Meet The Team in Temple TX | 24/7 Help Desk Lighthouse IT

Ray Wilson

Chief Executive Officer

Ray is our CEO and he is passionate about helping businesses – both ours and our clients’ – succeed. Except for Skip, he’s probably been involved with

IT longer than anyone – he was troubleshooting computers and repairing them at his school when he was seven! As an intern while attending UMHB, he was involved with IT, but really started growing when he joined our team in 2005. When he transitioned most of our clients to managed services, our MSP business was truly born, and we then grew it from five to forty people between 2006 and 2016. In that time, he was a help desk tech, business processes consultant, account manager, salesperson, sales engineer, client services manager, sales manager, and COO. If you want to get his juices flowing, challenge him to any team sport or ask him to go snow skiing. He’s been married to his high school sweetheart fourteen years and they have three high-energy boys. Oh… and both of his parents are also small business entrepreneurs.

Skip Carruth

Principal | Strategic Advisor

Skip is the old guy (hey, somebody has to be the oldest!) and the reluctant entrepreneur. Though trained as an engineer (BSME in ‘82 from Texas A&M), he got into

IT full time in 1999 when he started JC Technology Group in Temple, Texas. He is passionate about the culture and values that form the core of a business, investing time in mentoring young folks, and helping our clients get the most out of their IT. Married for forty years and the father of three grown children and four nearly-perfect grandchildren, he dabbles in home design and not-quite-finishing his ’73 Triumph TR-6. He also manages our financials and keeps the taxing authorities happy!

Jeremy Thompson

Principal | Strategic Advisor

Jeremy is our serial entrepreneur. We like to say he has “business ADD,” because he’s started, bought, and sold many businesses in multiple fields. He gained his

IT skills during ten years of developing and operating many movie theaters, wherein he provided design, implementation and support for their IT needs. His experience makes him awesome at helping clients make wise decisions in their IT investments. Married for twenty-five years with two kids, Jeremy loves football, playing games with the family, driving things really fast, and creation science. Though to really engage Jeremy, just start talking about business. It’s his passion and joy!

Eli Meier

COO | CTO

Eli is our jack-of-all-trades. His degree is in English, and he intended to teach before he discovered a natural aptitude for computers. He combines the two in

his role at Lighthouse, as he has a unique ability to explain complex technology in relatable, understandable conversation. Over more than twenty years working in IT, he’s written e-commerce programs for a university, set up an email cluster for a major league baseball team, and managed/executed hundreds of IT projects. He enjoys classic Volkswagens, cooking and barbeque, and hiking and camping. He and his wife have been married twenty years and have nine kids. Though he is 6’1”, he is the SHORTEST male in his entire extended family. We all feel badly for him.

Aaron Johnstone

Help Desk Manager

With more patience than Job and more experience than most people in IT today, Aaron is the go-to guy for challenging problems. He directs our team

both in the maintenance and help-desk functions. Aaron has been in IT for over twenty years and has played nearly every role possible EXCEPT, he reminds us, Sales. We can test almost every system in our client base on Aaron’s home network because it’s extensive and complex. When he isn’t tinkering with computers, he loves to read, play video games with his kids, and run. Aaron’s been married to his wife for twenty-one years and they have two daughters and a son. His teammates say, “I can always count on him to have my back. If I can’t find the answer, Aaron knows where to look!”

Garrett

Client Advisor

This young man is a very special addition to our already outstanding team. Garrett was a part of the original half-dozen folks, along with most all the leadership of

Lighthouse, who grew up in the IT business together. We all worked together for a decade and when we formed Lighthouse IT, we knew we were missing an important part! We finally have ALL the band back together and we could not be more excited to be doing together with Garrett what we do best – helping businesses.
Garrett has been in IT for twenty years from an intern at UMHB and on to various roles with ever-increasing responsibility. What most folks may NOT know is he also worked on a turkey farm, changed tires it a local tire store and even spent some time with TXDOT. He grew up in Cameron and is one of only two hard-core Cameron Yoemen supporters I have known. Ever.
Garrett loves to coach – particularly soccer – and is coaching an under-8 team in Belton. He is also an avid disc- golfer. He’s been married for nineteen years with two children – a girl and a boy. One other interesting little tidbit – he’s been dog-sledding in Canada!

