Mont Phelps, Who Built NWN Into A CRN Solution Provider 500 Powerhouse, Mourned As Channel Titan With Heart, Humor And Humanity

‘Mont had an ability to build a personal relationship with people that came from all walks of life,’ said Scott Pintsopoulos, a 12-year NWN veteran and former executive vice president of sales. ‘I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It was truly special.’

Mont Phelps, the inimitable channel titan who with his unique view of business and life built NWN into one of the most respected solution providers in the country, had a standing practice of calling all new hires and welcoming them to the team with the aim of getting to know them better.

At the company’s annual sales kickoffs, Mont would do the same, committing to speak to every employee—no small task given the hundreds of employees coming together for the annual gathering that always featured a bevy of “Montisms”—aphorisms aimed at getting at something deeper than a sales statistic or a product pitch. Some of his gems: “When something is not working, change it now. Selling is what happens after the customer says no. Customers are your boss, treat them that way.”

Besides the Montisms, the annual sales meeting each year had a theme animal selected by Mont as the founder and CEO to inspire the team to reach new heights. That included the Rooster, signifying, “It’s not about what keeps you up at night. It’s about what gets you up in the morning;” the Cheetah, nimble and fast, urging employees to come together to create speed and velocity; and the Camel, who would put his head under the tent of the customer with the aim of getting completely under the tent to go deeper and wider to better serve customers.

The animal themes, the Montisms and above all the ultra-competitive philosophy of life and love of people proved to be a strange alchemy that took NWN from an upstart that was born from the acquisition of a small company with 35 employees and $5 million in sales to No. 79 on the CRN Solution Provider 500 with $350 million in sales and 600 employees before he stepped aside in 2017.

Mont (pictured above), the founder and longtime CEO of NWN who passed away Nov. 2 at the age of 80, is being mourned as a channel titan who led with heart, humor and humanity and in the process changed the lives of his employees, customers and vendor partners. A celebration of life for Mont will be held Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, at 5 p.m. at the Marriott Westin-Waltham.

Montism No. 1: Credit Can Never Be Taken, Only Given.

“Mont had an uncanny ability to relate to everybody,” said Scott Pintsopoulos, a 12-year NWN veteran and former executive vice president of sales, who called Mont a trusted mentor and the most influential person in his career. “He always knew what to say and when to say it. He had this unique ability to be able to relate to you and motivate you. We were all extremely different people. Mont got it. He had an ability to build a personal relationship with people that came from all walks of life. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. It was truly special.”

Mont, who always said it was all about the customer and his goal was to build a great company, believed the only way you could win was by making sure that each and every member of the team was cared for, nurtured and given the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Mont viewed NWN employees in many ways as an extension of his family. Not surprising, given that he made the business a family affair of sorts with his second wife, Jane Linder, also an owner of the company and executive vice president, always at his side. Linder provided the yin to Mont’s yang, helping keep him grounded and guiding the company with her counsel, compassion and more academic approach to the business. Mont would always say Linder—a Harvard Business School graduate and former Harvard professor—was the “brains behind the business.”

The business also included two of Phelps’s children, his son Drew, as an executive vice president, and his daughter, Alison Eill, a customer experience manager. Last but not least was his dog, Bunker, who was a mascot of sorts for NWN, a regular at the corporate office who traveled with Mont in car trips up and down the East Coast visiting the company’s offices from Massachusetts to North Carolina to Texas.

Pintsopoulos and other NWN veterans recalled their time working at the company as a golden age in their careers that will never be matched. They say Mont inspired them to break beyond their pre-conceived notions of what was possible. “He was someone you really wanted to show up for and be proud of you,” said Pintsopoulos. “You never wanted to let him down. He had a unique ability to get people to achieve more than they thought they could. He was very generous with his time. You felt truly loved by him.”

