Barry Whaling | Chief Executive Officer
Barry has significant executive management skills across many areas of business. He has over 15 years of audio visual experience in positions such as Executive Sales, General Manager, Executive Vice President, President and CEO. Barry is a proven leader as demonstrated throughout his career by successful ownership of two previous companies and the founder of Smarter Systems. Barry launched Smarter Systems with a small team in 2008; exceeding all growth targets set at inception. Barry is a visionary and an innovator and has used these gifts to grow several companies exponentially. He strives to make Smarter Systems the leader in Audio Visual solutions. Barry’s primary goal is for Smarter Systems to be a strong, growing, trustworthy business. Barry is a member of Vistage, a chief executive advisory board that meets regularly to ideate and support each other in business endeavors as well as professional development. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Leigh and their two children.
Theresa Ulyatt | President
Theresa has extensive experience leading businesses and teams in highly competitive markets. As an advisor and coach to senior leaders within dynamic businesses, Theresa’s roles have centered on leveraging the deep and intrinsic value within an organization’s human capital. As a young entrepreneur, Theresa founded two executive search firms in the New York Metro Area which specialized in IT recruiting and the placement of business consultants across the financial services, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, and manufacturing industries. Theresa grew these businesses for more than 10 years, establishing her company as a formidable women-owned-business in the region and successfully expanding across multiple states. Prior to moving to the Charlotte region, Theresa spent three years with a boutique Wealth Management firm in the North East, advising as Managing Director of Client Development and Human Capital. Upon relocating south, she served as Head of Global Information Technology and Human Resources Recruiting for Wachovia/Wells Fargo Corporation. Her passion in the community includes mentoring disadvantaged teen girls on matters relating to school, career, and effective life planning. Theresa is a member of Leadership Charlotte Class of XXXII, 2010. She also serves on the boards and/or advisory committees of the following non-profit organizations: Dress for Success Charlotte, Dilworth Center for Chemical Dependency and You Belong. Theresa enjoys spending time with her husband, Jon and their three young children.
Paul Patrick | Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Paul joined the Smarter Systems team in July of 2011 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. As a key member of the senior leadership team, Paul’s main responsibility is to lead the sales force and drive strategy for the revenue growth, product placement into client accounts and overall client development throughout the firm. Paul is an accomplished, versatile business development executive with expertise leading teams within high-growth organizations. Most recently Paul was a regional executive in southeast sales and operations at SMART Technologies. Paul led the region’s key account sales strategies and channel development activities with an emphasis on eight of SMART’s top Information Technology (IT) Audio Visual (AV) Dealers. Despite challenging economic times an education budget pressures, regional sales grew from $55 to $125M, a three year average annual growth rate of 30%. Paul is a proven sales and marketing leader who has experience in building and growing mid-sized manufacturing and service corporations, turnaround and high-growth organizations, and has a reputation of increasing sales and profits in diverse and highly competitive markets.
Rikke Gillespy | Vice President, Operations
As a core leader in the organization, Rikke is responsible for company operations. Rikke joined the organization in its infancy and has had a role in developing it’s service functions over the past four years. Rikke is a results-driven professional with a strong management background and ability to drive success. As Vice President and Business Manager of Commercial Banking at AmSouth Bank (now known as Regions Bank) in Birmingham, Alabama, Rikke was at the forefront of new product launches in Treasury Management. Starting her banking career in the Treasury Department, performing asset and liability analysis to project growth and profitability for the entire company, her passion for finance has remained her focus. Rikke has a MBA, is a Certified Cash Manager, and the recipient of the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award. Rikke enjoys volunteering with the Junior League, which focuses on issues affecting women and children, and is currently a sustainer of the Junior League of Charlotte. She currently serves on the School Improvement Councils (SIC) of both Gold Hill Elementary School and Gold Hill Middle School in South Carolina. Rikke is from Denmark. She enjoys exercising and competes in triathlons with her husband Clark.
