Leadership

Xchange Technology Group (XTG), established in 1996, is a multinational corporation with regional offices in Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, Toronto, Canada, London, UK, Frankfurt, Germany, Walterswil Baar, Switzerland, Tokyo, Japan, Macau and Victoria, Australia. It oversees and manages six divisions in 18 locations that provide resale, rental and remarketing technology product and service solutions. XTG specializes in technology lifecycle management, designed to dramatically improve the return on customers’ technology investments at all stages of the lifecycle.

With the world’s largest computer rental inventory, XTG’s technology rental divisions provide computer sourcing, short-term leasing and flexible IT/audio/visual rental offerings to customers through superior online services and technical support.

As an international distributor of personal computer and server technology, XTG’s remarketing division provides customers with quality products, allowing organizations to maintain their IT standard platforms for extended periods of time, or to acquire technology appropriately matched to their applications performance demands. As IBM’s exclusive Options Continuation Program Partner, XTG’s remarketing platform in conjunction with Tier 1 manufacturers spans globally to stock and source discontinued and constrained products.

XTG’s solution integrator has established strategic partnerships with the world’s leading hardware and software manufacturers including IBM, VMware, Microsoft, Oracle, Lenovo, and Cisco, empowering organizations with the tools to be more efficient, achieve new goals and maximize their IT investments.

Jeff McFarlane founded Xchange Technology Group (XTG) in 1996 with the incorporation of IT Xchange in Canada. Today XTG is comprised of six member companies, with over 350 employees in eight countries worldwide. The company has grown through a combination of substantial organic growth and acquisition growth. After establishing itself as a trusted business partner in the industry, XTG proceeded to acquire numerous companies in the US, the UK and Australia, most of whom were actively doing business with XTG.

Prior to founding Xchange Technology Group, McFarlane developed and executed comprehensive sales and marketing strategies for two of Canada’s largest independent computer leasing companies and has been involved in the personal computer marketplace since the mid-eighties.

Today, Xchange Technology Group is the parent to these six independent companies (IT Xchange, BlueRange Technology, Vernon Computer Source, PartStock Computer, Hamilton Rentals Limited and Livingston Hamilton Rentals GmbH). The collective vision of Xchange Technology Group is to see it to become the world’s premier provider of flexible and cost-effective lifecycle management programs for IT assets.

In 2004, McFarlane was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 which celebrates “our leaders of today and tomorrow, and to honor Canadians who have reached a significant level of success”. He was also awarded the “Oakville Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2001. McFarlane is personally and corporately involved in supporting many child-centric charitable causes that include a focus on development, education, disaster relief and micro-enterprise. A portion of the company’s profits are allocated each year to a select group of long-term partners.

Originally from the Toronto area in Ontario, Canada, Jeff McFarlane now resides in Raleigh, North Carolina USA with his family.

Gordon Sutherland joined the Xchange Technology Group as Chief Financial Officer in 2004 and oversees Finance & Administration. Mr. Sutherland brings a wealth of knowledge to the Xchange Technology Group with 20 years experience in financial management in leading software, communications and financial services companies including Solcorp, Financial Models Company Inc., Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. and Johnson & Higgins Limited.

Mr. Sutherland provides a strong fit with the Xchange Technology Group’s global growth objectives and accomplishments. Mr. Sutherland’s expertise in international mergers and acquisitions in both public and private companies has been instrumental in Xchange Technology Group’s growth through acquisition and geographic expansion.

Mr. Sutherland is a Chartered Accountant and holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Colorado College.

 Rich Podurgal joined XTG in 2010 as the Vice-President of Human Resources and Development, with global responsibility for all human resources and employee development activities, including recruiting and selection, compensation and benefits, succession planning, performance management , executive development, and organization development.

Mr. Podurgal has over 25 years of senior level human resources experience with such companies as Textron, GlaxoSmithKline, Constella Group, and Health Decisions.  As an independent consultant, he helped companies across a variety of industries implement management development initiatives, performance management processes, and compensation programs.

Mr. Podurgal is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).  He holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in business and economics from St. Ambrose University and a Masters in Adult Education from North Carolina State University.

