J Michael Drake

Equipping People and Teams Powered by BLISS.

J Michael Drake is a recognized authority in leadership and personal development. A CEO from age 30, Michael’s three decades in business have included acting as a crisis manager, turnaround specialist, company founder, technology pioneer, and industry maven.

Michael founded the technology-as-a-service provider masterIT in 2005 and served as its CEO until November 2019, when he exited after their sale to venture-backed VC3 of Columbia, South Carolina.

Under Michael’s leadership, masterIT achieved numerous industry recognitions including being the first and only mid-south provider to earn the MSP Alliance Accreditation and be ranked on both the MSPmentor 100 and MSPmentor 501 lists (the industry’s rankings of the most successful managed service providers globally) for eleven years in a row.

The business was also named among CRN Magazine’s 40 Most Innovative MSPs in North America, and Memphis Business Journal named masterIT a 2013 finalist for Business of the Year. In 2012, Michael was named to MSPmentor’s inaugural industry Hall of Fame class, and he was a finalist for Memphis Business Journal’s Executive of the Year.

Prior to founding masterIT, Michael served as the USA President, CEO, and Country Manager for European-based, publicly-traded Econocom Group from 1993 to 2005.

Michael is a 1986 graduate of the University of Memphis with a BBA in finance, and he has held various banking positions in the mid-south prior to joining Econocom-USA in 1990.

Michael is currently a board member of the Methodist Healthcare Foundation and Arts Memphis. He also serves as an advisory board mem¬ber for Methodist Healthcare’s Dennis H. Jones Living Well Network and the University of Memphis’ LEAD (Leadership Education and Development) program. He has served on the boards of Crichton College, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis, the University of Memphis’ MILE (Memphis Institute for Leadership Education) pro¬gram, and the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South.

Michael’s most recent path has taken him down the road to authorship, speaking, digital media, and workshops. With the help of the message in The Bliss Journey: Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story, Michael guides people and organizations on a journey of self-re-discovery to enhance their lives for greater impact and purpose.

Michael regularly reminds himself, his friends, and his family (and now his audiences) that nothing, and I mean, nothing, is ever as it appears. It’s a reminder that the facades we present to the world rarely, if ever, tell the real story. Michael hopes to impact the world by making it easier for people to follow their bliss and find the courage to let their most authentic selves shine.