Leaders & Innovators: Daniel Jefferies

DANIEL JEFFERIES is founder of Newmind Group in Kalamazoo. Newmind helps businesses transition to cloud computing to provide help desk, backup, security, and new messaging and collaboration platforms. Jefferies has expanded the six-year-old company to 15 employees, including staffers in South Carolina, Minnesota, and California. Several years ago, Google noticed Newmind's activity in the cloud computing space and invited the firm to join a pilot of Google's partnership program that later became the Google Apps Authorized Reseller program. Newmind was named Google's first authorized reseller in Michigan and one of the first resellers worldwide. Jefferies' leadership of Newmind has led to several industry awards, including being named on the TC50 List of 50 Top Cloud Computing Consulting Firms Worldwide (2010) and on the MSPMentor 250 List of Top 250 Managed Technology Services Executives, Entrepreneurs, and Mentors (2010). Jefferies was also appointed to the State of Michigan 21st Century IT Advisory Council (2011). He regularly collaborates with Google at its exclusive annual conference, Google I/O, and as a consultant to Google's certification programs. He was home schooled, completed most of a college degree, and has several IT certifications. More at www.ltu.edu/leaders.