Community Spotlight · Bastionpoint Technology
Bastionpoint Technology & Eric Clary Leaving People Better Than He Found Them
Bastionpoint Technology is a Richmond-based managed IT and cybersecurity company that's served businesses across Virginia since 2008, handling everything from day to day help desk support to cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and compliance. They're currently ranked #155 among the top managed service providers in the world and the highest-ranked MSP serving Central Virginia, and they're the team behind our own IT support. We sat down with Eric Clary to learn a little bit more about Bastionpoint and their heart for serving the companies they work with!
For Eric Clary, leadership isn't measured in titles or transactions, it's measured in what happens after you leave the room. In eight years with Bastionpoint Technology, Eric has moved from Virtual CIO to CIO to, most recently, Chief Operating Officer. But ask him what actually drives him, and the conversation turns quickly away from the org chart and toward people.
“How can I leave them better?” is the question Eric keeps coming back to. Whether it’s the employee across the table or the client on the other end of the phone, that’s his heart. It's a simple filter, but it shapes everything from how he handles a stressed client mid-outage to how he mentors the team underneath him. Leading with grace, he says, starts with understanding what someone is actually going through before deciding how to help them. Seeing a need before it's spoken, and finding a way to uplift the person in front of you. In Eric’s mind that's the job, as much as any technical fix ever is.
It's a posture straight out of Matthew 7: “You will know them by their fruits.” For Eric, that's not just a verse he can quote, it's the standard he holds himself to at work every day.
That heart for people has found a fitting home. Founded in Richmond on July 4, 2008, by Jason Knowles, Bastionpoint Technology has spent 18 years building a reputation as one of the top managed IT and cybersecurity providers in Virginia, holding a 99% client retention rate over the past decade. This year marks the company's fifth consecutive placement on the Channel Futures MSP 501, ranking #155 among the top managed service providers in the world and the highest-ranked MSP serving Central Virginia. What started small has grown into a team of 24 based out of Bastionpoint's Manchester office on Hull Street, serving clients across Richmond, Virginia, and beyond.
Ask anyone at Bastionpoint what sets the company apart, and the answer isn't the ranking, it's the people. Founder Jason Knowles likes to quote something a team member once told him: “This can be hard work, but it isn't a hard place to work.” Eric echoes that from his own seat: “Rankings don't answer the phone at 2:00 in the morning. They don't restore servers after an outage. They don't help a customer recover from a cyberattack. Our people do.” It's the same philosophy Eric brings to every relationship he touches — technical excellence matters, but it's the care behind it that clients remember.
That care extends beyond Bastionpoint's client list. The company has built deep roots in the Richmond community through partnerships with organizations like Tech For Troops, the Richmond Flying Squirrels' Very Important Veteran program, the Richmond Kickers, and Richmond Animal Care & Control — a reflection of a culture that treats giving back as more than a line in a mission statement.
For Eric, all of it circles back to the same simple conviction: whether it's a client, a coworker, or a stranger who needs help, the goal is to leave them better than you found them. Eighteen years in, that's still what Bastionpoint — and the people who lead it — are known for.
Check out Bastionpoint's website, and if your company or someone you know could benefit from their services, send them their way. You won't find a more helpful, kind team to work with.