Adam

Help Desk

Adam was in the Navy before he joined our team in 2015. He is cool under pressure and a calming influence on the help desk. Perhaps this is because, after staring

down Somali pirates off the coast of Africa, printer and email problems don’t seem so intimidating! Adam likes to shoot things (not people – thought we should make that clear), play Xbox, and of course, shoot things on Xbox! A husband of fourteen years with two children, he has been all over the world and still calls Central Texas his home. His teammates say, “Adam has an incredible memory when it comes to our clients. He remembers names, Internet settings, applications and printers!”

Tyler

Projects Team Lead

Tyler cut his technological teeth through four years both in part-time work and in working with one of our telephony partners. Tyler loves working and learning,

and has built a larger network at his home than 90% of our clients have in their businesses! He is thoughtful with his own money, preferring to buy a home and drive an old truck rather than pay rent and car payments. His hobbies of woodworking and gardening dovetail nicely with home ownership! He’s been known to play a bit of electric guitar, he enjoys 3D modeling and printing, and drives a gray Mustang GT that he's modded as completely as his computers! Several of our team were in the wedding party when he got married!

Jenn

Office Administrator

We have a few things to say about Jenn. In a vast sea of geek-types, she’s outgoing and, dare I say, effervescent. Jenn is a determined young lady – she’s been

working hard to complete her Bachelor’s in Forensic Psychology and she’s almost there. During this time, she’s worked full-time in the insurance industry and in the statistics department of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. AND she’s raised two children by herself! I’m telling you – she’s determined! Her hobbies include crochet (limited audience among the geeks here), hand-lettering (though some of us think hands are only for mice and keyboards), and fishing (finally something we can all agree on, cuz we’re from TEXAS!). You’ll love Jenn!

Marisol

Office Assistant

Marisol joined our team to help with the ever-growing administrative demands of a rapidly growing company. She’s a great fit because she brings a lot of elements into

play here: she has a degree in Human Resource Management (we have some humans around here) but more importantly, she was a substitute teacher - meaning if anyone knows how to herd cats, Marisol does!
Although Marisol doesn’t have past experience in IT, her computer-nerd husband does and she’s learned how to work around nerds! Marisol is married with four kids – one daughter and three sons. She has three pets, too (the non-human variety).
If food were a love language, Marisol has a bachelor’s degree and if our experience is meaningful, she’s on her way to her master’s! She tells us she loves to cook but the whole cleaning up after might be another story! Marisol means “the sea and sun” in Spanish and true to her name, she loves water activities like boating, tubing, swimming and fishing. Her most recent experience was traveling to Cabo San Lucas with her husband, where they took turns reeling in a good-sized marlin. I’m sure that will make a great story! We’re so glad to have Marisol aboard at Lighthouse!

Brodie

Client Advisor

Brodie came to our attention through a fellow Resident Assistant at our local college, University of Mary-Hardin Baylor. We caught him trying to work as a Dell

ProSupport agent in Round Rock (you know – handling warranty repairs, third party applications and Windows support) and thinking, “There must be more to life than working at Dell.” This from a guy who spent eight years living in the mission field in the Dominican Republic! We had to help the guy! When Brodie isn’t geeking, he loves to watch football, play Madden (hey, that’s a little geeky) and – writing and playing music. He's been the instigator and director of our ever-popular Lighthouse LAN parties, giving us all even more space to have fun together and build relationships. He and his wife have a universally-adored baby boy whose presence in the office instantly converts all these tech-talkers into baby-talkers!

Ridge

Help Desk Team Lead

Ridge joined us in December of 2018. We kind of consider him a Christmas gift. Seriously though – what a cool name! Ridge. Seems like he’d be Navy SEAL or a Delta

operator. Perfect for our guerrilla help desk team! Ridge is kind of like Ray – they both cut their teeth in IT by helping teachers with computers in middle school. Before joining us, Ridge spent five years working primarily with mobile devices – phones, tablets, laptops – but by far his favorite repairs involve Nintendo handhelds. This is because he and his wife are Nintendo fans and avid gamers. He’s also been known to watch a lot of Star Trek and, as you might expect, a lot of anime. Ridge jumped right in because he has a great work ethic – a mix of meticulousness and the commitment to finish his bachelor’s degree while managing a store full-time. Meet Ridge – guerrilla geek!

