President / Owner
The Computer Connection, Inc /Dba Connecting Point
I along with two silent partners (Joe Newsome, and Dr. John Baxley both of Winston-Salem, NC) opened The Computer Connecting, Inc in 1983 specializing in Commodore, Atari, and Texas Instruments TI994a computers. In 1986 we became an IBM authorized location. Later that year we also joined the Connecting Point computer chain as the 36th franchised location. We eventually added authorizations with HP, Compaq, NEC, Epson, and Okidata. Connecting Point also became an authorized education dealer for both IBM and Compaq. To reduce exposure and increase credit lines, Newsom and Baxley sold down their shares to the Shields Group creating a 50 /50 ownership of Connecting Point. With the addition of Brad Shields to our staff and with new lines of credit in place, Connect Point experienced substantial growth over the next few years. Brad Shields and the Shields Group eventually decided to move to Boone and open their own Connecting Point location. At which point their shares of Connecting Point, Inc were repurchased by myself and John Thumm (an existing Connecting Point employee). We eventually grew to 17 employees doing over 4-million dollars in sales. John Thumm’s shares were eventually repurchased by Connecting Point. With the market change and the new "direct" sales model, Connecting Point down sided to reflect the sales price pressure. With the deregulation of the telephone industry and the introduction of voice over IP systems, Connecting Point expanded our offerings to include Nortel BCM and Comdial phone system authorizations. We later added Video Surveillance to our product offering. In 2009 with our country in the midst of an extended recession and credit to small business almost nonexistent, we looked at mergers to lower cost and take advantages of existing synergies. In May of 2009 this was accomplished as Connecting Point joined with WebPoint IT Solutions also located in Rocky Mount, NC.
