A New Era For Melillo Consulting: Scott Dunsire Takes Over As CEO In Big Growth Buildout

‘The technical talent that Melillo has is second to none,’ says Dunsire, who takes the helm of the channel pioneer effective October 31. ‘Melillo was built from the ground up as a consulting company. It’s a different approach than just selling hardware. It is all about solving IT challenges for customers.’

Scott Dunsire, a 35-year channel veteran who has driven dramatic growth both as a solution provider CEO and channel chief, is taking the CEO job at Melillo Consulting effective October 31 as part of an ambitious plan to dramatically increase sales.

Dunsire, who previously as president and then CEO of solution provider standout ACP CreativIT, increased the sales of that company four-fold, takes the helm with the goal of bringing the 35-year-old Melillo Consulting, a Somerset, New Jersey channel pioneer, from a $110 million to a $300 million to $500 million channel heavyweight over the next five years.

[Related: Melillo Consulting Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary ]

Dunsire was handpicked to help chart a new era of growth by Melillo Consulting CEO and namesake founder Mark Melillo, a channel pioneer and highly-regarded technologist who will remain as chairman to assist in charting the sales buildout strategy.

“I’m not going anywhere, this is not retirement for me, but it is stepping out of the day to day so I can spend my time on strategic customers and vendors and how do we turn this $110 million company into a $300 million to $500 million company,” said Melillo, who has known Dunsire for more than two decades. “Scott has been successful growing businesses. He is familiar with acquisitions and integrations, all skills we are going to need as we grow the business. I have tremendous confidence in Scott. He is a solid business man and a sales leader with great personal ethics. He is a street fighter who knows how to win.”

Dunsire’s appointment marks a momentous changing of the guard for Melillo, who remains committed to building Melillo Consulting as a multi-generational family business rather than selling the company. “This was a decision my family and I made together,” he said. “We really want to grow this business and keep it as a family business. We believe that our culture and people are second to none. This is a long term investment we are making to grow the business. I am going to focus with Scott on how do we build a sustainable business for the future.”

Dunsire’s five-year successful tenure at ACP CreativIT and his 30-year track record driving channel growth at Hewlett Packard, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lexmark makes him the ideal executive to lead the Melillo Consulting business, said Melillo. “Scott understands the VAR business and what it takes to run a real P & L as president and CEO,” said Melillo, who started his career as an engineering superstar that was recognized for his ability to deliver challenging IT projects.”He is on a number of partner advisory boards and is tight with vendors which is really important.”

Dunsire, who took ACP CreativIT from $70 million to $300 million, joins a seasoned executive team that has been with Melillo for many years. “Scott is taking over the reins leading the company, but there is a really strong executive team that we already have in place,” Melillo said. “The culture stays the same.”

Melillo said he sees the potential economic downturn as a great time for Dunsire to drive the big growth sales plan forward. “There is never a better time to invest than in an economic downturn,” he said. “Nobody likes a downturn but there is opportunity in downturns.”

Melillo, in fact, invested heavily in adding new talent during the 2007-2009 economic downturn which helped drive record sales growth at Melillo Consulting in subsequent years.

Dunsire, for his part, said he was attracted to Melillo by the company’s highly skilled technical team that Melillo has put together with best in class professional services and strong vendor partnerships including Dell Titanium, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Platinum, a Micro Focus partner and Microsoft.

“I’ve known Mark Melillo and Melillo Consulting for 20 plus years, the way they approach solving business problems with IT solutions is extremely sticky,” said Dunsire. “The technical talent that Melillo has is second to none. Melillo was built from the ground up as a consulting company. It’s a different approach than just selling hardware. It is all about solving IT challenges for customers.”

Dunsire said he is looking forward to continuing the high growth journey that Melillo has been on for many years. “My goal is to help expand the skill sets that Melillo has across more customers and potentially more partners,” he said. “What I love about Melillo is they have the same passion for their vendors as they do their customers. I love that!”

The sales team reports back to management not only on how many customer meetings they schedule, but also on vendor meetings, said Dunsire. “There is a real culture of working very strategically with vendors,” he said.

Dunsire said he sees the economic challenges ahead as a call to action for companies of all sizes to undergo digital transformation to be more competitive. “Companies that are going to survive are going to have to accelerate their digital transformation journey,” he said. “Companies have got to continue to invest in digital transformation in order to support their customers.”

Melillo’s strong technical talent gives the company a big advantage to help companies succeed in the economic downturn, said Dunsire. “Our incredible bench positions us to take share and go wider and deeper with customers as well as attract new customers,” he said. “We are able to offer those technical skills to customers who are having a hard time finding that talent on their own. Go try to find a security engineer right now. There’s a war for talent right now. We have that talent and can deliver for customers. You need technical talent to be able to execute and we have it.”

Dunsire stressed that he does not plan any significant changes for the organization as he takes the helm. “Melillo has had a number of incredible years with a great leadership team,” he said “It is on a great trajectory with record sales growth.There is already a strong foundation. This is all about investing and enhancing what we already have today. We are going to continue to focus on the areas where we are strong and then over the next 90 days look at areas of opportunity from a technology and customer perspective.”

Dunsire said he is excited to step in at a family-oriented company with a big commitment to employees, vendors and customers. “I love the family heritage and culture at Melillo,” he said. “I’m excited about working with Mark and the appetite to continue to grow. The investments Mark has made over the years has positioned this company to do even more. I’m excited about the opportunity to continue down that growth path.”

Melillo, whose passion for the business has not waned over more than three decades, said he is “excited” about building a business for the future rather than selling the business. “This is what makes me happy,” he said. “This is a family asset that we believe we can continue to grow over the long term.”