Shawn Achor is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard. Shawn has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success. His research on happiness made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular all time with over 4 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions. Shawn teaches for the Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School, and collaborates on research with Yale and Columbia University.
In 2007, Shawn founded GoodThinkInc to share his research with the world. Subsequently, Shawn has lectured or researched in more than 50 countries, speaking to CEOs in China, school children in South Africa, doctors in Dubai, and farmers in Zimbabwe. He has spoken to the Royal Family in Abu Dhabi, doctors at St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and worked with the U.S. Department of Health to promote happiness. In 2012, Shawn helped lead the Everyday Matters campaign with the National MS Society and Genzyme to show how happiness remains a choice for those struggling with a chronic illness.
Shawn graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and earned a Masters degree from Harvard Divinity School in Christian and Buddhist ethics. For seven years, Shawn also served as an Officer of Harvard, living in Harvard Yard and counseling students through the stresses of their first year. Though he now travels extensively for his work, Shawn continues to conduct original psychology research on happiness and organizational achievement in collaboration with Yale University and the Institute for Applied Positive Research.
Born and raised in San Diego, Paul began his technology career at age 11 working in a family business that sold manufacturing software and would eventually become Epicor Software Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. As the family’s business interest transitioned into trade shows and magazines for the Pick/MultiValue and Unix marketplaces, Paul became the VP of Sales for International Spectrum and worked full-time while attending San Diego State University.
After getting married, Paul and his wife Tiffaney relocated to Houston in 1995 and joined Jones Business Systems (JBS), a leading Unix software distributor. Over four short years, Giobbi witnessed JBS’ sales increase from $5M to $68M, an experience that would shape his future. In 1997, Paul led JBS’ acquisition of Orion Pacific Technologies where he would meet Zumasys co-founder Joe Cupp.
In 2000, Paul Giobbi and Joe Cupp moved back to Southern California and orchestrated the buyout of the Enterprise Systems Division of JBS, which became Zumasys. Paul and Joe worked together to develop Zumasys’ unique culture until Joe’s untimely passing in December 2011.
Originally founded in the small beach town of San Clemente, Zumasys has been a growth story, generating revenue increases in 13 out of 14 now years in business. Zumasys was named by the Orange County Business Journal as one of the Best Places to Work in Orange County, California in both 2012 & 2013. In 2013, Zumasys also appeared on the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies for the fifth time.
Zumasys provides cloud computing and infrastructure technology solutions to more than 2,000 customers across the United States and Canada. Paul resides in San Clemente with Tiffaney, their two sons, and their Golden Retriever Roxy. Paul has a Bachelor’s in History from San Diego State University and he proudly serves as a Board Member at The Prentice School, which recently celebrated 25 years of empowering students with dyslexia.
As Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and a member of the Zumasys executive team, Andy sets the technical vision for the company and the architectural direction for the Zumasys cloud computing platform.
Andy is responsible for technology design and product selection and is a top-level escalation resource for all technical departments at Zumasys. A veteran of the company, Andy co-manages the day-to-day operations of Professional Services with Senior Systems Engineer Ryan Beaty. He also works closely with the sales group to provide pre-sales engineering and guidance for all products in Zumasys’ portfolio.
Andy began his career in technology directly out of high school. While attending college to pursue a degree in music, Andy took an IT consulting position with the Capistrano Unified School District, where he supported the district’s first-ever “Laptops for Kids” program. This decision illuminated his passion for technology and ultimately changed the course of his career. In 2002, Andy made the move to the corporate technology world, becoming a senior network administrator at Millennia Mortgage Corporation. While at Millennia, he played a key role in developing and supporting the company’s rapidly growing technology infrastructure, which supported more than 400 employees at its peak.
In 2007, when the declining mortgage industry claimed Millennia, Andy found a home at Zumasys, Millennia’s Citrix partner. After starting on Zumasys’ technical support team, Andy was promoted to Senior Systems Engineer for Professional Services. In 2009, he became a member of the Zumasys management team and Director of Professional Services.
In 2013, Andy moved into his current role as CTO. Today he directs all virtualization, storage, and infrastructure practices for Zumasys’ data centers and on-premises customers, such as Panda Restaurant Group, Ganahl Lumber, and Bradshaw International.
Andy works directly with Zumasys’ on-premises customers to understand their business objectives and customize solutions to meet their needs. His ongoing work evolving and optimizing Zumasys’ own data centers has allowed Zumasys to offer its cloud computing customers the most cutting-edge, enterprise-class technologies available on the market.