Deryck Jones

Deryck Jones, Founder/CTO of iGloo Digital Services LLC, has built a career defined by technological foresight, resilience, and a mission sharpened by real-world experience: preparing companies for the AI Armageddon he believes is now inevitable. “There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle,” he says. “So you’d better make the right three wishes.” His journey began in the era of beige PCs and DOS prompts, where he developed The Estimator, an early custom application that transformed heavy-construction variables into cleaner margins for major infrastructure projects. That passion for turning complexity into clarity later led him to Spectra-Physics Laserplane, where he spearheaded the world’s first fully autonomous robotic machine-control system in 1997. Long before machine learning became mainstream, Jones was already experimenting with ways to make heavy machinery smarter in the dirt, ultimately becoming the youngest Vice President in Spectra’s history and helping steer the company toward a software-driven future.

His next chapter proved equally defining. In 2007, he launched a managed IT services firm and scaled it to $4.5 million in just three years, earning high-profile clients such as Sony Music, Canon Professional, and Genesys Telecommunications. A planned $11.2 million buyout in 2011, part of a major smart-city roll-up, fell apart abruptly when the lead investor was detained by federal agents. The collapse cost him his company and $1.5 million personally. Jones describes that moment simply: “Life happens. You can’t control the storm, but you can control your stance.” It was this attitude that fueled his comeback. In 2024, he launched the groundwork for what became, in 2025, iGloo Digital Services, a fractional CTO and digital growth partner for small and mid-market companies. With an emphasis on AI-anchored systems optimization, automation, and revenue-driven marketing, his work quickly attracted attention, producing a mid-market AI software build exceeding $500K, a $300K+ digital transformation project in the mining sector, and a $500K–$1M board-level engagement for an AI spin-out. He also advises a cutting-edge AI advertising company behind the rapid-fire Angel Reese x Reebok campaign, conceptualized and produced in just 90 minutes and credited with selling out an entire product line within hours.

His achievements have earned him recognition as a Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader, along with leading teams that appeared three consecutive years in CRN’s NextGen 250. As he enters his fifth decade of building, scaling, and reshaping technology ventures, iGloo represents his seventh company, and perhaps his most mission-driven. Much of his work is anchored in what he calls his AI Growth Partner Method, built around three accelerators: the AI Business Readiness Audit, a hard-truth systems assessment designed to drive ROI in 90 days; the AI Ambassador & Growth Partner 7-Day Playbook, a rapid alignment engine connecting executive intent with revenue-linked use cases; and the AI Quick-Start for Growth-Focused Marketers, a hands-on activation model for personalization, demand generation, and sales enablement without overwhelming martech stacks.

Through all cycles of innovation, collapse, and reinvention, Jones believes that true leverage comes from mastering both systems and self. “We are always in a state of Being and we can always observe our Being. If we can observe our Being, we can change our Being. Life happens. We get to choose how we react. Choose positivity, choose to believe in yourself. Manifest your own success. Speak it into existence.” Today, he is the steady hand that founders, small-business owners, and enterprise leaders rely on when the path forward is unclear but the mandate is undeniable: make AI practical, make growth measurable, and make the future an advantage, not a threat.