Brad Benner is a consummate entrepreneur. His interest in business and technology dates back to high school, where he developed an application to manage membership records for his local chapter of the National Honor Society. After adapting it for a variety of membership tracking purposes, he successfully marketed and sold the software to over 250 schools and organizations throughout the country.
After graduating from the University of Washington with a BA in Spanish Language and Literature, Brad Benner spent a year guiding tours of Spain and Portugal before returning to Seattle to work as an independent IT consultant. In 2002, he founded X-BAR, a managed services provider, and over the course of 8 years he grew the company to become one of the Northwest’s most innovative and green information technology agencies. Sensing the timing was right and ready for a new adventure, Brad sold X-BAR to a close, local competitor in 2010.
Brad enjoyed a much-deserved break after the sale of X-BAR, spending a year traveling to places like Croatia, India and China before relocating to Berlin in 2011.
A former-member of HTG, Brad also been active in the ConnectWise community, being featured in the first ConnectWise TV episode, co-facilitating the Northwest User Group and presenting at a number of ConnectWise events, including IT Nation for the past 4 years.
Speaking & Presentations
2013
- Top 10 Features You Should be using in ConnectWise
ConnectWise London User Group Meeting, February 2013 - Custom Reporting Lab
ConnectWise London User Group Meeting, February 2013
2012
- Top 10 Features You Should be using in ConnectWise
IT Nation, November 2012 - Sales and Marketing Lab
IT Nation, November 2012
- Project Management 101 and 201
ConnectWise London Ahead User Group Meeting, February 2012
2011
- Dive into the Project Module – 2 hour hands-on lab
ConnectWise IT Nation, November 2011
2010
- The Secret Sauce behind Project Management
ConnectWise IT Nation, November 2010 - Branding & Identity for Partners
ConnectWise IT Nation, November 2010 - Smart and easy IT strategies for reducing paper use in small businesses, Cascadia Consulting Webinar, November 2010
- The Cloud is Coming
Seattle Chamber of Commerce Technology Thursday Series, September 2010 - Around the Channel with Brad Benner
MSPtv, August 2010 - Branding and Identity for SMB Partners|
Microsoft 5W25 Webcast Series, May 2010
2009
- Project Management Victories
ConnectWise Partner Summit, November 2009 - Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity for the Small Business
X-BAR Lunch & Learn, November 2009 - Microsoft Keynote, Participant
SMB Nation, October 2009 - Communicating Your Business Plan, Panelist
Microsoft's Smart and Simple Solutions Conference for Small Business, September 2009 - Small Business Ownership: Tips for Success, Panelist
SBA Business Fair, September 2009 - Project Management for IT Service Companies
ConnectWise TV, April 2009 - How to Hire an IT Company
Seattle Chamber of Commerce Technology Thursday Series, April 2009
2008
- Build Your IT House, Panelist
Smart & Simple Strategies for Small Business Presented by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Microsoft, June 2008
Recognition
- SMB 150
SMB Nation & SMB Technology Network, January 2011 - 2009 Top Profit Improvement by Managed Services Company
Service Leadership, April 2010 - Major's Small Business Award
City of Seattle, October 2009 - Young Entrepreneur of the Year
US Small Business Administration, May 2008