Originally published April 2001 in St. Louis Commerce.

Mike McNeil, longtime vice president of Sonacom IT Partners, purchased a majority interest in the St. Louis-based IT engineering firm from founder Rick Oertli. The announcement followed McNeil’s promotion to president of Sonacom in December.

Oertli started a new career as executive vice president of Guarantee Electric Co. He will continue to hold a stake in two of Sonacom’s recent ventures, Sonacom IS and Sonacom AV Interactive.

Started in 1988 as a subsidiary of Guarantee Electric, Oertli acquired Sonacom from Guarantee in August of 1989. McNeil joined the company in 1992 to support Sonacom’s expansion into the information technology market as a single source for voice, video and data services.

Over the past two years, McNeil has taken on an expanded role in the company. Today, Sonacom is ranked number six on Deloitte & Touche’s “Fast 50” for the fastest-growing technology companies in the St. Louis area and number 401 on the national “Fast 500” list.

Assisting McNeil in the future growth of Sonacom is Craig Colvin who has been with the company since 1995. Colvin, now vice president, most recently served as director of operations. Sonacom’s other management team members are: Steve Sabo, vice president, finance; Travis Swank, director of sales and marketing; Jill Brust, manager, customer service; Mary Dollinger, manager, cost accounting; and Keith Skiles, director, engineering.