Zach Hester is a senior vice president of advisory services at Stratosphere Networks and Converged Communication Systems (CCS).
He started his career in the IT industry in 2012 at a telco provider based out of Chicago as a territory sales rep. Zach was responsible for delivering cloud and network services like cloud phone systems, fiber/connectivity services, cloud application servers and conferencing solutions to his client base.
He started as an account executive for Stratosphere and CCS in 2013. Zach has extensive experience in consulting and advisory services around WAN/ISP Connectivity, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), cloud contact center, on-premises to cloud migrations, and cybersecurity. He is very passionate about technology and helping clients succeed by identifying solutions that align with their needs. As a trusted advisor for many businesses and firms, he helps clients navigate confusion and disruption in the industry.
Zach has personally been involved with the design, sales process and implementation of hundreds of deployments around WAN/ISP, unified communications, voice migrations, contact center, cloud migrations, and cybersecurity solutions for his customers. He also helps clients reach peak performance with customer experience (CX), robotic process automation (RPA), CRM software, Workstation as a Service (WaaS), Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), and CMO services.
Some highlights of Zach's tenure at Stratosphere include saving a local municipality over $10,000 monthly on their telco services by auditing and providing a SIP solution. He also consulted and implemented a call center solution for a major Chicago-based upscale restaurant chain, helping them capture $75,000 in previously missed revenue. Another key highlight was helping to design and implement a global contact center and UC solution for a global manufacturing firm with 2,000 employees that was divesting from a Fortune 500 company during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring a tight deadline to implement due to work-from-home users.
He graduated from Northern Illinois University School of Business in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in marketing and graduated on the NIU College of Business Dean's List for maintaining a 3.75 or higher GPA.
Zach resides in downtown Chicago and is a dog dad to his beloved Alaskan Klee Kai, Lilo. He enjoys traveling, cooking, dance music, and Chicago sports, especially the Cubs raising the W flag.