SteadITech — Southern California's Trusted IT Partner
Dustin Emerson founded SteadITech on something most IT companies don’t talk about — what it actually feels like to operate without a safety net.
He grew up in Liberty, Kentucky, where opportunity felt like something that happened to other people. After losing seven family members in less than a year, including both parents, he found himself with no support system and no clear direction. For a period, he was sleeping in a storage shed behind a friend’s house, going to the gym every morning just to shower before work.
What pulled him forward wasn’t a plan. It was a question he couldn’t shake:
He packed up, moved to Florida, took a job mounting tires at Sam’s Club for $13 an hour, and studied network engineering at night — six hours after every shift. That grind eventually brought him to California, where he built his career across some of the most demanding IT environments in the country: Toyo Tires, Hyundai Capital, Rize Credit Union, EA Games, Optum Healthcare, and Southern California Edison.
In every one of those environments, he saw the same gap. Large organizations had IT teams. Small businesses had whoever they could find — and when something broke, they were left holding the bill with no plan and no one to call. That gap became SteadITech.
Today, SteadITech serves CPA firms, credit unions, financial institutions, and growing businesses across Southern California — delivering managed IT, cybersecurity, and compliance support built on one belief: that business owners deserve a partner who shows up, stays honest, and remains steady through the hard years, not just the easy ones.
I know what it feels like to carry responsibility without a clear picture of what’s holding things together. I know what it feels like to trust someone with something important and find out too late that the work wasn’t being done. Those experiences, both personal and professional, are the reason SteadITech exists.
I didn’t build this company to sell you technology. I built it to give you something I didn’t have for a long time — a partner who shows up, tells you the truth, and is still standing beside you when things get hard.
That’s the standard we hold ourselves to every day. And if we’re ever falling short of it, I want to know.
— Dustin Emerson, Founder & CEO, SteadITech
SteadITech exists to stand between SMB’s and chaos.
We help CPA firms, credit unions, financial institutions, and growing businesses stay secure, compliant, and productive — not by overwhelming them with technology, but by making it understandable. The industries we serve are entrusted with people's finances and livelihoods, so compliance isn't a box to check, and reliable IT isn't just faster response times after something breaks. It means building systems that don't break as often in the first place, with a partner who's still there when they do.
To be Southern California's most trusted IT partner.
Not the loudest. Not the most aggressive. Not the fastest to close a deal. Trusted. The kind of partner business owners can call when things go wrong and know someone will actually pick up — honest about the answer even when it isn't comfortable, and steady enough to still be here through the hard years, not just the easy ones.
You didn’t start your business to become a tech expert. You started it to build something that lasts. But technology is now the foundation holding everything together — and most small business owners have no idea how exposed they really are.
Steady in the Storm is the book I wish someone had handed me before I learned these lessons the hard way.
Dustin Emerson is the Founder and CEO of SteadiTech, bringing more than 21 years of experience across network engineering, IT infrastructure, and cybersecurity. His career spans some of the most demanding and highly regulated industries in the country, including manufacturing at Toyo Tires, financial services at Hyundai Capital, credit unions at Rize Credit Union, entertainment at EA Games, healthcare at Optum, and critical public infrastructure at Southern California Edison.
At SteadiTech, Dustin oversees all client engagements, company operations, and cybersecurity strategy — staying closely involved in every client relationship from onboarding and compliance assessments through day-to-day managed IT support. He holds a Cisco Certified Network Professional — Security (CCNP-Security) certification and earned his Associate of Science in Computer Engineering Technology from Spencerian College in Lexington, Kentucky.
He founded SteadiTech on a simple belief: that small business owners deserve the same level of protection, clarity, and reliable partnership that large enterprises take for granted.
Maria Fernanda Contreras Maria Fernanda Contreras is the Director of Commercial Strategy & Operations at SteadITech, bringing more than 19 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development. Her career spans customer service compliance, event services, tax and financial consulting, and small business lending — including notable roles as Business Specialist at OC Tax Geek, where she oversaw business consulting and financial planning for SMBs, and as Business Development Representative at Lendistry, where she connected underserved communities with federal, state, and private lending programs.