Chris

NOC Team Lead

Chris comes to us with a VERY diverse background. He did not mention being a monk, but it could have been on the list! He’s worked lots of retail, was a valet,

worked with his dad who was a professional carpenter, and developed video games. Like a lot of us, he's spent decades being the IT person for his entire family tree! IT isn’t usually the career choice of adrenaline junkies, but Chris is that guy – rappelling, bungee jumping, and even drag racing. Chris loves any project that allows him to buy new tools and learn new skills. At home, he’s an artist, woodworker, mechanic, groundskeeper, cook, and he builds arcade sticks (…and we had to look that last one up.) Chris and his wife are the proud parents of two rambunctious boys. For Lighthouse, Chris is an awesome addition to an elite team and we are thankful he came our way!

Josh

Help Desk

Josh joined Lighthouse as an intern, and we quickly saw that we needed to make him a full-time Lighthouse team member! His initial foray into creating a future for

himself was studying to be a sports journalist / broadcaster. He took a 90 degree turn at that door and thought he’d try Advertising and Marketing. Finally coming to his senses, he realized IT was where it’s at and here we are! The great thing about this trek is this: He did it all while working full-time at Wal-Mart for six years. Although Josh has not really worked in IT before Lighthouse, he enjoys video games (along with the vast majority of his peers at Lighthouse) but has an increasing demand among friends and family to build and repair computers. Appropriately for a young man, he charges 1 meal per problem! Josh also enjoys reading, cooking and watching football. Some of you may remember the Newhart show where Larry introduces his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl. Forget that. Josh wants to introduce his brother Josh, his other brother Josh and his cousin Josh!

Bill

Help Desk

Bill has been toying with computers since they were, well… toys. Some of you young folks may need to refer to a good history book here but… Bill would

communicate through a BBS (bulletin board system) using his dial-up modem, played with games that were stored on floppy disks (even he doesn’t remember the 5.25” and 8” floppies) and even had an 80MB hard disk that was MUCH faster than a floppy. Who could ever use that much space?
Bill went into the US Navy as an electronics technician and went into mobile communications repair and finally into IT working in a PC repair shop. He has spent over twenty-five years in IT in manufacturing, banking, hospitality and service providers like Lighthouse. However, his favorite job experience was working at The Breakers Palm Beach.
Married and raising three awesome girls, they have a family farm they work together that has been in operation since 1891! Bill is also a state champion swimmer and loves Broadway musicals.
We appreciate Bill joining us and even though it’s recent, he's known six of our most experienced teammates for over five years. Welcome aboard!

Daniel

Projects Team

We hired Daniel as an intern, but that lasted about two minutes before we knew we needed him full-time! He is no beginner with IT. He actually began

at the ripe age of 3 by reading computer manuals. He built on that start in high school, repairing phones, computers and video game consoles. Then in college he used those skills for financial gain. Good call!
We don’t have many artists here and certainly not many who studied art in college at TAMU Corpus Christi. However – Daniel combined his love of art and interest in IT and used physical pieces of computers for some of his pieces.
Not surprisingly, Daniel’s hobbies include video games, music production, digital art, and both Amiga computers and PowerPC computing platforms.
Much more surprisingly, Daniel is a huge fan of languages (not Cobol or Java) but real spoken/written languages and he is learning his SIXTH!

Jeremy

Help Desk Team Lead

A hearty ‘howdy’ to Jeremy! He came to us from the Marine Corps so even on our worst day, I doubt we’ll rattle his cage! He specialized in aircraft electronics

and cable repair but prior to his service in the USMC, worked in landscaping and was a life guard and swim coach.
Jeremy is pursuing his BS degree in network operations and security so he is in the right place!
He loves music, playing piano and the drums and physical exercise. This is convenient because he also loves to cook! I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’ Jeremy is not married and has no children – but he does come with a dog!
Jeremy grew up in Kansas – the urban and not the rural part! He doesn’t like to sit still (who would have guessed?) so we have many ways to keep him busy! We're happy to have him here!

Chris

Help Desk

Welcome Chris to our spectacular help-desk team. Chris graduated from UT San Antonio with dual degrees in Cybersecurity and IS. Although Lighthouse is his

first full-time IT position, like a lot of his teammates, he’s been the go-to- IT guy among friends and family for years! He loves to watch the Dallas Cowboys and UTSA Roadrunners but Chris is not just a watcher. No. He comes from a family of boxers, has boxed most of his life and hopes to get back in the ring for the amateur league soon. His best time though is spending time with family. Chris’ dad is an auto mechanic, his uncle an electrician so he comes by hard work and troubleshooting skills naturally. Chris has developed skills around video and graphic production - even thinking when he was a child that he might make movies! One other thing – he’s left-handed so don’t try to use his mouse!!

