Bill Weisser

Bill Weisser has been in love with technology since he was eight years old, when his great uncle handed him an old x286 computer. That single gift changed the course of his life. He spent hours tinkering with DOS, fighting with config files just to get a game to run, and falling deeper into a hobby that would eventually become a career — and a company.

By age nine, Bill was already learning the value of hard work, running a paper route that he'd keep until he was 21. It taught him how to keep a schedule, manage money, save for what mattered, and talk to people — lessons that would serve him just as well in business as they did on his bike. At ten, he cashed in those paper route earnings for his first computer of his own: a Packard Bell running Windows 3.11, purchased for $1,600. As far as Bill was concerned, life didn't get much better. As he got older, he started learning to build custom PCs from the folks at a local parts store, eventually assembling his own machine around a Cyrix processor — proof that he wasn't just using technology anymore, he was starting to understand it from the inside out.

That curiosity found a real outlet in high school, when a computer class teacher introduced him to the school district's IT Director. The Director usually only brought on senior interns, and Bill was just a freshman — so the Director got creative. There weren't many formal IT certifications in those days, so he told Bill that if he could pass his FCC Ham Radio exam, he'd take him under his wing. Bill passed, earned his call sign (KB3EHZ), and spent the rest of his high school years essentially running the place — elevator keys, teacher's lounge access, hall passes to leave class and fix computer issues throughout the building. It was during this time that something clicked for Bill beyond just enjoying computers: he saw how an entire system of interconnected technology held a whole organization together, and how much people depended on it simply working. That experience cemented it — IT wasn't just a hobby anymore, it was going to be his life's work.

After graduating, Bill attended technical college, earning Associate's degrees in Computer Networking Systems and IT Computer Forensics, sharpening the foundation he'd built in high school just as broadband internet and modern applications were becoming mainstream. His first real job out of college was with an Avaya distributor, right as Avaya phone systems — long the gold standard for business telephony — were making the leap from traditional PBX hardware to systems running on Windows and Linux. Bill and a friend were hired on as entry-level technicians to support that transition. The role grew quickly, and before long Bill was traveling the country as a company trainer, teaching businesses how to install and support these new-era phone systems.

That experience opened the door to consulting. Through a contact made during his time at the Avaya distributor, Bill took the leap into partnership with a small consulting firm, betting on himself to make a living. It paid off — for about two years, until the 2008 mortgage crisis hit and consulting work began to dry up just as cloud phone systems started pushing the on-premise solutions Bill knew so well toward obsolescence.

In 2009, Bill made the difficult call to close that consulting business and join a local company installing phone systems directly for customers. It turned out to be one of the most important decisions of his career — because that's where he met Greg Pack. The two hit it off immediately, like long-lost brothers who happened to share the same big ambitions. Over four years working side by side, they built a partnership built on mutual trust and a shared vision for something more.

In 2013, that vision became PGH Networks. Bill still remembers the early days — waiting for the next email to come in, designing the equipment needed for a project, then ordering and installing it himself, while Greg sold the work and ran AP/AR. It was a clean 50/50 split, and even in those lean early years selling Avaya phone systems, Aruba networking gear, and the occasional video conferencing setup, the two of them knew they were building something that would last.

In 2015, conversations with colleagues, requests from customers, and their own research led Bill and Greg to a realization that would reshape the entire direction of the company: they weren't just installing equipment, they were a Managed Services Provider. That shift in identity changed everything about how PGH Networks operated and grew.

Today, Bill serves as Co-Owner and Chief Information Officer of PGH Networks, where he also acts as the company's Visionary under the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) model — setting the long-term direction and driving the big ideas, while partnering closely with Greg to keep the business grounded and growing. Thirteen years, three office moves, and 38 employees later, PGH Networks has grown from two guys and a shared vision into a trusted technology partner for businesses across the Pittsburgh region. And for Bill, it all still traces back to an eight-year-old kid, an old x286 computer, and a curiosity that never really stopped growing.