For years, Kyle McFarlin was Josh Hildebrand’s IT customer, and he marveled at how it was always just… WELL-HANDLED.
Surprisingly for Kyle, there wasn’t a whole lot of talk around technology at the outset, at least not to the extent you’d expect.
Josh was more curious about HOW Kyle’s business operated—WHAT happened WHEN and WHY?
Only once Josh understood the business did any talk of technology start, and it was only as a foundation for achieving Kyle’s goals.
When the foundation was built, Kyle didn’t have to think about his technology working; issues were fixed before they happened and new technology was sourced BEFORE it broke.
Floored and not seeing such business-aligned IT anywhere else, Kyle approached Josh in 2019 about joining his project management expertise with Josh’s technology leadership wizardry, and FiveForge was born!
Customers enjoy the approach as well: The proof is in the majority of FiveForge’s business coming from word-of-mouth, customer recommendations.
For over fifteen years, Josh has been providing C-Level technology leadership for corporate and academic institutions.
While he can do just about everything technology has to offer as a peerless systems administrator, his strongest skill is his ability to quickly learn about a business and deliver technology based on its goals and KPIs.
And he has an incredible ability to adapt on the fly as new challenges occur.
Josh enjoys drinking coffee, 3D printing, drinking more coffee, electric skateboards, making coffee, building things, crafting lattes, RC aircraft, drinking lattes and learning new skills.
Specialty: If you can find something he can’t do, come back in 3 weeks and he‘ll be doing it!
An incredibly talented support specialist and technology project leader for over ten years, you won’t find a faster learner than Ken.
A true self starter, he’s able to manage customer support, orchestrate hardware repair & management and tackle desktop management with gusto.
Specialty: Adaptable technology projects
A superbly skilled systems administrator, IT project manager, and self-described “infrastructure nerd”, Garth has a gift and passion for making systems work.
Whether it’s network cabling, security cameras & systems, PC troubleshooting & repair, or rolling his sleeves up and problem solving in the field, enthusiasm will be set to full.
Garth enjoys meal particularity, the color blue, Volkswagen, pasta, and spending time with his wife Sara and their cat kiddos.
Specialty: Pulling cable to impossible locations
Gina is the force that makes the trains run on time at FiveForge.
A superb operations coordinator, many of our customers count her kindness and warmth as the best part of their day.
Further, everyone at FiveForge, Josh especially, has received profound benefit from Gina’s ability to recognize needs before they occur: A true blessing!
Gina enjoys reality TV, making Josh watch reality TV, and spending time with their cat, Ed the Enforcer.
Specialty: Bringing order to chaos
Ed the Cat makes sure bills are paid and security is on-point. Having grown up on the mean streets before graduating to the warm embrace of Josh & Gina’s home, he’s the hammer at FiveForge.
His skills include bill collection, enforcement, and toy destruction.
Ed enjoys laptop durability testing, small creature pursuit, perching on Josh, and eating meals / second meals / snacks between said meals.
Specialty: Justice
For over fifteen years, Kyle has been a passionate, highly disciplined project manager and professional services leader.
A devout believer in servant leadership, his ever-present goal is to be an effective chief-of-staff for the team ensuring absolutely everything is never dropped.
A talented sales engineer, customer success manager, and copywriter, Kyle loves working closely with customers through systems design and support.
If he has a hobby, it’s business learning. An MBA with PMP, ITIL and PMI-ACP certifications, his love of project and process is legendary.
In fact, a side benefit of working with him is he tends to make little recommendations that make customer businesses better at no extra cost!
He also enjoys reading, music, burritos and coffee.
Specialty: Follow-up
We’re frequently asked why we named ourselves FiveForge, so we’re happy to explain!
Five: SO many of the best business methodologies include five components, including but not limited to SIPOC, Five Whys, and Porter’s Five Forces. It’s a sacred number for analyzing and solving problems, so it’s a part of us and therefore our name.
Forge: We believe in building, hence the word “Forge.” Whether it’s information technology infrastructure, medical part prototype 3D printing, or website hosting, we feel that in every moment we are flexible, adaptable BUILDERS.
So: Analytical Problem Solving (Five) + Flexible Building (Forge) = FiveForge.
(567) 899-7010
support@fiveforge.com
1310 Claremont Ave. Suite C, Ashland, OH 44805
IT as a Utility: Solving the technology leadership needs of greater Ashland, Ohio, since 2019. We handle everything from CIO (chief information officer) services to smoking laptops! Also, we support any size of organization, located anywhere in the world (or universe).