Kenneth

Help Desk

Kenneth comes to Lighthouse with a broad and interesting background – fast food restaurant management, sales and a prison-system correctional officer

for 5 years. I mean, someone has to keep the kids in line! He also has over 10 years of experience in IT on both the help desk and as a technician. This includes a stint as the IT manager for a mining company. Just so no one will be disappointed, Kenneth is, in fact, a nerd. He loves nerdy video games, Dungeons & Dragons, comics and he particularly loves astrophysics and astronomy. Although single and never married, Kenneth is ‘Uncle Kiki’ to his 5 nieces and nephews so he is a busy uncle! Welcome Kenneth (Kiki) to our team!

Sam

Projects Team

Sam is a recent graduate of TAMU-CT where his studies in IT drove his passion for a career in it. We are really thankful when someone’s passions align with our own!

We rescued him from working in the field of personal injury law so he can now help our clients avoid IT injuries!! Sam enjoys video games (uh, duh… what can we say…), reading, drawing and running. In fact, he has completed both the Disney and the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll marathons. Just in case he gets bored, he is always greeted at home by his dog – a golden retriever – who by nature is always ready for a hug!

Jordyn

Quoting & Purchasing Administrator

We have been blessed to find awesome teammates and Jordyn is rounding out our administrative team in a great fashion. As the quoting and purchasing

administrator, she helps our clients by finding and procuring the right parts at the right price. She handles much of the quoting process too. She’s worked in customer service for years and was a closet IT geek because she was called on by her co-workers to troubleshoot problems and put together their workstations – as we say, ‘she’s a natural!’ You would not be surprised to know she loves video games and particularly life simulators. She also loves to sing, and she and her husband have a beautiful little girl. Not a fan of chick-flicks, she’d rather watch horror movies but she apparently finds it cathartic to talk to the TV while watching! Welcome Jordyn to our team!

Rob

Help Desk

Rob joined the helpdesk team at Lighthouse IT. Rob has been in and out of IT jobs for over 10 years – including stints at Starbucks (I see an espresso maker in our future)

and recently at HEB. He’s worked in biomedical engineering repairing dialysis machines and was part of the early hardware and system work which would become AT&T WiFi services in broad use at Starbucks, McDonalds, hotels and airports. For fun he builds custom keyboard, high-speed racing drones and a lot of tinkering in electronic hardware. No kiddos but two cats and enjoys kayaking and… first one here with this interest… obscure Japanese jazz. Welcome to our eclectic Rob!

Donald

Help Desk

Donald came to Lighthouse as an intern, but we brought him on full-time almost immediately. His specific experience in IT is kind of like most of us

- a couple years of college then building PCs and being the family/friend IT troubleshooter. Not to feel left out, he is also a gamer on PS5 and PCs and is a regular consumer of anime. It might interest you also that Donald collects sneakers, and that as playful as we are here at Lighthouse, Donald has brought yet a new level of hilarity to our atmosphere! He is the middle of eight siblings and in college, his nickname was “The Mixologist.” You’ll have to ask HIM why! Welcome, Donald!

Preston

Help Desk

We are excited to bring Preston to our team here at Lighthouse. Preston is an educational product of New Tech High School @ Waskow which is a project-based,

application-required high school with focused experience in arts/video, animation, drone, etc. Preston took every IT/computer course available. What stood out to us about Preston was his experience at Freddy’s. He became a trainer, helping others learn and be successful and was sent to another store in order to help raise that store’s performance! He attended UT Dallas and really enjoyed working in IT as a student worker. He returned to Belton to gain more experience in IT – and of course we can make that happen! Preston enjoys longboarding, fishing with friends and family and exploring new places. He also really loves dogs! Ironically, he’s obsessed with Garfield and collects vintage clothes and plushies involving that character. Please welcome Preston to our team!

Julio

Help Desk

Welcome Julio to the outstanding Lighthouse Help Desk team! Before joining Lighthouse, Julio worked as a Spanish interpreter helping doctors, lawyers,

law enforcement and customer service representatives communicate with their clients. This is Julio’s first IT job although, like most of us, he is the de-facto IT guy in his immediate and extended families. You can learn a LOT by hand-holding Grandma! He enjoys reading, has been known to play the violin (but reminds us he's out of practice) and when he has time, indulges in video games. This last hobby is true for all but probably 3 of us at Lighthouse! He is the middle child with an older sister and younger brother. One of the things that really impressed us was his commitment to care for his family needs by electing to work so his sibling could continue in school. He is an active member of his church and we are really glad to have him here!