Mont’s hypercompetitive drive and intelligence—disguised by his understated, soft-spoken manner, dry wit and his appreciation for business as a team sport that valued every employee, vendor partner and even competitors—made him a beloved figure in the industry.

Mont was a channel visionary and student of the channel and the industry who pushed NWN to deliver robust managed services long before it became a staple of the channel model. He took big risks skating to where the puck was going rather than where it had been. NWN, in fact, was one of the first companies to go all in on Cisco’s unified communications platform. That early bet paid off handsomely but only after a lot of hard work and heavy lifting by the NWN team. It was those kinds of strategic moves that won Mont the respect and admiration of customers, vendors and even his competitors.

“Mont was the smartest leader that I have ever met,” said Pintsopoulos. “Everything else played into that. He was three or four steps ahead of every situation and every conversation. And it wasn’t just about the industry. It was everything. Any topic. There is nobody that I’ve met that was as well rounded and bright as he was.”

Montism No. 2: Everybody Is In Sales.

At every NWN annual sales kickoff, Mont would ask at the outset of the meeting for everyone in sales to stand up. The salespeople and account reps, would, of course, stand up, but not the engineers, administrative and support staff. Mont would then point out that ‘Everyone is in sales,’ therefore everyone should stand up. Everyone represents the business, he would say, no matter what they do at NWN. It was rare when someone did leave the company. And when they did, Mont would want to know why.

“Mont used to say if someone decided to move on it was because the manager failed to truly create the experience that person needed to be successful in our business,” said Pintsopoulos. “Mont would talk about building great experiences for the team, the partner community and your customers. I use that lesson to this day. It came from Mont.”

Another fondly recalled lesson, said Pintsopoulos, was Mont’s views on what he called “new-manager-itis”—a made-up word that referred to a new leader’s misguided tendency to make too many decisions too quickly or a paralysis that prevents them from taking any action. “Mont would say, ‘Let the business happen and trust that you are the right person to lead and support the business,’” said Pintsopoulos. “The point was don’t make knee- jerk reactions or wait too long. He shared that year in and year out as leaders.”

Montism No. 3: In Life It’s Not What Happens To You, It’s What You Do About It That Matters.

Mont never spoke about it much, but he did not have the easiest of upbringings. He spent time in foster care and was eventually adopted by his Aunt Gertrude and Uncle George, moving from an urban upbringing in Miami to a farm in Pulaski, Va.

Despite the troubled start, Mont was determined even as a young man to make a life of his own and make his mark in the world. He was a voracious reader with an encyclopedialike memory, an outstanding athlete—starting for the football team at quarterback, point guard in basketball, and pitcher in baseball—and a hard worker.

He won appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy class of 1968, played football at Navy and then graduated from Randolph-Macon College after receiving some financial assistance while at the same time working the overnight shift at a truck stop.

Before he started NWN, Mont had a successful 27-year career, including 17 years at DuPont, and raised four children with his first wife, Marcia Phelps. During his years at DuPont, Mont was moved from one post to another, learning all aspects of the business, from finance to sales, being groomed as one of their rising stars. He also held top roles at Bayer and Pitman Company. Those years working for large companies turned out to be the best training for what turned out to be Mont’s audacious second act as an entrepreneur: buying an IT solution provider business and then leveraging all of his life experiences to make it successful.

Eill, the oldest of Mont’s four children, said one of the things she cherished about her dad was his care and concern for all people. That came through in his insistence to get to know each and every employee at the company.

“It made my dad proud and was something he made a point of doing,” said Eill, who spent 12 years working at NWN in a number of roles and was welcomed to the team like every employee in a phone call from her dad, who reminded her the call was not as his daughter but as an employee. “That’s something he did every single time NWN hired somebody no matter what position it was or whether it was someone he already met through the hiring process or not. He wanted to really know, speak to and become familiar with everyone in the company. And not just them as a worker but them as an individual and person. He just made you realize that all people are important and should be treated as such. I think that came from his hard upbringing and being overlooked a lot when he was young.”

