Passion born early

For founder Eric May, you can trace computers back to an early age...

His father started programming computers—with punch cards—and successfully ran Santa Fe Software & Systems for 32 years. In 1st grade Eric and his dad built a computer out of old used parts, complete with a single core 12Mhz processor. (Today’s processors are around 1200x more powerful)

At the age of 16, in 2003 Eric founded Inception Design, which started as a part-time side business to handle a growing need for web site creation and some general collaboration consulting.

In 2012 Eric reorganized the company under the new business structure Elgie May, LLC, in memoriam of his grandmother, Elgie Irene May (1915-2006). Elgie’s life was an inspiration to Eric. After hearing her experiences of not seeing electricity until her teens, Eric was inspired by the incredible technological progression her life saw, and imagined what advancements he would see in his.

In 2013 Eric made the business his primary focus and went full-time, focusing on IT after pursuing a degree in related studies from Santa Fe College. In 2014, in order to better reflect the portfolio of services offered and include an organizational change, Elgie May, LLC started doing business under the name Emerald Data Partners. The first employees were hired in early 2015 at our Alachua Office. In 2017, we relocated to High Springs, and in 2022 moved to our new building in the old Summers home (circa 1930) with a fulltime staff of eight.

Eric has the perspective to know technology is just a tool to accomplish whatever mission the client needs to be accomplished, whether it’s serving citizens or making more profit for the client. It’s one of his great joys to strategize and help a client make a difference in their world. He views his role as CEO of Emerald Data not as a choice, but a vocation in the true sense of the root latin word vocare which means “to be called”. Eric views his vocation as a real-world application of Matthew 5:16, that every time a service ticket is closed, a hacker is stopped from entering a network, a printer driver is installed, a user’s password is reset, a new computer is installed, or a phishing email is blocked—no matter who works the ticket—it’s another opportunity to glorify God and display good works by honoring our clients.

Eric is a native of Alachua County and has been married to Jenna for 14 years and they have three children. Eric holds multiple certifications and designations from CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco, AWS, Veeam, Six Sigma, 3CX, Jamf, Watchguard, and FDLE. He serves on the Networking Advisory Committee at Santa Fe College, which allows IT industry leaders to provide feedback on curriculum for emerging IT students. The organizations Eric provides IT leadership and security for represent more than $100M in annual revenue.