About LAVA

We are the CIO’s most Trusted Advisor.

Who We Are

LAVA Technology Services was founded in 2020 by Jake Jansen and Billy Stowe. LAVA is a Trusted Advisor for all things as a Service and managed service solutions.  

The LAVA Name

One of the most surprisingly difficult parts of forming a new company is picking a meaningful name. The culmination of two lifelong dreams, our company needed a name that was a worthy representation of who we are. We wanted to pay homage to the unique experiences and cultural backgrounds that influence both of our co-founders’ identities.

Billy’s Louisiana (LA) roots are as important to him as lemons are to a crawfish boil. And Jake, who was born and raised in Virginia (VA), wanted his beloved home-state (and company HQ location) to be included. Thus, LAVA was born.

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A Glimpse of LAVA

Co-Founders

Jake Jansen

CEO & Co-Founder
Jake was born and raised in Loudoun County, VA and lives in Purcellville with his Wife and three children. Jake has 11 years of enterprise sales and technology solution development experience having worked for two of the largest VAR/MSP’s in the country. In his last role Jake was National Director of Solution Development for a $2B Firm, and was responsible for national sales and portfolio development for Managed Cloud, Connectivity, Networking/SDWAN, Colocation/Hosted Infrastructure and UCaaS/Cloud Collaboration. This role supported over 300 Account Executives and gave Jake the opportunity to meet with and develop solutions for some of the largest companies in the world. It is with this experience that Jake decided to build a company of his own to ensure he was always able to deliver best of breed and cutting edge solutions to his customers.
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Billy Stowe

CRO & Co-Founder
Billy was born in New Orleans, LA and currently lives in Leesburg, VA with his Wife and three sons. Billy graduated from LSU, and he proudly says “GEAUX Tigahs”, even at times and places where he likely shouldn’t. Billy has over 17 years of Enterprise Sales and Account Management experience within the technology field, supporting some of the largest clients in the Mid Atlantic area. He was a routine top performer and Presidents Club Award winner for multiple organizations. Billy realized that the type of technologies his customers are purchasing today, and more specifically, the way they are consuming those technologies, has drastically shifted. Billy decided he would build a business that from day 1 will be as agile as possible for his client base.
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LAVA Team

Brandon Hoekstra

Director of Sales
Brandon grew up in Kalamazoo, MI and is a graduate of Michigan State University in 2000. He currently lives in Lakewood Ranch, FL with his girlfriend and 2 sons. With MSU winning the NCAA Tournament in 2000 under Izzo, he still watches every hoops game the Spartans play. He has 21 years of experience as an Enterprise Sales Executive across the largest technology organizations in the world. He has won numerous presidential trip awards over his time by solving his client’s most challenging projects and providing a world class client to executive relationship. Brandon’s responsibilities at LAVA Technology Services are to help our clients evaluate the MSP and Service Provider marketplace and execute on the best technology for their clients.
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Taylor Wissman

Sales Operations Manager
Taylor was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She recently graduated from the University of Texas Austin with a degree in Economics and a minor in Business. Taylor loves math and uses it every day here at LAVA as our Sales Operations Manager. Taylor is responsible for the oversight of all sales and business operations here at LAVA. Alongside work, Taylor is passionate about philanthropy, specifically St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She interned at the Austin Office for St. Jude in 2019, raising over $900,000. Taylor is still heavily involved with fundraising for the kids at St. Jude and is involved with other local Austin charities. Taylor also has experience as an External Relationship Intern at Fidelis Recovery Management, where she facilitated potential client meetings and client information exchanges.
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Patty Erickson

Professional Services Manager
Patty was born and raised in Loudoun County VA and currently lives in Clarke County VA with her husband and three awesome kids. She has spent her entire career in the telecom industry and has a tremendous amount of experience in network connectivity, professional services and most recently in Technology Expense Management. While she has seen many changes in the industry in those 30+ years, her constant goal has always been to provide exceptional and friendly service and build strong relationships with her clients. As the Professional Services Manager at LAVA, she will continue to provide the highest level of customer care by overseeing all professional services as LAVA continues to scale our services offerings to our growing client base.
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Carissa Seligman

Partner Account Manager
Carissa was raised in Western MD and graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Dance before drastically changing paths and finding technology. For the past decade, Carissa has had the pleasure of helping enterprises, both local and national, navigate the service provider ecosystem. For the entirety of her career, Carissa has been primarily focused on one thing: a great customer experience. She has been lucky enough to work with some incredible people , both client and colleague, along the way. Carissa currently lives in Washington, DC with her boyfriend and her dog.
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Mark Henson

Partner Alliance Manager
Mark was born in England, raised in the SC Lowcountry and currently lives in Leesburg VA with his wife and three children. He graduated from the University of SC with a degree in Political Science. Mark brings 25+ years of industry experience to the LAVA team, along with a unique perspective across the entire IT supply chain including OEM/ISV, distribution, solution provider, reseller, and customer. Mark has managed strategic partner relationships that were more than $100M annually. During his career, Mark has held positions on many Partner Advisory Councils including VMware, Citrix, VEAAM and HPE. Mark and his family are passionate about animal welfare and specialize in fostering pregnant dogs and finding forever homes for the mother and her puppies. Over the past 10 years, the Henson's have helped save over 300 animals in need.
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Karen Laughlin

Professional Services Manager
Karen was born and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and lives there today with her three daughters and their rescue dog. She graduated from West Virginia University and found the telecom industry path very early in her career, starting in account management for a local telecommunications reseller. More than 30 years later, she has held positions in product management for local telephone service, billing auditor management and management of enterprise-level clients, which provides her essential experience to assist and improve customers’ experience in the telecom world. As Professional Services Manager, Karen brings essential industry knowledge to the growing base of LAVA partners and clients.
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Cameron Terrell

Marketing Coordinator
Cameron was born in Detroit, Michigan and currently lives in Round Hill, Virginia. She is a recent graduate of Bridgewater College where she studied Business Administration and Marketing. While at Bridgewater, Cameron also competed as a thrower on the track and field team. As LAVA's Marketing Coordinator, Cameron is responsible for all aspects of marketing, including events, web, sales support, deliverables, and most importantly, LAVA swag bags!
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