Jake Halusic, 36

For Jake Halusic, every step of his career has been driven by one principle: relationships open doors. At the University of Tampa, he scribbled down business ideas and introduced himself to anyone who might listen. 

Then, as a young banker, he asked Tribridge founder Tony DiBenedetto for coffee after hearing him speak about his life and the cloud computing firm he founded. Halusic arrived with the business plans he had written in college, hoping for funding. What he gained instead was a mentor in DiBenedetto, who set him on a new path.

Photo by Mark Wemple

“I was planning on getting an investment for one of the concepts,” Halusic says. “But he offered me a sales job. More importantly, it was the start of a mentorship and friendship that I didn't know I would get that day.”

That meeting launched Halusic into a career in technology sales at Tribridge, where he quickly became one of the company’s top performers. After the firm was sold in 2017, he joined a Virginia-based tech company and helped drive revenue growth of more than $100 million. By 2024, he was ready to go out on his own with Trofeo. That firm, a Microsoft Cloud AI partner, has more than 20 national clients. Its proprietary managed security software works on issues from cloud migration to optimization to support.

What ties it all together, he says, is the network he built and the reputation that followed. “Having that strong network to fall back on is really key,” Halusic says. “You really create your own brand as a person. It can either help people want to work with you or push them away.”

DiBenedetto reinforced the same lesson. 

“Be a giver,” Halusic says. “Whether it’s giving information or connecting people for the right reasons, even if it has nothing to do with you personally, it always comes full circle.”

Launching Trofeo the same year his daughter, Isabella, was born, tested another lesson. “Be where your feet are,” Halusic says. “When I am home, be present and don’t think about work. When I am at work, be present and don’t think about being home.”

For Halusic, culture extends beyond the walls of Trofeo. He pours that same focus into the community, mentoring with Think Big for Kids, volunteering with Junior Achievement and launching the Trofeo Scholarship of Ambition. The goal is simple: to build an environment where people support one another, just as others once supported him.