Eill said family, work and business were all important to her father and sometimes those lines blurred as he built NWN into a successful company. “The people that worked at NWN were almost like family to him, there was a level of trust he had with them,” she said. “I think he felt like he was entrusting his vision of the company in all these people’s hands. It was a team effort. He wanted everyone to share in that trusted feeling. He just loved the people at NWN and loved talking to everybody.”

One of the Montisms that Eill remembered is, “Everyone has the same amount of time. It’s all about priorities.” That is one, Mont would use, when he would try to get Eill to come for a visit.

Eill, who is now an elementary school teacher, believes the Montisms were part of her dad’s intense drive to figure out what needed to be done to be successful. “Failure wasn’t an option,” she said. “It was all a puzzle. It was all a game. It was a way to figure it all out. I think that is where all the Montisms came from: It was all the lessons he learned and figured out along the way.”

Eill says one of her favorite memories growing up as a young child was the opportunity to travel cross-country with her dad and siblings. Those trips usually came as Mont moved the family from one job assignment to another and in the process visiting sites like the Grand Canyon, Sequoia National Park or going skiing in Colorado. Those trips, Eill said, taught her and her siblings to travel the world and experience the world.

“I really loved those road trips because we would all be together in the car, we would listen to Disney cassettes,” she said. “We really never went on the beach vacations that everyone else did. My dad would take us sight-seeing to many places.”

Those trips were also a chance for Eill and her siblings to compete, urged on by Mont at every rest stop. “We would stop at a rest stop and have exercise time, and he would see how long it took us to run from the car to a nearby tree,” she said.

Montism No. 4: I Love To Compete. I Hate Competitors.

For Mont, everything was a contest—whether it was as simple as who would be the first to get through a given security line at an airport to who could get the best gas mileage on a long trip sharing driving duties. Mont’s deeply ingrained sense of competition in all things came through in his unique definition of a car race: You are on the road, and there are other cars there too.

“First and foremost, Mont was a competitor,” said Skip Tappen, who spent 15 years working side by side with Mont as president and then as his handpicked successor. “He loved to compete. It didn’t matter what we were doing—everything was a competition.”

Mont would say he didn’t need to win everything, but he absolutely hated to lose. His competitive fire came through in his predilection for giving much larger competitors humorous nicknames. Those monikers were meant to poke fun at the shortcomings of those vendors, who Mont would point out did not have the services strength of NWN. Even competitors appreciated Mont’s passion for the business.

One CEO for a competitor that had heard many of Mont’s cutting nicknames demanded that his company be given a moniker. “Literally competitors actually came up to Mont and wanted a nickname from him,” said Tappen. “It was hysterical. That is classic Mont. There was never a dull moment. You never knew what he was going to say next.”

Another Montism that Tappen fondly recalled: “I’m happy but I’m not satisfied.” That’s a line Mont used after the company had finished a record-breaking quarter. “We spent about five seconds celebrating and then Mont said, ‘Now how are we going to take it to the next level?’” recalled Tappen.

Montism No. 5: Change And Progress Should Be Constant. Avoid Stagnation.

One of the keys to NWN’s success was its ability to acquire one company after another—13 in total—and bring them into the fold. That was in no small measure due to Mont’s ability to make sure the companies being acquired were equal partners and all employees were valued as members of the team. He would often say the first rule when acquiring a company is to adopt the Hippocratic oath: Do no harm.

Despite the fact that NWN was not always the highest bidder, the company was able to make acquisitions because of Mont’s ability to build a deep sense of trust and confidence with the owners and employees of those companies. The acquisitions were done early on without the private equity capital that dominates the channel landscape today.

“Mont’s idea was always to build something,” said Tappen of the acquisition fervor that took hold once NWN acquired its first company, Woods Network Services in Connecticut, which provided NWN with prized Cisco Gold status. “As we were growing fast and buying companies, it was all about how to bring those companies into the fold and make them part of the family.”

