Westmont Magazine Friends and Business Partners for Life
Four Westmont friends, Troy Jacobsen ’98, Mike McKay ’98, Justin Sparks ’98 and Joe Zender ’99, have built lifelong friendships and careers together. Justin, Mike and Joe started out in Santa Barbara together and have sold IT products and services and managed teams for nearly 20 years. Troy joined them in this industry after six years with Merrill Lynch. In 2017, the friends saw an opportunity to stay together and start their own streamlined firm in a business they know well. In 2017, they founded PivIT Global, an independent distributor of IT infrastructure, maintenance and professional services based in Santa Barbara.
“We wanted to operate a boutique firm that specializes in affordable, efficient and custom IT solutions,” Justin says. He serves as president and CEO. With 30 employees, PivIT Global provides competitively priced network components, such as servers, routers and switches, and a range of related services to enterprise businesses of all sizes throughout the world. The owners funded the company themselves. “We did this together with three lifelong friends we fully trust,” Justin says.
While each partner plays a specific role, they manage the business together. “We overlap and wear multiple hats,” Justin says. For example, Troy heads up sales, but they all share responsibility for sales. “We’ve been close friends since college,” Troy says. “We’re simple, humble people who like the little things in life and value friendship, our families and a successful business.”
Joe handles services such as warranties, professional services and OneCall, their maintenance program. “If a client needs hardware in Frankfurt, our global services team gets it there and contracts with someone nearby to install it before a senior technical engineer configures it remotely,” he says. “I love what I do. It allows me to work with my buddies in a highly competitive industry.”
Unlike the others, Mike works near Portland, Oregon, where he oversees the company’s North American Operations and Distribution Hub, the site for testing, packaging and shipping. “I enjoy being involved on a daily basis with a great group of people,” he says. “We’ve created an environment that people enjoy because they feel respected and heard.”
Justin majored in business and economics, played on the Warrior soccer team and traveled to China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia with Westmont in Asia. He and his wife, communication studies major Rachael Davis Sparks ’98, have four children.
Mike earned a degree in communication studies and met his wife, Alison Ragsdale McKay ’00, at Westmont. Their 11 children include four they’ve adopted from overseas or through foster care. “We’re committed to foster care and have had 30 to 50 foster kids in our home,” he says.
The partners share this dedication, and the business donates a portion of every sale to events celebrating the incredible work by DHS/foster care workers in their local communities. “It’s been great to see this support for young children in need,” Mike says.
Joe joined his brother, James Zender ’97, at Westmont. A communication studies major, Joe played rugby and traveled with the team to New Zealand and South Africa. He and his wife, Brandy, have two children.
Troy also played rugby and stays connected to the program. He majored in economics and business, and he and his wife, April, have two sons. “Westmont instills a work ethic in you,” he says. “You can’t slack off or hide. It was a good place to develop independence with some guidelines and discipline.”
“Many different employers have said there is something different about Westmont graduates,” Justin says. “The college honed hard work, moral fabric and trust in us. It brought us together, and we’re in this for the long term.”