Commercial Team

Ronald Cassoni, Lt. Col. Marine Corps. (Ret)

Ron holds a large amount of recognized experience in the US military world. In 1975 Ron was Commissioned as a Marine Officer, serving on Active Duty until 1986. He was also chosen to form the Marine Corps Anti-Terrorist Command in 1979 as a Captain. Ron later served in a special operations role for most of his career, and in the Marine Corps Reserve until medically retired in 2008. He has achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In the IT Business world, Ron joined PC’s Limited (now Dell Computer Corporation) in 1986 to establish a Federal Line of Business, along with International, State and Local, and an OEM line of business. As Director of Federal Sales/Operations, Ron took the Federal line of business from $14M in 1987 to $7B in 1998. Ron was also responsible for establishing partnerships with major systems integrators and mentoring 8A firms, generating revenue not accessible via direct channel. In 2000, he co-founded CONNCASS Inc, in response to requests from companies seeking assistance in Sales, Marketing and Advertising, successfully assisting companies such as Adacel a Air Traffic Control Simulation contractor for the US Air Force and other military organizations which grew from $2M to $100M. In the Austin TX community, Ron has been involved as Proud Guest Lecturer for several years for the Graduate Entrepreneurial Program at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, and Consultant/Assisted Texas A&M University in the formation and rollout of their Strategic Homeland Security initiative. Ron also assisted Dr. Butler and Mr. George Kosmetsky in forming the collaboration between Stanford University and the University of Texas IC2 Institute.

Ron holds a masters and an engineering degree from Stanford University.

Tim Connelly

Tim has more the 25 years experience in leading and consulting sales and business development teams for many companies within the IT industry. Tim took a sales position with PCs Ltd (now Dell Computer Corporation). At Dell, as regional Director, Tim helped launch the Public Sector Division and managed national sales teams primarily in the Federal space but also worked with Universities and State and Local Government customers. Following Dell, Tim became a consultant to various high tech companies. In 2000 Tim founded Conncass Inc., a Public Sector sales and marketing consulting company.

Tim holds Computer Science and Economics Degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Andrés Gutierrez

Andrés has 15 years of experience leading, growing, and managing successful operations in a broad array of industries. Andrés has held executive, general management, and operating roles with Standard Aero, AT&T, and 3M – leaders in aviation maintenance, telecom, and research & development.

At Standard Aero, Andrés was Vice President of Government and Military Programs and prior, VP of U.S. Marketing & Business Development. During his tenure, Standard Aero’s defense business doubled to nearly half of the company’s $800M revenues by winning multi-year contracts with clients such as the United States Air Force, Navy, Army, and Coast Guard, NATO Maintenance and Supply agency, and foreign allies. Andrés was responsible for strategy, brand management, sales, and service for government clients and the company’s local and federal legislative relations.

Andrés holds a masters and engineering degrees from the University of Texas at Austin

Gray McDermid, Capt. US Air Force (Vet.)

Gray currently works for IDZ as a sales and business development specialist.

In the military world, Gray occupied different positions such as Maintenance Flight Commander, Aircraft Support Flight Commander, Aircraft Maintenance Unit Officer in Charge at South America, Middle East, and Africa

Gray is a Decorated Combat Veteran for outstanding achievement while fighting the War on Terror, and he also received the Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal From 2006-2007 Gray lead the Dyess We Care Team, Program Director Today Gray is also the President and Founder of the Robins Military Society.

Gray holds a Bachelor of Science, Finance from the University of Colorado and is a Candidate for MBA from the Robins School of Business, University of Richmond.

Chip Izard

Besides being part of the IDZ’s sales and business development team, Chip is also the Program Administrator of the International Business Richland College.

With more than 20 years of experience, Chip held different sales and consultant positions in companies within the high tech industry, such as Intulogy Inc., Pervasive Software Inc., Micro Warehouse, Inc. and Dell Computer.

Chip holds an MBA in International Business from LeTourneau University and a Bachelor's degree in Marketing/Management/Finance/Business Law from The University of Texas at Austin.

Candace Honey

Candace joined the IDZ team in 2010 as a Marketing and Sales Support Specialist. She completed her MBA in Finance from Texas Christian University in May 2009 and also holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Markets and Culture from Southern Methodist University. While at SMU, Candace also studied Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and completed a Chinese language immersion program in Beijing, China at the Beijing Institute of Education. She was also honored with the Felix Chen Asian Studies Award in the spring of 2005. 

Candace has extensive experience in the non-profit sector and was elected as Director of Community Service of the MBA Association while at TCU. In addition, she has worked in the finance industry for Merrill Lynch and the technology services industry for Pinnacle Technical Resources in Dallas, TX.