In one case, Mont learned about a potential acquisition target on a Thursday. Mont’s senior team said it would take six weeks for due diligence. Mont said, “The company will be worthless by then; figure out how to structure a deal we can sign on Monday.” Four days later they were meeting the employees of the acquired company.

Tappen said Mont’s ability to connect with employees at a deeper level was extraordinary. At President’s Club, Mont would gather those employees being honored at the event in a circle and welcome each person individually by name, making a comment about their achievements. “Mont was all about the people,” said Tappen. “He was all about doing what he felt was the right thing. I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to work with him, learn from him and help build the company with him.”

Tappen credits Mont with building the foundation that helped pave the way for current NWN CEO Jim Sullivan to build the NWN organization into a $1 billion-plus company. “The goal was always to build the platform for a $1 billion company,” Tappen said. “At the end of the day, our journey was right out of a storybook. We took a small company, built it up, created some value and then sold it. Another great Mont line was, ‘It only took us 15 years to become an overnight success.’”

But Mont’s legacy goes beyond NWN, said Tappen. “Anyone that had a chance to work with Mont as an employee, customer, vendor partner or competitor remembered Mont, and he had an impact on their life,” he said. “Mont loved business and loved to compete, but he also loved people and loved life.”

Jill Broyles, who became president of the first company Mont acquired and stayed with NWN for 19 years, said Mont was lovingly called the “mayor” because of how much he loved representing NWN at industry conferences and how engaged he was with employees, walking the halls, talking to one employee after another. “Mont was a people person,” she said. “You couldn’t walk by his office without having a 20-minute conversation.”

In building the company, Broyles said Mont always treated people with dignity and respect. “He was just a nice guy who cared about people,” she said. “He was a mentor to a lot of people. The team he put around him to execute his vision was key. Mont lived life to the fullest and he pushed people to do that too.”

Montism No. 6: If You Don't Know Where You Are Going, Any Road Will Take You There.

Broyles called Mont a visionary who was driven from the outset to build NWN into a $1 billion company, bringing in a talented team to drive day-to-day operations and execute in the field. “Mont had a vision of what he wanted to do with NWN,” she said. “It started small and it grew over time with acquisitions. He always put customers first and he wanted it to be a $1 billion company. A lot of people have tried to do what he did but failed.”

John Brookbank, vice president of sales, Americas distribution for Cisco, who worked with Mont for many years, called Mont a “great leader with vision who was unafraid to take risks. Mont was one of the first, if not the first, to venture into unified communications [with Cisco]. Mont saw that as an opportunity to build that more as a service. Mont was one of the first ones to see that. He was a visionary, future thinking, innovative and creative.”

Brookbank singled out Mont as a visionary who was always a “good barometer” for where the industry was going. “If you look back at where he took NWN, it was as a service. That’s where the margin was, that is where the profitability was—he wasn’t about just pushing boxes,” said Brookbank. “He really believed in understanding the customer’s business and providing them a solution that would solve a business outcome. Ironically, that is where we are today. Mont would always say it is all about the customer.”

Montism No. 7: Things Are Neither As Good Nor As Bad As They Appear.

Brookbank also recalled Mont as a tough leader who pushed Cisco hard but with a warm personality and a desire to get to know you personally. “Mont was always very interested in you and when you were with him, he was present,” said Brookbank. “He wanted to know about you and your family. That is another sign of a great leader. When you were with him, he really focused on you.”

Brookbank recalled his early calls from Mont demanding help to get some traction with the new Cisco ACS, which NWN had made a big bet on. “Mont would start off every conversation with, ‘Brookbank, I’m driving a Mercedes off a cliff every month. What are you going to do to help me? How can we fix this?’”

