Longtime Ace Computers Exec And HPC Expert Marc Fertik Dies – CRN

Marc Fertik, a longtime high-performance computing executive at Ace Computers known by colleagues for his generosity, candor and deep industry knowledge, died Nov. 19. He was 62.

Fertik was based in New Jersey and served as vice president of technology solutions at Des Plaines, Ill.-based Ace Computers, where he helped build out the system integrator’s public sector business and led the company’s HPC, workstation and server business during his 12-year tenure at the company.

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“I learned so much from him,” said John Samborski, CEO and founder of Ace Computers, ranked No. 244 on CRN’s 2021 Solution Provider 500 list. “He had a lot more experience than I did, particularly in federal contracting. I came more from the straight system builder side, and as we‘ve become much more of a federal contractor here, he was kind of like my big brother that I never had, in more ways than one.”

Fertik graduated from Colgate University in 1980 with a bachelor’s in computer science and information studies. He immediately put that education to good use, starting out as a software and systems engineer and Rockwell and eventually becoming a leader and expert in public sector sales over his 41-year career.

Dwayne Llewellyn, vice president of sales at CloudScale365, said he got to witness that deep expertise firsthand when his previous employer, Miles Technologies, hired Fertik in the late 2000s as a consultant to help the company build out its public sector business.

“He had just a wealth of knowledge, just because for 30-some-odd years, that’s where he lived,” Llewellyn said. “He lived in that space and was open and giving and he was always paying it forward.”

Harrison Parks, a senior account executive at Skyptap, said he first met Fertik at a Supercomputing conference several years ago, where he first got to experience Fertik’s sense of humor and “no-nonsense” attitude before working together on customer deals with his previous employer, 2CRSI.

“His sense of humor was very engaging and refreshing,” said Parks, adding that Fertik “was definitely cut from the New Jersey cloth.”

Parks said Fertik’s knack for working on request-for-proposals issued by federal agencies is what helped Ace Computers build a significant business in the public sector.

“The RFP business is very, very competitive, but if you know how to play the game, it can be very lucrative, and I think they found the formula for doing that,” Parks said.

Ken Wineberg, senior manager of federal business development at San …….

Source: https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/longtime-ace-computers-exec-and-hpc-expert-marc-fertik-dies