Erik Boles

When Erik was 12, his dad brought home a Kaypro II from work. His dad would eventually regret the move after Erik used the machine to tap into the high school grading software, but that was it - Erik was hooked.

In the early 80’s Erik built his first BBS using a 2400 BAUD modem and his sisters’ phone lines, he was the talk of the, well, the three people that could be online at the same time.

Erik’s first real-world computer job was in the 9th grade, assisting the Network Team for the World Cycling Championships at the 7-Eleven Velodrome in Colorado Springs in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

In the late 1990s Erik saw a lot of web development companies, a lot of hosting companies and a lot of back-end development companies, but something was missing. Nobody was asking these customers why they thought they needed a web presence and how they were going to integrate it into their overall marketing strategy. In a sea of “you have to have a web presence because everyone else does”, the fact that someone would ask these customers why they thought they needed to spend their money was refreshing to them. Erik saw a need, and founded Cowlitz Advertising & Internet Design.  CAID ran very successfully for just under 2 years, gained a strong foothold and was then purchased by a small ISP that wanted to get into web development.

Unable to shake the entrepenurial bug, Erik founded Rocky Mountain Web Tech, Inc. shortly after and grew it into the largest privately owned Internet & Technology Company in Southern Colorado. Through numerous partnerships with companies including Northern NEF (now CompuCom Govt. Systems) and WOW! Marketing (founded by Henry Tippie II, from whom Erik learned a lot about business development and marketing) , RMWT grew rapidly. They did everything as a one stop shop, from marketing, to development, to hosting, they were taking the customer out of the marketplace.

In 2001, Erik had to say goodbye to his baby when Rocky Mountain Web Tech was purchased by a national provider. It was nice to see another company so interested in what Erik had created.

Over the next 7 years Erik would go on to help many companies break into the interactive landscape, refine current web marketing processes, refine I.T. infrastructures, processes and security practices and grow their business as a tech savvy enterprise that chose to pursue an audience that was quickly becoming independent and relied on each others advice far more than corporate marketing.

One of those companies was Freedom Communications, looking for someone to launch a new city portal and associated verticals. Erik signed on as Director of Interactive Technology to get the project off the ground and soon ColoradoSprings.com, PeakHomes.com and SpringsJobs.com were the largest community, real estate and employment portals in Southern Colorado. A few years later Erik moved to the infrastructure side of the newspaper itself, where he focused on network and system architecture and security as well as a complete overhaul, along side the new I.T. Director, of an outdated I.T. department that was not inline with the rest of the business.

Being in a business that was traditionally ink on paper, Erik was still continually pulled back into the interactive landscape for his expertise on the topic. Everyone wanted to know what was next and how they could leverage it before they got left behind. Erik played an instrumental role in bringing not only the network and interactive presence of Freedom’s Colorado location up to where it needed to be, but assisting in mentoring an old-school company to think in a new way that would garner revenue from this new technology and method of distribution.

After a satisfying 7 years, Erik moved on to work for Verizon Business as an Architect in the Communications and Security Engineering division where he works with team members to architect very large intercontinental Unified Messaging and business communication solutions for the worlds largest Tier 1 internet data provider. As in his previous roles, Erik quickly found himself building relationships with other divisions in the company to re-energize previously stalled projects.

With an increasing number of companies asking for Erik’s input on how they could leverage this newly coined web 2.0 world to benefit their business, and unable to keep the entrepreneurial bug at bay, Erik founded Channel Snap Media, Inc., a social, interactive, internet TV network that features channels such as Colorado Outsider TV , Beer Tap TV and several more right around the corner.  Channel Snap Media has has already formed strong partnerships with outdoor industry giants such as REI, Vail Resorts, Premiere Resorts and legends in the beer industry such as Breckenridge Brewery, Bristol Brewery and more.  As a result Erik’s time is once again being spread thin as he is asked to speak on panels and at private companies as well…but Erik wouldn’t have it any other way.

Erik values friends and family more than anything and has yet to meet anyone that wouldn’t quickly call him a friend.  When he isn’t shooting more footage for Channel Snap Media, sitting on a panel somewhere or working with other companies helping them determine how to leverage technology and social media, Erik enjoys skiing, snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, camping, a good porter or IPA and most anything else he can do outdoors with his friends, wife and 2 young children.

If you are looking for a version of this resume other than PDF, please contact Erik by emailing Erik@ErikBoles.com