At Cisco Partner Advisory Board meetings, Mont would challenge the status quo. “Sometimes he was very disruptive, but even though Mont was disruptive executives still listened because he would challenge us to make the channel better,” said Brookbank. “Mont was a catalyst for change, if you think about it. He wasn’t afraid. He challenged traditional conventions. He really would push you to think outside the box.”

Mont would say the relationship with Cisco was a “mutually beneficial exchange relationship,” said Brookbank. “We used to talk about that all the time. There was trust and commitment both ways. Mont was always fair with everybody. I respected him. I learned a lot from him about taking risks and trying to challenge the status quo. At the end of the day, Mont had a good heart. He was empathetic. … If you needed him, he was the type of person that would help you. I felt like he would give you the shirt off his back.”

Not to be overlooked, said Brookbank, was the humor Mont brought to the business. “Mont had a lot of fun with his quirkiness,” he said. “You’ve got to have a little bit of levity because it is a hard-driving business. That was Mont.”

Montism No. 8: If You Realize You’re In A Hole, Stop Digging.

Peter Larocque, former president of TD Synnex who worked closely with Mont, said he will miss Mont’s dry sense of humor and how he would sometimes needle a golf pro or a caddy on their many golf outings.

“Mont was a hell of a good guy,” he said. “We played in tournaments together maybe 50 times. Anytime we were not in the same cart, Mont would go back and switch everything up, creating a big hullabaloo. I had so many good times with Mont it’s difficult to describe.”

Larocque said Mont was a force to be reckoned with in the intensely competitive IT solutions business. “Mont outworked people,” said Larocque. “He didn’t let business or people telling him he couldn’t do it get in the way. He took NWN from a little business to hundreds of millions of dollars. He got every great thing we did and he used it. He was a tireless worker who believed in himself and his team.”

Montism No. 9: When Something Is Not Working, Change It Now.

Frank Rauch, a former channel chief for VMware and Hewlett Packard who worked with Mont for many years, said NWN was essentially a family business.

“Mont made NWN a family business, not only by bringing his family into the business, but by treating everyone at the company like family,” he said. “Even if you weren’t related to him, you were family. When I attended the NWN recognition trips, people would come up and tell me how lucky they were to work for Mont Phelps. Mont was funny, lovable and he was a leader that people didn’t have to be told to follow. They wanted to follow him. He’s still the only guy I know that would bring his dog Bunker to staff meetings. I got to know his dog as well as his employees.”

One of Rauch’s favorite memories was attending an Army Navy game in Philadelphia in frigid temperatures with the wind blowing hard. “Mont—being the Navy man he was—dared me to stay out there with him,” said Rauch. “We were one of the last few people in the stadium.”

Montism No. 10: Most Employees Are Not Coin-Operated. Avoid Those Who Are And Care For Those Who Aren’t And Treat Them As Partners.

Shannon Ludwig, a 20-year NWN veteran who is currently a senior vice president of sales at NWN, said the “family” culture that Mont created at NWN was unlike anything she has ever experienced.

“Mont treated his work family like family,” said Ludwig. “He would open up his homes to us. It used to be a joke that you could only get on Mont’s bad side if you stepped on Bunker’s tail. Mont was one of us. He was the CEO, but you always felt like he was with you every step of the way. He made everybody feel like family. He knew every single person’s name in the company even as we got bigger. And he knew their spouse’s name and their kids’ names. He did that not only with our company but with partners. He just really took the time to get to know people. It’s because he really cared and that came across to anybody that worked for him, did business with him or partnered with him. He was really interested in what was going on with your life.”

Ludwig said both Mont and Linder mentored her throughout her tenure at NWN, leading to her current position at NWN. She said Mont’s “everything is a race” philosophy instilled a competitive fire in her, while Linder would urge her to speak up more to share her business insight. “They both helped me gain that confidence to share my voice and to help make changes,” she said. “Mont was the face of the company, but Jane was always there to help see it through. It was a true partnership. Everybody I talked to that had reached out after Mont’s passing said, ‘Mont and Jane had such a great impact on me.’ Mont and Jane. Mont and Jane. Their names just come together, not one or the other.”

