Former hockey star joins Savtira

Kelly Chase racked up 2,017 minutes in the sin bin throughout his career as a professional hockey player. Now Savtira, a Tampa-based cloud-consulting firm, is bringing in the former bruiser to fight for bigger contracts.

Savtira CEO Timothy Roberts met Kelly Chase the enforcer more than 15 years ago. “Most of my friends were hockey players,” Roberts says.

Roberts says Chase shows the same willingness to drop the gloves while conducting business deals as he did while a brutal enforcer during his NHL career.

But Roberts taps Chase for his friends not his foes. “Kelly brings a huge network of contacts to Savtira,” he says. Chase's time spent as color commentator for St. Louis Blues hockey games built a wealth of contacts for him.

Roberts hopes that along with serving as an adviser for the firm, Chase will net new business partnerships that will help grow the business.

“He knows all these millionaires and high-profile leaders,” Roberts says.

Savtira pulled another deke on the ice with the addition of Vik Grover, senior managing director in investment banking with the Westport, Conn.-headquartered Source Capital Group Inc. Grover will also serve on the advisory board.

Roberts says he is impressed with Grover's financial background, but plans to use his IT know-how to Savtira's advantage.

Says Roberts: “Vic is worth in weight in platinum. I won't even say gold, that's how good he is."