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Evan Leonard
President, CHIPS Technology Group, Inc.
Professional Background
Evan Leonard is a highly accomplished professional and entrepreneur currently serving as the President of CHIPS Technology Group, Inc. With a profound understanding of Information Technology and a knack for developing innovative solutions, Evan has positioned CHIPS as a leading provider of information technology solutions tailored specifically for small to mid-sized businesses. Under his leadership, the company has achieved significant milestones in streamlining network infrastructure and enhancing business intelligence, allowing clients to maximize their technology savings and Return on Investment (ROI).
CHIPS Technology Group, Inc. was founded in the fall of 1993, leveraging the entrepreneurial spirit and expertise that Evan honed during his academic years at Hofstra University. Throughout his career, Evan has specialized in a range of IT services, including Cloud Computing, Managed Service Solutions, and Unified Communications. His dedication to providing efficient business collaboration solutions aligns with his overarching goal of creating environments where both clients and employees can excel.
Evan's passion lies in Operations and Marketing, where he continuously endeavors to foster a culture of success at CHIPS. His leadership style emphasizes building strong relationships with clients, understanding their unique business needs, and delivering exceptional solutions that drive profitability.
Education and Achievements
Evan Leonard graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business, concentrating in Marketing from Hofstra University in 1992. During his time at Hofstra, he demonstrated his capability by working for TicketMaster, where he managed ticket sales and trained staff on their computer systems. This experience not only provided him with practical knowledge but also strengthened his desire to innovate within the technology sector.
Recognizing a unique business opportunity, Evan and his colleague David Tan undertook a project to architect a computerized ticketing system for Hofstra. After extensive research and interviews with various ticketing companies, they successfully created a solution that prompted Hofstra University to consider hiring them as employees. Instead, Evan and David decided to establish CHIPS Technology Group, Inc. with the $4,000 earned from their project, marking the beginning of a pioneering journey in the IT landscape.
Through strategic vision and relentless dedication, Evan has not only grown CHIPS but has also made a lasting impact on the technological infrastructure of the businesses they serve. He is deeply committed to delivering tailored IT solutions, further solidified by his previous role as President at CrushBank, where he refined his skills in business intelligence and innovative technology application.
Achievements
Evan Leonard's contributions to the IT sector go beyond the successes of CHIPS Technology Group, Inc. His ability to understand client needs and implement effective solutions has resulted in enhanced operational efficiencies for numerous businesses. Over the years, CHIPS has gained reputation for its exceptional managed service solutions, and Evan continues to be at the forefront of identifying and addressing the ever-evolving technological challenges faced by small to mid-sized enterprises.
As the driving force behind CHIPS, Evan remains passionate about improving client profitability while creating a supportive environment for his employees. His commitment to fostering a culture of growth and excellence within the company is evidenced by the thriving atmosphere that promotes innovation and teamwork.
In summary, Evan Leonard is not just a leader in the information technology sector; he is a visionary who understands the importance of technology as a tool to empower businesses and enhance their day-to-day operations. His educational background, coupled with his extensive career experience, creativity, and strategic mindset, ensures that CHIPS Technology Group, Inc. will continue to be a trusted partner for many organizations seeking to navigate their technological landscape successfully.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.