When news of Mont’s passing began to spread, Ludwig said current and former NWN employees reached out to her. “I can’t tell you the number of texts I received with everybody mourning Mont and wanting to talk through their Montisms,” she said. “That was something he instilled in all of us that we carry with us regardless of where our career path ended up. It was really special. Mont was the glue that brought us all together. He touched so many people’s lives. Anybody that came from the NWN days with Mont still has a bond that ties us all together. That connection is always there. That’s because of Mont and what he built with us.”

Drew Phelps, for his part, said it was a “blessing” to be able to have worked side by side with his dad and see the impact he had on so many people. “Some people think business is about numbers, but my dad knew business is about people, relationships and life,” he said.

Jane Linder, who celebrated her 23^rd wedding anniversary with Mont in April, said Mont was fearless and undeterred when he decided to start what became NWN by acquiring an IT solution provider business. “Mont knew absolutely nothing about information technology at the time” she said. “But Mont had confidence and he never saw a brick wall. Those just didn’t exist for him.”

Mont used his ability to connect with people to shape the much-treasured culture of the company and to build strong bonds to move the business forward, said Linder. When NWN made its first acquisition, Mont beat out bigger and better-funded competitors by winning over the company’s employees. “Those employees at the time said. ‘If you don’t pick Mont, we’re all quitting,” said Linder. “Then those people stayed with the company for years because they were committed to Mont.”

Mont’s genuine care for people and their families came through time and time again in business dealings, said Linder. “People recognized that he was really listening to them and that he cared what they said, and that made a difference,” she said.

Another big factor in the company success, said Linder, was Mont’s ability to consistently do what he said he was going to do. “That came from the Naval Academy where they taught you, ‘If you say you’re going to do something, then you better do it,’” she said. “That’s something that always stayed with Mont.”

Also key in helping NWN overcome one obstacle after another was Mont’s indefatigable sense of optimism and spirited sense of humor, said Linder.

“Mont took some big, big risks,” she said. “But he had no problem doing that because he so believed in himself. There were some tough times, but Mont always found a way to make a joke and lighten the spirit. That made it easier to push through whatever was going on.”

Linder, in fact, said it is Mont’s sense of humor she misses most these days. “Mont was my hero,” she said. “And he always made me laugh. With NWN he changed his life and our lives. He built something amazing that benefited so many people.”

A Scholarship To Help Children Who Had A Rough Start Afford College

As part of the tribute to Mont, his family has established the Mont M. Phelps Memorial Scholarship at Randolph-Macon College to help children who had a rough start in life afford college. A link to the scholarship can be found at themontfoundation.org.

“Mont was only able to finish at Randolph-Macon College because he had some help,” said Eill. “So the scholarship is being created to help those who may have had a similar type of challenging upbringing who might not otherwise be able to go to college.”

Postscript: A Personal Remembrance

Mont—who cherished the relationships he built in the industry— would often make phone calls to reconnect with employees, industry leaders, friends and colleagues. On Oct. 21, a few weeks before he passed, he gave me a call. We hadn’t spoken in many years, but it felt like yesterday. We laughed about all the good times we had as he transformed NWN into an industry powerhouse, including time spent on the roof deck of his stunning Charlestown, Mass., condo overlooking Boston. I told him that I couldn’t ever remember anyone ever asking me as he did: “What can I do for you?” It was a classic Mont question or Montism that would stick with you. It was also just one more example of how Mont was always looking to connect with people at a deeper level. Mont said he was doing well and mentioned how proud he was of Drew, who was following in his Dad’s footsteps and thriving as a president of managed services for Focus Technology. After learning of his passing, I thought again of the question Mont would always ask me: “What can I do for you?” Mont, you already did it with your heart, humor and humanity. God bless you, your family and your NWN family. The channel is a duller place without you.