John Snyder is owner and CEO of Net Friends, Inc., a Managed Services Provider headquartered in NC. He began his Net Friends career in early 1999 as a field technician working with customers in the biotech, healthcare, education, and legal professions.

His early work in 2001 designing and implementing solutions to help multiple research and clinical departments at Duke Health comply with the HIPAA regulation led to a lifelong study of cybersecurity frameworks.

John consistently steers Net Friends towards developing IT support services built from these security frameworks and best practices. Once John became a minority owner of Net Friends in 2009, he was able to direct the company more fully to building IT service offerings based on these frameworks. Net Friends grew 40% year over year in the first 4 years of John’s leadership, and has continued to grow and expand as an award winning MSP.

John knows the power of 3rd party industry certifications to confirm your expertise. He is a former Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA), former CompTIA Security+ certified analyst, former CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) expert, and former Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). The value of these formal and specialized pursuits has influenced Net Friends to prioritize securing its SOC 2 Type II certification back in 2019, which we have maintained without interruption year after year. John firmly believes focusing on a culture of security will improve the optimal business outcomes our customers seek.

John has written about several notable events that have happened during his 25+ year tenure at Net Friends, such as his first cybersecurity incident, some of the “near death” experiences the company has gone through, and even about how he met his wife on the job (a good Valentine’s Day story).

In 2021, John was named to the National Small Business Association (NSBA)'s Leadership Council. The NSBA is nonpartisan and the nation’s oldest small-business advocacy organization. As a member of the Leadership Council, John engages with U.S. policymakers on the interests of small businesses and advocates for laws to improve cybersecurity and address supply chain issues. John is also serving a two-year term on the Information Technology Advisory Committee at Durham Technical Community College, helping bridge the instructional priorities of the institution with the today's business and industry sectors.

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(Updated January 2025)