About Us
A Relationship Built on Trust
The founders of Foster MSP have been serving clients for over 10 years in the Phoenix valley and nationwide. With diverse backgrounds in Information Technology and specializations in areas such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Information Systems Security, they have shown clients the talents that they bring to the table that outshine other firms. With vast experience in Enterprise organizations, they have a knowledge of cutting edge technologies as well as a unique ability to translate them for small to mid-sized businesses. The end results to clients are robust solutions that help clients excel and grow in what they do.
Integrity and honesty is the foundation of what we stand for in our business. We value our clients trust and never stop working to earn and keep it. We have found that this is the number one driving factor that has allowed us to service many clients for many years. They keep coming back to us because they see value rather than being forced to due to lack of choices. We take pride in that fact and continue to aspire to elevate it.
Bryan Hinkle
Chief Operating Officer
Bryan Hinkle is a founding member of Foster MSP, LLC. Bryan’s ability to find rapid solutions to even the most difficult issues aids him in his responsibility to oversee all Help Desk Operations at Foster MSP.
Prior to founding Foster MSP, LLC, Bryan enjoyed a successful thirteen year career as a consultant in the ERP industry. Over those thirteen years, Bryan honed his skills on numerous successful implementations across many different ERP solutions. During this time, Bryan incorporated his knowledge and enthusiasm for technology into each of his projects, gaining the growing support from his client base to handle both their Accounting Software and their Accounting Server environments. Bryan has received certifications in Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor, Sage, SQL, SharePoint, and other technologies. It is his years of IT and ERP experience, that he received working in the boardrooms of various vertical markets, which allows Bryan to provide his clients with the strategy and long term vision that they require.
Bryan’s clients, some of whom have worked with him since 2002, not only look to him for IT strategy and direction, but also consulting in business operations and process redesign. It is not uncommon for his clients to request his presence and guidance during board room discussions regarding strategy, even outside of the IT/ERP umbrella.
Bryan Hinkle earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from the Arizona State University.
Darin J. Pauls
Chief Executive Officer
Darin Pauls is a founding member of Foster MSP, LLC. Darin started his career as a CPA and Tax Accountant for a national accounting firm where he also pursued a Masters in Taxation at DePaul University in Chicago. He worked directly with small to mid-sized business owners, not only on tax matters but also in helping them to form and organize various businesses in many different industries. It was Darin’s love for consulting and helping people to achieve their business goals that encouraged him to move out of the tax practice and into his firm’s business and technology consulting practice. In this practice he quickly became an expert in ERP, eCommerce, Financial Reporting, Distribution and Manufacturing systems.
After years of consulting, a client approached him to become Chief Information Officer and ultimately Chief Financial Officer of a startup eCommerce company that was growing rapidly. The company was in desperate need of core IT infrastructure as well as automation of distribution processes. Darin’s main role was to build the IT from the ground up through the implementation and construction of physical networks components such as cabling, switching, routing and firewalls, as well as implementing all line of business software. He implemented and integrated ERP and Warehouse Management Systems and worked directly with FedEx and their software development teams to create integrations with those systems to FedEx shipping systems. This infrastructure and automation led to the rapid growth of this company while keeping high profit margins and low employee counts.
Darin returned to consulting and took a position with another national accounting firm to grow their IT consulting practice for their Midwest Region. In this position he not only worked with clients as in the past, but was in charge of forming partnerships with software and hardware vendors. He gained experience with these vendors and their operations through a position on a Partner Advisory Board of a middle market ERP software company. This experience became invaluable in working in the IT industry in terms of identifying the value and stability of vendors when choosing hardware and software technologies for clients to invest in and implement.
In 2005, Darin founded a company named Beratung, LLC. It was initially an ERP reseller and implementer but it quickly flourished into a full IT services firm. Many clients, existing and new, saw a uniqueness in Beratung’s ability to bring sensible and effective IT to their organizations at a reasonable cost. The general IT and Managed Services division of Beratung quickly outpaced the ERP division and this led to a need to rebrand and build a new entity to accommodate this growth. In 2014, Darin brought in two long-time colleagues, Bryan Hinkle and J.R. Ramos, to create a new and separate firm, Foster MSP, LLC with the focus on full and complete IT services and business consulting.
J.R. Ramos
Chief Technology Officer
J.R. Ramos is a founding member of Foster MSP, LLC. With over 23 years’ experience as a team leader, entrepreneur and engineering specialist, he has contributed to the success of companies such as Motorola, Capgemini Ernst and Young, Perot Systems, YP.com, Iridium Satellite Communications and a variety of highly successful small to medium sized businesses. J.R. has extensive experience and success in matching business processes with technology initiatives as a professional consultant and advisor to corporate leaders, staff, and management teams.
J.R. specializes in Information Security, Information Security Compliance, Voice and Data Telecommunications, Technology Operations and Systems Architecture and Design. He has a passion for technology and its practical application to greatly assist those in need of that technology. J.R. has managed and implemented highly complex, international projects and environments in the healthcare, military/government, banking, environmental systems, and large-scale manufacturing industries.
He is passionate and highly effective in translating his enterprise level experience to be applied to small to mid-sized businesses.