MyOVS® Management Team Profiles

Al Lalji
Chairman and CTO

Al leads and oversees SmarTek21’s global growth strategy and initiatives. As founder, he sets the vision for SmarTek21® products and services. Al has held a variety of senior management roles during his career, giving him broad experience across functional and technical teams. Firmly supported by his team of tenured executives, Al leads from the front, managing the company’s organic expansion while continually raising the bar of positive customer experience.

Al has more than 15 years of experience in technology management and consulting with Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial firms. He has excelled in senior management roles in leading companies including Microsoft®, T-Mobile®, Cingular®, McKesson, Toys“R”Us®, Equifax® and Starbucks®. Al has lived in Africa, London and Los Angeles. He holds a master’s degree in information systems and a bachelor’s degree in business, both from Pepperdine University.

John Michael Gross
President – Client Services

John (JMG) applies the right mix of products, solutions and services to maximize client success. He is responsible for managing key client relationships, determining strategies and executing programs that help our customers achieve measurable ROI.

He is a hands-on executive with more than 20 years of experience leading global teams in sales, service delivery, product management and application development. His enterprise software development and delivery experience includes Microsoft®, AT&T™, Vodafone™, T-Mobile® and WorldCom. He also has
in-depth experience with multiple startup companies, both as a founder and as a partner. John Michael started and built Microsoft Consulting Practices in Brazil and Argentina. He then returned to Redmond to work on Microsoft Banking Initiatives with Microsoft Back Office and Microsoft Windows Server.

John Michael grew up on military bases on the East Coast as the son of a Navy pilot. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and mathematics.

Scott Williamson
Executive Vice President – Sales and Marketing

Scott Williamson brings more than 22 years of experience in the consulting and software industries, to his role at MyOVS. He specializes in helping clients create company vision, define go-to-market strategies, build inside and outside sales teams, define effective sales compensation strategies as well as implement processes and software that will operationalize the company’s vision.

Williamson has held executive management roles in a variety of areas that include sales, marketing, business development and operations. He has extensive experience working with clients on both a national and international level. His industry coverage includes: Energy, High-Tech, Insurance, Financial Services, Flight Services, Retail, Telecommunications and Manufacturing. Williamson has worked with such companies as Accenture® (formerly Arthur Andersen & Co), BSG®, Align Solutions, Iconixx and Quorum Business Solutions.

He was a co-founder of Align Solutions, which was recognized as Houston’s fastest growing company from 1996-1999 prior to its IPO as Luminant Worldwide. At Iconixx, Williamson served as the VP of Sales and Marketing and helped lead the company to record growth resulting in a sale of the company. During his time at Quorum, Williamson served as Chief Commercial Officer, EVP of Business Development and EVP in charge of the Business Intelligence service line. This helped the company drive record revenues that led to investment from two of the world‘s largest Private Equity Firms, The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings.

T.J. Merrill
Executive Vice President

T.J. has 19+ years of consulting and product experience in High Tech. His career started at Microsoft in 1991 where he was a product evangelist and technical manager on the launch teams for Windows NT and Exchange. He flew worldwide presenting and demonstrating Microsoft systems and server products. He and his team were chosen to create demonstrations of Microsoft technology for BillG and major customer events.

T.J. left Microsoft to start a consulting firm for F1000 customers where he oversaw solution development for customers including Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Holland America, Boeing, Xensource (now Citrix) and more.

During his career he has been responsible for building strong customer relationships, setting product and service strategy, evangelizing products and services and managing programs that help customers succeed. He has worked closely with Microsoft’s SharePoint technology from its inception in 1999 and throughout the current release.

T.J. graduated from the University of Washington in Business Administration where he also studied Computer Science and Natural Science extensively. He was one of the very first Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and has spent five+ years on the Microsoft Partner Advisory Council for SharePoint Portals and Collaboration.

He lives in Snoqualmie Ridge with his wife Jennifer and two children, Kathryn and Jack. He enjoys snowboarding, wakeboarding, golf, most any sport and has been known to drink good wine.