Who Is Craig Rabe and Why Is He The Most Trusted IT & Cybersecurity Advisor For Small to Mid-Sized Businesses In Greater Boston
Craig Rabe is the founder and President of First Class Networks, known throughout Greater Boston for their highly responsive IT Support and superior cybersecurity strategies. Anyone who works with him knows serving and protecting small business owners is his top priority.
An accomplished leader in IT Services for over 25 years, Craig has helped thousands in the Boston area with their computer and cybersecurity needs. Today, he continues his mission, partnering with small and mid-sized companies to provide them with personalized managed IT and cybersecurity services so they can maintain peak operation and stay protected against ransomware, hacks, attacks, data theft, and other vulnerabilities.
About Craig
Craig dreamed of starting his own business when he was just 11 years old. To a preteen, 25 seemed old, so he set that age as his benchmark to start his company.
Inspired by the well-to-do people in his neighborhood and the stories he read about successful businesspeople, Craig was determined to help people through business. Iacocca, the 1984 best-selling memoir by the legendary former Chrysler chairman, was a particular favorite because of the integrity and determination Lee Iacocca role modeled.
At ten years of age, Craig became fascinated with computers when his father, a civilian engineer for the Air Force, brought home a TRS-80 computer. Craig spent hours on it, not just playing video games, but learning how to program and saving programs onto audiotapes.
Upon receiving his degree in electrical engineering from Clarkson University, he joined Arrow Electronics, selling semiconductors and computer systems to manufacturers.
After working for Arrow Electronics for four years, Craig was approaching his 25th birthday. Determined to fulfill his childhood goal to own a business, Craig searched for who in his community was underserved. With computer stores primarily focusing on techies, Craig saw the need to serve the computer novice. In 1996, using computers he’d assembled with Intel samples of the latest-generation computer processors he’d received from a friend, he opened The Computer Café. He was 26 years old. His new business provided computers to use with high-speed Internet, as well as hands-on computer training, computer sales, and repairs.
In 2013, Craig’s core value of helping people led him to found First Class Networks to provide local businesses with personalized managed IT services after business owners repeatedly came to him for help.
In 2018, Craig was inspired to up his cybersecurity game after reading an article in the Washington Post about how hackers had compromised the computers of a Navy contractor and stolen massive amounts of highly sensitive information. Recognizing the correlation to the increase in incidents of computer security breaches reported by local business owners who’d suffered thefts in the multimillions of dollars, Craig wanted to do more to help.
Craig closed The Computer Café in 2019 to pool all his resources and focus his teams’ efforts on providing superior IT support and protecting the Boston-area small and mid-sized business owners against cybercrime. Craig subsequently built First Class Networks into a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP), expanded his cybersecurity team, and is regarded as one of the foremost trusted experts in cybersecurity solutions and protection in Greater Boston.
Commitment To The Community
Craig has been honored as Entrepreneur of the Year in Arlington, MA, and is a dedicated servant to his community. He recently completed his fourth year as president of the Winchester Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the Winchester Rotary, and is on the board of directors for the Boston chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.
Committed to not only helping fellow business owners in his community, Craig also helps families in need as a volunteer for Food Link, which has distributed the equivalent of over one million meals in the Boston area.
Personal Interests
Craig is a passionate follower of Boston’s sports teams and an avid skier. He also loves travel, golfing, and boating. Craig’s been married for 22 years to his wife Suzanne. Together they have two children, Cole 20, and Danielle, 19.
