‘MSPs have traditionally lived in the middle. Help desk. Devices. Reactive support. What we’re doing is leading the automation of that core so it becomes effortless. Self-healing tickets. Automation-led workflows. Technicians amplified by AI. We’re building the scaffolding ourselves: connecting the products, not just deploying them. That’s how we innovate faster than the market,’ says New Charter Technologies CEO Peter Melby.
New Charter Technologies is charting a different course, pairing the buildout of its AI-native growth engine with the strategic addition of a new CRO to accelerate the next phase of expansion.
“It’s about unlocking something that has historically not been the forte of IT providers— changing business,” Peter Melby, CEO of Denver-based MSP New Charter Technologies, told CRN. “We’ve been good at fixing IT problems. The future is about fixing business problems.”
Evidence of that is hiring Microsoft veteran Michelle Curtis as its CRO.
“What drew me here was the people, the culture, the direction and the vision that Peter has set forth,” Curtis told CRN. “I really, truly believe this company has an opportunity to deliver outcomes in a different way for customers across North America. I wanted to be part of that journey, helping lead that transformation in how we show up, how we drive advanced services and how we deliver consulting. I missed being where technology actually comes to life. That’s in the customer conversation. That’s in the community.”
A year ago, New Charter acquired startup Orchestrate AI “to orchestrate and integrate tools more effectively within a dedicated platform,” Melby told CRN at the time.
[Related: New Charter CEO On Latest Acquisition: ‘Our M&A Pipeline Is Bigger Than Ever’]
In the first 12 months, New Charter rolled out internal AI initiatives focused on service automation, ticket resolution and technician augmentation, according to the CEO.
“MSPs have traditionally lived in the middle,” he said. “Help desk. Devices. Reactive support. What we’re doing is leading the automation of that core so it becomes effortless. Self-healing tickets. Automation-led workflows. Technicians amplified by AI. We’re building the scaffolding ourselves: connecting the products, not just deploying them. That’s how we innovate faster than the market.”
Curtis explained that a modern go-to-market engine goes beyond marketing automation or a redesigned CRM workflow. It encompasses how the company shows up in its communities, how it aligns with customers at every stage of the buying journey, and how AI can qualify opportunities before transitioning them to human advisers. She said it requires vendors to align around client needs and depends on culture, people and process operating as a fully integrated system.
And what she highlighted most were the generational shifts underway among SMB buyers.
“We’re seeing Gen Z stepping into ownership roles,” she said. “They expect digital-first engagement. They expect speed. They expect insight. If we’re not using AI internally to anticipate, to qualify, to personalize … we’re already behind. But at the same time, as much as AI drives reach and efficiency, it’s the people and relationships that create durability. We don’t want to lose that in our evolution.”
The company, which is on CRN’s 2026 MSP 500 Elite 150 list, has a road map that unfolds in three phases. First, it’s automating the core with AI-assisted ticketing, predictive maintenance and a client engagement model across every operating company. Then it moves to the edge, layering on AI-powered consulting in cybersecurity and transformation, plus more advanced automation for sectors like health care and the public sector. And throughout all of it, there’s an ongoing focus on the executive level with AI strategy sessions.
“Our strategy is to bring clients on the journey with us,” Melby said. “We’re navigating multiple possible futures, and our job is to succeed in whatever future emerges and help them do the same.”
Curtis’ role in that journey is orchestration. She’ll oversee revenue across SMB, midmarket and enterprise segments, but she also owns national sales execution.
“We’ve built a consistent client engagement framework across all our operating companies,” she said. “We measure client effort score. We use advisory councils. We’re even starting to look at it vertically, unlocking insights across the country. That’s the beauty of scale with community roots. We can see patterns across 5,000 clients but still act locally.”
For Melby, success over the next three years is New Charter “leading the industry in automated core IT services.”
“Our biggest competition is ourselves,” he said. “The market is hungry. When we move beyond selling a SKU and start enabling strategy, there’s this moment where they surprise themselves. They say, ‘Oh, this is possible.’ Our job is to give them belief.”