As Senior Vice-President, Global Business Development, Alex Munro has played an integral role in the success of Xchange Technology Group’s global presence. Since joining Xchange Technology Group in 2003, Mr. Munro has been involved in many worldwide projects with IBM, Lenovo, and the OEM supplier base. He has had leadership responsibility for the implementation and execution of Xchange Technology Group’s AP presence, particularly in Shenzhen and Macao. Between 2004 and 2008, in addition to his Business Development activities, Mr. Munro has assumed leadership roles for both Product Management and Operations.

Mr. Munro is a 32 year IBM veteran where he held various Management roles including Procurement, Manufacturing, Supply/Demand Planning, New Products Introduction, and Brand Management. During his tenure at IBM, Mr. Munro managed / established IBM and OEM facilities in Greenock, Holland, Dubai and Ireland. Immediately prior to leaving IBM, Mr. Munro held the position of SCM Exec for EMEA Options and Visuals Products. This expertise, allied to his financial background, has brought a solid understanding of multinational business in not only Europe, but globally to the Xchange Technology Group’s management team, and has been vital in the Xchange Technology Group’s many global achievements.

Dan Stefkovich joined the XTG group in 2007 and has served the group in a diverse number of leadership roles, including: business development, sales management, and now leads the global operations and product management teams.  His current role of VP of Operations requires him to oversee and lead the operations team, Product Management team and centers in Melbourne, Australia; Glasgow, Scotland; London, England, Oakville, Canada; and Stamford, Raleigh, US.  Additionally, he and his team work with third party logistics providers who operate warehoused for XTG in Shenzen, China; Tokyo, Japan; and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Mr. Stefkovich is a 32 year veteran of IBM where he held various management roles in sales, marketing, and remarketing operations for end of lease products.  The majority of Dan’s IBM experience was with IBM’s global leasing organization and he holds the distinction of being one of the development members of the team that designed, built, and implemented IBM’s end-of lease returns logistics, operations re-manufacturing, and resale process to manage end of lease secondary market products.

Dan has aided in the adoption of many new cost efficient processes and with the continuous development of our global partnerships with IBM, Lenovo, and Microsoft. 

As the Business Unit Executive for IT Xchange, Mr. .Jackman is responsible for the growth and management of the IT Xchange business unit.  His responsibilities include full P&L management, business development, corporate strategy, oversight of Marketing and Asset Management, and a sales team that expands over 8 countries worldwide. Prior to this position, Mr. Jackman held the position of Vice President, Americas.  In this capacity, Mr. Jackman was responsible for the management of the IT Xchange sales team. 

Prior to joining IT Xchange, Mr. Jackman co-founded Progressive Technology, an international computer wholesale company, in 1993 which was acquired by IT Xchange in 2002. 

An Honors Graduate from the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business, Mr. Jackman holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. 

Mr. Jackman lives in Maine with this wife and two children.  He enjoys coaching youth sports and outdoor activities. 

Mark Gray has been an integral part of the growth and development of XTG. Mark’s strengths are enhanced by his 16 years of industry knowledge and experience, 14 of which within IT Xchange’s sales team. Mark’s dedication to the company included a 4 year international assignment in the UK, as Managing Director, to establish our European sales and distribution centre.

Mark’s area of focus is to expand our support to the business partner community throughout Europe & Asia Pacific for IT Xchange, our secondary market division.

Prior to his transition to XTG, Mark’s background was in Electro-Mechanical Engineering, where he worked for a number of well known manufacturing firms in various engineering, sales and marketing roles.

Archer brings over 20 years of executive sales leadership experience to BlueRange and most recently was the Canadian Vice President of Sales for the Personal Systems Group at Hewlett Packard. According to BlueRange’s CEO, Jeff McFarlane, “Jeff Archer’s experience in the mid-market and public sector will be a real asset to BlueRange and Xchange Technology Group”. Additionally McFarlane commented “We look forward to continued growth under Jeff’s leadership and expansion of both our domestic and international footprint.”

When asked about his decision to join BlueRange Archer said “XTG is a progressive, fast-paced and entrepreneurial company. I'm elated to be joining this growth company.” And with respect to the marketplace,“2011 is going to be an exciting year for the IT sector. This year, business will embrace new and innovative technologies and computing alternatives as a way to drive growth and profitability. Whether it's virtualization, mobile solutions, lifecycle management, or data management, BlueRange is well-positioned to serve its customers and partners in North America".