Cole

Help Desk

Cole is our newest entrant into the field of IT help desk on our Lighthouse team. Like one of our recent stars, Cole was an electrician. We like folks who aren’t

afraid to work and do what’s necessary to get a job done. Although he did well in that field, he decided to go back to school because he loves to learn and he was very interested in IT – especially cybersecurity. Although Cole is self-taught with respect to most of his knowledge in IT, he has done in his home what most small businesses have not. He’s built and deployed servers with multiple VMs running both traditional and proprietary operating systems. Outside of work he enjoys gaming (as do all his fellow geeks here at Lighthouse) traveling, stand-up comedy shows and going to concerts and festivals. Cole comes from a military family but now he’s found a home in his Lighthouse family.

Tanner

Help Desk

Please welcome Tanner to the Lighthouse team! For local baseball fans, Tanner was the pitcher for Troy High School before graduating and playing baseball

and studying at Ottawa University in Kansas. Graduating with a BS in MIS, Tanner started with another local company's help desk before he came to Lighthouse. Tanner expressed an entrepreneurial bent creating the first Technology Club and creating an annual STEM program for grades K-12 in Ottawa, KS. He enjoys video games and – for the culturally inclined – is a music producer and DJ! We’re glad you landed here, Tanner!

Toby

Help Desk

Toby is one of our “natural” IT guys. He didn’t come to us with professional IT experience but he came with more experience related to IT than most. First, he is (like a

lot of our folks) the entire family’s IT guy – helping and building computers for them. He is also an electronics tinkerer – working with Arduinos, Raspberry Pi’s and all other electronic things. He’s definitely into 3D printing, robotics and – shocker – video games. Not yet married, he is now part of our family in Lighthouse and we are certainly glad for his presence.

Joseph

Help Desk

There are a number of folks in the local area that may recognize Joseph. He spent 8 years in the car wash industry – as a worker and as a manager – at Car Wash

Barn and Mister Car Wash. However, he wanted to pursue a career in IT and studied on his own for certifications related to IT. This is his first full-time job in IT but he’s an enthusiastic learner and self-motivated. He is an accomplished player of Dungeons and Dragons (playing and as a dungeon master) and plays video games. Strange to have that interest in this office of geeks! He likes to try out new food places and lives with three cats whom he loves (and probably serves). Welcome Joseph!

Alex

Help Desk

We are excited to bring Alex onto the Lighthouse team! Before starting his career in IT, he was a full-time student studying computer science. His first

professional work was on the help desk for the IT department of the First National Bank of Texas. His real IT experience, like most of his peers at Lighthouse, came from personal projects including a video game development team with which he’s been working for the past 4 years. He is also an avid photographer and has a notable collection of cameras. Alex is 6’6” tall but he hastens to tell all that might ask that “No, I didn’t play basketball and yes, the weather is just fine up here!” Welcome Alex!

Danrai

Help Desk

We would love to introduce Danrai (you can call him Dan – but he might not like it) to you and tell you a little about him. He came to us from BS&W where he

was a monitor technician. He monitored vitals for patients then called out codes on the intercom. We’re just glad he never had to call codes for any of US! Before BS&W, Danrai worked for Best Buy but he’s always had a passion for computers and electronics. Unlike most people here (okay – just like most people here…) he loves video games, movies, music and photography. One of 3 siblings, he has both a brother and a sister. He also tells us he likes long romantic walks on the beach at dusk – weird because he lives in Central Texas and there are no long beaches at Lake Belton! Welcome Danrai!

Steve

Help Desk

Please give a Texas ‘howdy’ to Steve Stewart who has joined our help desk team. This is his first paid job in IT but he’s had a long passion for computers

and electronics. Steve is no stranger to hard work having managed restaurants, worked in a warehouse, worked in sales and was a correctional officer. He enjoys building emulation consoles from old PC hardware. In addition (shocker – I know…) he loves video games. He also enjoys hanging out with family and friends and smoking meat. He’s married with 3 girls so he is… busy. We are willing, if he brings in enough of that smoked meat, to forgive his passion for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Please – don’t judge. Instead, just welcome Steve!

Haydon

Intern

Coming Soon!