At SteadITech, Fernanda leads market research, marketing strategy, sales operations, and commercial growth — ensuring the company’s services reach the small businesses and regulated industries that need them most. She holds an extensive list of professional certifications including CDFI/CDE Compliance, Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) Standards, Salesforce CRM Proficiency, Customer Experience (CX) Standards, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) & Fraud Prevention, Certified Business Development Professional (CBDP), Certified Business Development Expert (CBDE), Strategic Business Development Certification, and Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP®). She earned her Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Guayaquil, Ecuador, and is currently pursuing her degree in Business Administration at Los Angeles Community College.
Philbert Mfashingabois a Senior IT Engineer at SteadITech, bringing more than 10 years of experience across cybersecurity, network infrastructure, compliance, and IT support. His career spans information technology, banking, and accounting and financial services environments, including notable roles as Technical Project Lead at LAN-WAN Professional and Head of IT at ASA International (Rwanda) Plc.
At SteadITech, Philbert manages all aspects of client onboarding, day-to-day support, and offboarding — ensuring every client transition is handled with consistency, security, and care. He holds an impressive portfolio of Cisco certifications including CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Routing & Switching, CCNA Security, CCNA Wireless, CCDA, and CCNA Datacenter. He earned his Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oklahoma Christian University and his Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Telecommunication from the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology.
Upavit Savsaviyais the Head of Marketing & Design at SteadITech, bringing more than 7 years of experience across graphic design, brand development, digital communication, and strategic visual design. His career spans agency leadership and in-house design — including a four-year tenure as Head of Design at Par Solution and his current role as Founder of GlobPixel, the design and marketing agency he has led for the past three years.
At SteadITech, Upavit oversees the development of marketing materials, website visuals, promotional campaigns, presentations, and brand communication assets — ensuring every deliverable reflects the company’s commitment to clarity, quality, and professionalism. He is an Adobe Certified Professional and earned his Bachelor of Computer Applications from SDJ International College, Surat.
Founder & CEO
Director of Commercial Strategy & Operations
Philbert Mfashingabo
Global Head of Marketing and Design Specialists
Dustin was the first person who ever told me the IRS requires every tax preparer to have a Written Information Security Plan. I'd been running my firm for years with no idea it existed. We built it out with SteadITech, got everything documented, and now when a client or auditor asks about our data practices, I have a real answer. Before, I was just hoping nobody asked.
When we were 20 employees, informal processes worked fine. Then we hit 250-plus people across California and that stopped being true fast. SteadITech helped us build something that actually scaled — access controls, compliance documentation, employee training, the whole picture. When the NCUA examiners came in, we weren’t scrambling. We already had everything they were going to ask for.
My old IT setup was basically — something breaks, I call someone, I pay whatever they say it costs. No monitoring, no documentation, nothing proactive. I didn’t realize how exposed I was until SteadITech did an initial assessment and showed me. Now I have monthly reports I can read, a real backup I’ve seen tested, and one flat rate instead of surprise invoices. Should’ve done it years ago.
I used to dread compliance audits. Pulling together documentation at the last minute, hoping nothing came up. Thanks to SteadITech that flipped completely. Regular audits are now just part of how we operate, so by the time an external examiner walks in, the work is already done. Last audit was the least stressful one I’ve ever been through, and it wasn’t even close.
For years my IT guy showed up when something broke, charged me to fix it, and disappeared until the next problem. I just thought that was how IT worked. Then it clicked, he had zero incentive to prevent anything. Problems were how he got paid. With SteadITech, issues get handled before I even know there’s one. I haven’t had a real IT emergency in over a year. I genuinely didn’t know that was possible.
My old IT person knew everything — every password, every vendor, every system configuration. When he became unreachable, I realized I didn’t have access to my own business data. SteadITech handed me a full document of everything within the first month. Every system, every vendor contact, every login — owned by me, not them. That was the moment I understood what a real IT partner is supposed to look like.