Mr. Hoeffel joined the Xchange Technology Group upon the acquisition of PartStock Computer in 2009.  As the General Manager, Mr. Hoeffel is responsible for all facets of the PartStock Computer business unit:  sales, sales growth & expansion, marketing, product management, operations, customer service and technical services.  

Prior to the acquisition, Mr. Hoeffel was President of PartStock Computer for 5 years and functioned as the Acting President of two additional IT companies (C-Tech & Focus Technologies) where he affected successful business refocusing/recoveries.  Completing Mr. Hoeffel’s 25 plus years of computer technology experience includes his 15 years of experience as the Founder and President of R2 Corporation, a point of sale Technology and Service Company.  

Mr. Hoeffel is a graduate of St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota with a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management with a Marketing emphasis.

As the General Manager of Vernon Computer Source, Mr. Randazzo is responsible for corporate growth and strategy, sales leadership, full P&L management and business development. As well, Mr. Randazzo manages the marketing, customer service, operations and technical service teams at Vernon.  Mr. Randazzo achieved great success for Vernon in 2008, with the opportunity to manage Lenovo’s Loaner Program for North America, which he continues to manage as well.

After graduating from Stony Brook College with a Masters degree in Sciences, Mr. Randazzo started his career working in the data center at Reuters in Long Island.  He then joined USPC Corp where he worked as a Sales Representative based in New York City.  As one of the first employees at the firm, Mr. Randazzo was involved in every aspect of the business as it developed over his seven year tenure.

Mr. Randazzo joined Vernon Technology Solutions   in 1995 as the Director of Sales and Marketing and focused on efforts in the short-term computer rental business and the expansion of 4 offices in the US. He then was promoted to National Sales and Operations Manager where he was responsible for corporate expansion including the restructuring of 11 branch offices in a 7-year period.  With a continued focus on revenue generation and margin improvement, Mr. Randazzo became the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Vernon Technology Solutions, North America in 2000.  Eventually selling the Canadian division to National Leasing in 2005. Mr. Randazzo focused on the rebranding of the US entity as Vernon Computer Source, which Xchange Technology Group acquired in 2007.  

Mr. Randazzo is married for 23years with two children. He and his family enjoy skiing, boating, scuba diving, biking, paintball, horseback riding and other outdoor hobbies.

As Managing Director of Hamilton Rentals, Mr. O’Connor is responsible for the strategy and management of all facets of the Hamilton business unit. 

Mr. O’Connor has been in the rental business since 1995, where he started as Sales Administrator of Hire Information Technology. In 2001, Mr. O’Connor was appointed Sales Director and developed further group wide sales responsibilities through four acquisitions in 10 years. In 2008, Mr. O’Connor successfully led the buy out of Hamilton Rentals from 2e2.

Married 12 years, Mr. O’Connor has two children, a 6 year old girl and 3 year old boy.  His philanthropic work includes providing innovative ideas and implementing them to the ongoing benefit of a number of charities.

After holding senior management positions with major IT vendors including Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu and Informix Corporation over a period of 18 years, John set up a value-add Distributor in the UK in 2000 (Clarity Technology Ltd). This company was acquired in 2005 by Horizon Technology Group, where John remained as Managing Director for a further three years, growing the company to a £200M turnover employing approximately 200 people.

By 2008 John's entrepreneurial leanings resulted in a decision to leave the relatively safe harbour of a large corporation in order to help the management team of Hamilton Rentals to complete a management buy-out from its parent company. As chairman and major shareholder of Hamilton Rentals, John was engaged by XTG following their acquisition of Hamilton in January 2011.

John holds a degree in Electronic Engineering is married with two children and is a keen golfer and skier. 

Siggi Franz joined the Xchange Technology Group as Managing Director for Livingston Hamilton Rentals GmbH in 2011.

Previously Mr. Franz was Managing Director of Livingston Electronic Services GmbH. He had been with the company for 21 years and had built this up from a small Test & Measurement Rental company to an European Computer IT company. New companies were set up in France, Netherland Belgium, UK, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

He successfully led a Management Buy Out from the Livingston Group for the Computer Division in 2008. He has close relationships with the major manufacturers such as IBM, Lenovo, Toshiba, Fuijtsu etc. which he has built up over his time with Livingston.

Married for 31 years, Mr. Franz has two children. He enjoys golf, soccer and relaxing with his family.