Playing Politics: VAR CEO Seeks Office As State Representative

Robby Hill thinks it is fairly rare for candidates with experience in piloting solution providers and managed services to dip into politics.

But the founder and CEO of the Florence, S.C.-based technology consulting firm HillSouth hopes to change that, as he recently filed to run as a Republican candidate in the upcoming South Carolina House of Representatives election.

Hill, 32, founded HillSouth in 2001 as an information technology solutions and services firm, drawing in managed services, compliance and cloud services for clients in both the private and public sectors.

[Related: 2014 Fast Growth 150: Life In The Fast Lane]

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

Hill’s overarching platform for the State House District 63 special election, slated for Feb. 24, aims to piece together a "broken government." The HillSouth CEO calls for renewing the state's commitment to education, reinvesting in infrastructure and revitalizing the economy.

But Hill hopes his background in IT solutions will differentiate him in the coming election.

"It's rare that we have a political candidate with a background in both technology and small business," he explained. "I got into politics because I wanted to bring that perspective to the government."

HillSouth, part of the CRN 2013 Next-Gen 250 list, partners with industry giants like Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Cisco to provide solutions for a diverse spread of clients across the public sector, hospitality and education fields.

The firm has particularly targeted the health-care market over the last four years, said Hill, partnering with companies like data network firm Palmetto State Providers Network (PSPN) to provide security and privacy analysis, health-care data mining and electronic medical record advice services.

Hill hopes to tout this knowledge in the political sphere by leveraging technology initiatives to lower the cost of health care for the state and advocating for "common sense solutions" to the escalating costs of health care.

"The South Carolina Medicaid [program] has very limited ability to share its wealth of medical information with others so that our health care can be improved," he added. "I am very involved at HillSouth with helping our health-care customer to secure their data but also share it with patients and other medical practices."

HillSouth also has an extensive background in cloud security after opening its own data center two years ago, a feature that would be helpful for South Carolina, whose taxpayers were victims of a widespread server hack of Social Security and credit card information in 2012.

Hill already has flaunted his IT-related skills since he was elected as an at-large city counselor for Florence in 2012. Most recently, he worked to implement CodeFlo, a computer programming initiative, in October. The initiative is a partnership between the city and the IT business community to sponsor free computer programming lessons at night in Florence.

As counselor, Hill also pushed for IT security audits in Florence a year ago, a move he said would tighten security oversight across the city.

As he moves forward in the next two months, Hill hopes to balance his role as HillSouth's CEO while investing more time in his campaign. So far, he has the support of his co-workers and partner, CTO Andy Patel.

"I don't know what changes we'd have to have in the future. Even though I've loved working [at HillSouth], I'd probably have to take a step back if a political career plays out," he said.

Campaign manager Jon Parker relayed the need for more candidates like Hill who retain a better understanding of IT solutions in the government.

"There are few people from that industry that have found their way into state legislature or elected positions," he noted. "As the government continues to advance technology, it only makes sense to bring more people like Robby into the field."

Hill certainly hopes the move will pave the way for future solution provider executives to step forward into the political sphere.

"I want to be an example of someone remaining in the small-business sphere while carrying out a political career," he said. "We have to set our priorities for what we want to see in the community."

PUBLISHED JAN. 7, 2015