Danica Patrick the first female Indy-car driver to have a real shot at winning the Indianapolis 500.
 
“The Rahal sponsorship is a metaphor for the one stop service Logicalis offers,” says Jeff. “Danica doesn’t make separate pit stops for tires and fuel. She gets everything in a single stop, and that’s what we offer at Logicalis: a single solution for the IT needs of our customers.”
 
Describing himself as “just a Montana country boy”, Jeff volunteers his time to youth organizations and environmental organizations specializing in alternative fuel research in his native Montana, where he also maintains a cabin and a guide business and enjoys fly-fishing, golf and hiking, especially when he can do them with his two sons.
 
He pursues his personal investments and interests through Rivers Bend Investments, an SMB private equity investment and technology advisory firm. Through Rivers Bend, he takes a hands-on approach to private investment, offering both investment capital and personal management expertise to start-up and stage-2 businesses. He has funded and sits on the boards of Fauxture Couture, Realtech LLC, and media production companies. Fauxture Couture is a multi-level marketing firm for the jewelry industry. Realtech LLC develops and hosts software for real estate brokerage firms, serving some of the largest franchises in the industry including Coldwell Banker and JL Scott.
 
Jeff is both a co-producer and investor of Hotlines, a sporting TV show produced for SpikeTV (previously aired on ESPN). He currently is executive producer for One Goat Productions, a firm specializing in the conception and production of promotional short films for mobile devices. He also serves as an expert witness for law firms and as a temporary CIO for companies, and develops commercial real estate in Bend, Oregon.
 
He authored A Discourse Analysis of Philippians: Method And Rhetoric in the Debate over Literary Integrity (The Library of New Testament Studies), The Infinitive with Two Substantival Accusatives: An Ambiguous Construction?, Discourse features in New Testament letters, with special reference to the structure of 1 Timothy, Philippians 3:1 and the Epistolary Hesitation Formulas: The Literary Integrity of Philippians, Again, and coedited Discourse Analysis & the New Testament: Approaches & Results (Jsnts Series Volume 170).
 
Jeff is also Strategic Advisor for Novamente.
 
Read his LinkedIn profile.