MEET THE TEAM

Founded in 1989 by Bill Pachoud, The Root Group has continually maintained an outstanding reputation for high quality and technical acumen. This reputation has been earned over the years based on the principles that started the company. These principles were developed from Bill’s background in engineering and construction. It all starts at an architectural level by understanding the business requirements to be met. From that understanding, the IT architecture can be designed to meet the stated objectives by using tools and processes that, like the construction industry, have repeatability and accountability in meeting the desired result in the desired timeframe and budget.

Bill Pachoud – CTO and Founder
A graduate of the University of Colorado, Bill’s first job out of college was at Bell Labs where he designed, tested and implemented application features for PBX systems. From Bell Labs Bill went to Solbourne Computer where he helped design, implement and manage a 3-fold growth in their network infrastructure which including two data center moves. Following his entrepreneurial spirit Bill founded The Root Group as a consulting firm focused on systems infrastructure with an emphasis on networking and operating systems. As the company grew Bill added products from Cisco, 3Comm and Sun Microsystems among others and the Solutions Practice was born. In the mid 1990’s Bill launched The Root Group’s Security Practice and it has grown to become one of the strongest practices in the company. While Bill wore many hats during the building of the company, his primary role today is that of Chief Technology Officer. In this position he is able to help clients by understanding their business objectives and architecting infrastructure solutions that meet these objectives. Bill has been living in Boulder since 1974.

Bill Calderwood – President
Since joining The Root Group in 2000, Bill has filled roles from Sales and Technical Management to General Manager and President. Bill started his career in the CAD/CAM industry at Auto-trol Technology and was in various sales and engineering management roles prior to becoming Director of IT for Auto-trol. During this role Bill got his first taste of enterprise IT when he directed an ERP migration project from ASK Man-Man to Oracle Financials. He then went to Information Handling Services where he was Director of Field Systems Engineer and managed a nationwide staff of sales and consulting engineers. From I.H.S. Bill went to Access Graphics and was the Director of Consulting Services for the Consulting Partner Network. Bill has been able to understand the broad scope of corporate IT needs from a product, services and process perspective. He has used this knowledge to build The Root Group’s abilities to provide turnkey products and services that increase a client’s business value to their customer and suppliers. A native of Logan, Utah, Bill’s undergraduate work was at the U.S. Naval Academy and Utah State University where he earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado. Bill also served as the Marketing Chair for the Colorado Chapter of the Society of Information Management (SIM).

Jackie Schmidt – Chief Financial Officer
A native of Boulder, Jackie has been with The Root Group since 1995. Prior to The Root Group Jackie worked as a Controller in the hospitality industry. She also held several Accounting positions at NBI in Boulder that included responsibilities for tax, A/P, A/R. Jackie serves many roles at The Root Group but has primary responsibility for the financial management of the overall corporation. In addition to her deep accounting experience, Jackie is also Sun Service Contracts certified. She holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Colorado.