Ethan Watts
VP Commercial / Channel
Ethan Watts
What is your role at VSO?

As the VP of Commercial and Channel business here at VSO, I own sales and delivery for our Commercial and Channel business. I lead other Business Development, Sales and Delivery leaders and teams across dozens of successful contracts and engagements, while staying in consistent contact with our Commercial and Channel clients and partners to develop and achieve their IT goals.

What experience did you have before joining VSO?

I’ve been in IT since 1993. Spending seven years active duty in the U.S. Navy, forward deployed in the Arabian Gulf and Somalia engagement. Completing my time in the Navy with a three-year assignment at the Office of Naval Intelligence in the D.C. area. I worked with a couple of Defense Contractors before settling in with EDS on the BellSouth/AT&T account for six years and then moving to the American Airlines account for another twelve years and as EDS moved to HP, HPE and DXC via spin offs and mergers. I came to VSO with years of experience leading large ITO delivery teams and architecting out vast redesigns and integrations/migrations in the UNIX/LINUX/Vmware arena during client mergers and refreshes. I lead by example with an ability to cut to the quick and solve complex issues by recognizing and maximizing skill sets within my team, thereby putting people in best position to succeed.

What brought you to VSO?

I joined the VSO team, in December 2018 after being contated by a previous employee of mine who had started with VSO a few months earlier. I quickly recognized the value and opportunity of being part of a small/flexible company and was excited to make an impact and help VSO scale.

What is something you love about VSO?

The involvement of the executive team and passion they bring to every account and discussion is not only refreshing but inspiring. There is a genuine feeling that VSO cares about individual careers and even life outside of work, which is rare in the corporate world and I recognize and appreciate that tremendously. My personal favorite principle is “we will not waste time”, time is absolutely our most valued asset in work and in life. There is never a reason to waste a moment of it. Even down/restorative/restful time should be with a purpose and meaning.

What keeps you busy outside of VSO?

My lovely wife Emily and our three amazing children who are now amazing teens and young adults keep me on my toes. We spend a lot of time with our pets … Great Dane – Pearl, Beagle – Mable and our Hairless Sphynx kitty – Lily. Shout out to all my Atlanta and GA sports teams (GO DAWGS/FALCONS/BRAVES!). I am a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu having trained for over 17 years now and fought several MMA fights years ago. I enjoy old school weightlifting, Yoga, Mountain Biking. I also am a “car guy”, owning and enjoying rare/special edition cars and trucks.