About SIG

Our mission is simple: Support efforts to deliver excellent experiences for students, faculty, and staff using information technology.

Our Story

More than 500 college and university partnerships SIG helps colleges and universities realize the full potential of their technology to improve services for students, faculty, and staff.

SIG specializes in project-based IT consulting, staff augmentation, managed services, business process, technical support, and technology procurement services.

Our Clients

Since 1987, SIG has helped hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States, Asia and Europe. Engagements have ranged from ERP procurements, implementations, assessments, to DBA support, programming, training, and consulting including business process analysis, IT planning, staffing and project management.

Strategic Partnerships

SIG is committed to working closely with our partners. While each partnership is unique, our goal is to understand service offerings to deliver a broad range of solutions, expert guidance, and quality service to our mutual client base. Our partners include:

Our Leadership

Henry A. Eimstad

President

Henry was a Founding Partner of SIG and has over 40 years of experience in higher education and information technology systems. He has served as CIO/CTO, has conducted numerous ERP procurement processes, and has managed many large ERP implementations for colleges and universities throughout his consulting career. A veteran of the US Navy and the Peace Corps, his interests include travel to Africa and South America. He is a life-long runner and completed the 2018 Boston Marathon under some of the harshest weather conditions in years.

Frank M. Vaskelis

Founding Partner

Frank was a Founding Partner of SIG and has over 40 years of experience in IT and higher education. In addition to serving as CIO and CTO at several institutions, Frank also has a technical background in telecommunications, network design, database administration, and more. Frank’s personal interests include traveling, hiking, scuba diving, photography, and high-handicap golf (more practice might help).

Emily Rudin

Chief Revenue Officer

As Chief Revenue Officer, Emily is responsible for driving revenue growth, by leveraging and aligning all revenue-generating departments including sales and delivery. Prior to joining SIG, Emily worked as the AVP of a nationwide firm providing leadership for managed services clients on the East Coast. Previously, she was the CIO for an international consulting firm. Emily lives in Southern Maine and enjoys cooking, traveling, and walks on the beach with her family and 85-pound poodle.

Harold George

General Manager, Professional Services

Harold is an experienced project manager and has led many ERP procurements for colleges and universities over the past 40 years. He has served as a university CIO and as Vice President of Client Services for a major higher education software company. Harold lives in Henderson, Nevada and enjoys watching sports, fishing, and playing golf. He has two grown children, Amanda and Travis.

Ray Li

Chief Financial Officer

With 15 years of financial executive experience, Ray joined the company as Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for leading the company’s finance functions and playing key roles in supporting overall strategy, operations, business development and investments. Ray is the key member of the company’s executive team helping structuring initiatives, collaborations, acquisitions, and integrations. Prior to joining SIG, Ray worked for a Fortune500 company, a Big4 public accounting firm, and PE backed high growth companies leading accounting, reporting, FP&A, audits, tax planning, legal, M&A, business planning, restructuring and IPOs. Ray earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Master’s degree in Accounting, and MBA degree in Finance, and he is a licensed CPA in California. He lives in San Diego, enjoys traveling and has been 26 countries. Ray is a tennis player.

Patti Smith

Vice President for Customer Success

Patti rejoins SIG as the Vice President for Customer Success after her tenure as the CIO at one of the largest community colleges in the United States. Patti has been a leader of Information Technology in Higher Education for 25 years. Her experience in leading technology innovation, collaboration, strategic planning, and operations has led her to present at events like AWS Summit, IBM’s Think Tank, the League of Innovation, and the Educause Annual Conference along with many regional conferences. In her current role she is responsible for the delivery of services to our clients leading to their success.
Patti resides in Central Florida with her husband of 38 years. She enjoys exercising, traveling, and spending time with her family.