Navigating Uncharted Waters Is Brad Kuntz’ Specialty; From Piloting Planes To Starting A Business With His Family, Taking The Leap Always Pays Off
Brad Kuntz, Vice President of Operations, Converging Networks Group
His first venture as an entrepreneur got shut down because he wasn’t licensed to sell. Granted, that venture happened when Brad Kuntz, the Vice President of CNG, was in 5th grade. He began selling school supplies to his classmates while his teacher was out on leave. “When she returned, she shut my operation down,” he said with a laugh. “I guess I didn’t know much about business licensing back then.” Like any good entrepreneur, Brad didn’t let one failure get him down. He started a paper route in his neighborhood that he ended up expanding over three years, becoming one of the best paper boys in the city.
When he got older, Brad let go of his entrepreneurial dreams to chase a new dream and become a pilot. Every night, he would get in the cockpit to fly the New York Times to cities around the US for the next day’s distribution. Home by the early morning, Brad Kuntz would then change out of his flight gear and head to classes to earn his degree in aviation administration. He loved being in the air so much so, that he even flew skydivers up for their gravity-defying jumps on the weekends. But trying to enter the aviation industry as a new grad just after 9/11 left Brad’s career plans in a tailspin.
“Flights were landed, pilots were furloughed, the industry was just at a standstill,” he admitted. With no idea where to go or what to do, Brad headed back home to his parents’ house until he could figure out his next move. “Funnily enough, I moved home the same week that my dad incorporated Converging Networks Group (CNG). That was 21 years ago,” Brad said. As luck would have it, Brad was able to step back into an entrepreneurial career – one that pushed him out of his comfort zone, granted him the opportunity to learn new skills, and gave him a chance to build his family’s legacy alongside his dad and his sister.
From Phones To Full Tech Stacks
When CNG first started out, Brad didn’t know a single thing about technology, but he was no stranger to learning new skills “on the fly.” The market needed better infrastructure for managing business calls, so Brad met that need with a solution: Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). The quality was better and multiple phone lines could be connected, along with a myriad of other benefits. “I didn’t even know what VOIP meant at first, but I put my head down, mastered the technology, and soon, I became the VOIP guy,” recalled Brad. “We have VOIP to thank for early partnerships, professional certifications, and the buildup for the CNG team.” VOIP wasn’t just transformational for CNG in the early days; it reassured Brad that he could shine as a technology leader, learn new skills, and address customer needs head-on.
As CNG grew accustomed to maintaining large phone networks, customer needs began to change, and the MSP component of the business was established to support those customer needs. Today, the technology industry is constantly changing, demanding better tools, better processes, and tighter compliance monitoring.
“Our tech stack is pretty amazing now,” Brad shared. “We’ve built our business so that we have in-house specialists in all the key areas. We’ve got a firewall guy. We have a server guy. We have a compliance guy.” CNG partners with businesses in industries like supply chain, trucking and logistics, and K-12 schools. These industries have some of the fastest-changing compliance requirements on the market, but CNG stays ahead of these changes with bolstered compliance tools and ongoing compliance trainings for their entire team.
The People Side: Brad’s “Why”
Working together as a family to build a managed service provider business has been full of lessons and learnings, but to Brad, it has highlighted just how much that family thread permeates business. “We see our employees as family, and that dynamic flows through to how we interact with our clients, too,” said Brad. “Almost everything in our industry has changed over the last two decades, but that’s the one thing that hasn’t – the value we have for the human side of business.”
To Brad, the most rewarding part of leading an organization is the people he gets to work with. “Only three of us are actually related, but as a family business, we establish that bond throughout our organization. We challenge each other, we support each other, and we work toward collective growth,” he said. “The best part of my job is getting to see my team grow in new experiences and opportunities.” That tight-knit dynamic internally reaps benefits externally, too.
How Customers Experience The Family Bond
Cybersecurity breaches or technology incidents require a swift, collaborative response. If a managed service provider fails to work together to react to a client’s needs, the situation can go from bad to worse in seconds. The team at CNG – equipped with a family-like dynamic -- moves like a well-oiled machine. Each person understands their role but is also able to step in where they are needed and support their teammates.
“We had a client experience a breach not too long ago, and it was all hands on deck. I had one person go straight to the client’s office, pull the network, and get everything off the network to stop the spread of the ransomware event. Then we worked with the customer to
power all the machines down. After that, we had a call to assess the damage and progress we had made.
From there, we made a plan to preserve the evidence and sent it to a forensic team. By day two, we were bringing the network back online and our server specialist was getting servers up shortly after,” Brad explained. His team’s dynamic isn’t just something that makes coming to work every morning enjoyable – it’s a major part of the value CNG offers each and every client.
The CNG Difference
When a strong sense of community and collaboration exists within an organization, its impact permeates everything in that organization’s ecosystem. “We actually have a trucking client that makes lunch for its own team, but they invite us every time it’s happening,” he said with a smile. The CNG team does their client reports on those days, giving them an opportunity to eat lunch with the entire team and forge long-lasting relationships. Sometimes, in business, it’s the little things that lead to strong connections and improved outcomes – like something as simple as making time for a meal together.
When picking an MSP, finding one that values the big stuff, and the small stuff alike can make a world of difference. “We’re not the company that doesn’t have time for our clients. We pick up the phone. We sit down to explain new technologies. We care about our clients’ businesses, their families, their well-being. That’s the CNG difference,” Brad said. Leaning on his days as a pilot, Brad works with his team to ensure that, whether in the air or on the ground, the focus stays on seamlessly navigating turbulence and getting every client to their destination.
