Damon Diamantaras
Chief Executive Officer

Damon is our owner, founder, and Chief Executive Officer – and you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone with more experience in our industry. Damon graduated from Texas A&M in 1992 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, and his immediate work in sales and business management prepared him for the challenge of starting a new business in a budding industry. Damon and his wife Cindy founded Today’s Satellite in January of 1996, literally out of their garage and focused on selling the large satellite dishes that you currently see near TV stations or antique shops. From such a humble beginning, Damon found himself executing every aspect of the business, from sales to marketing to accounting to IT, and even installing the systems! He was able to make the business successful from month one, and a combination of hard work, business savvy, and an introduction to DISH Network placed the organization on the path from supporting just his family to supporting over 200 families.

Damon met Cindy while at Texas A&M, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, and they have been married for more than 20 years. He’s spent the majority of his life in Houston, graduating from Cypress Creek HS in 1988. He has two sons, Evan and Nicholas. Following their parents’ footsteps and keeping the Aggie spirit alive, both sons attended Texas A&M. Evan graduated in 2020 and soon joined TGS Insurance Agency as a Planning & Portfolio Manager with big ambitions to take the agency to the next level. Nicholas graduated in 2022 and has begun a flourishing career in investment banking. Damon is very involved in the St. Basil Greek Orthodox Church community. You may have heard of him from his years as an emcee at their annual Houston Greek Fest. Behind his church and family, Damon’s biggest passion is Texas A&M, and his fall weekends are frequently centered around Aggie Football. His love for sports extends beyond the maroon and white, and you’ll find him rooting hard for the Texans, Rockets, and Astros. He’s an accomplished private pilot, and his other hobbies include golf, hunting, and fishing.

Patrick Gaides
Executive Vice President of GoDISH

Patrick is our EVP of GoDISH with over 20 years of experience in everything from Ranch Management to sales to Satellite/Cable/Telecom. After earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Management from Southwest Texas State University (since renamed Texas State University), he got down and dirty running the family ranch before starting with DISH satellite business in the earliest stages of our business’s history. You’d be hard-pressed to find any area of the business in which Patrick has not worked, managed, or been intimately involved in developing. Those that work with Patrick know one thing for certain, he knows his numbers. Accountability, one of The Go Solution’s Core Values, stands out to Patrick, as he is an outcome-driven guy. He works every day to encourage his team, driving excellence through well-planned, -executed and –timed campaigns in constant pursuit of winning in an extremely competitive and challenging business environment. As Patrick says, “I’ve learned that success is a moving target that will change dramatically as you go through life."

As many of us have, Patrick learned something important from his father at a very young age – working hard and being the best you can at everything you do will take you great places in life. And this isn’t just about working hard at the office, but at home and during your down time too. He is married to his college sweetheart, Shirley, and they have a son, Grayson and an awesome dog, Mr. Bojangles. Since growing up in Northwest Houston, Patrick has been an avid outdoorsman and loves to fish, hunt, snow, ski, and work on his “toys”. Every weekend is an opportunity for a new adventure for Patrick, as he plans and enjoys outings with family and friends. From camping to spending the night on his off-shore boat, Patrick loves to get out and enjoy nature, further honing his outdoor skills at every turn. This guy can tie more than 10 difficult knots with fishing line; joining 80lb Microfiber braid to 50lb Flourocarbon leader with a 30-turn Bimini Twist knot, then a 10-turn Bristol knot without breaking a sweat. Yellowfin Tuna beware!

Dale Dickey
Chief Technology Officer

Dale Dickey, our Chief Technology Officer, has 30+ years of IT experience, the majority of which have been in the telecommunications industry. After joining the US Army in 1984, Dale became a Combat Engineer and was later honorably discharged in 1990. Dale went on to work for AT&T and was an integral part of the team that built the first fiber network in Dallas. Dale started with The Go Solution in 1996, back when we were known as Today’s Satellite, focusing on selling and installing satellite TV systems. From there the business evolved to GoDISH.com, where Dale held multiple roles, including lead technician and sales. In 2000, he started the IT Department that today serves all of The Go Solution’s businesses and employees. Dale is a veteran employee of the company and is one of our longest-standing employees. Dale loves to design and build systems that allow our business to keep a competitive edge, which is absolutely required to continue our leadership position within the industry. And with a PMP certification under his belt, he makes projects that are completed correctly and on time. Every day, Dale focuses on our core value of Teamwork. As Dale says, “Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities without embracing teamwork. No one is as smart as all of us. That is just what I believe.” Given this, it is no surprise that Dale recognizes that he will not be successful if the people around him are not put in a position to win.

Dale grew up 20 miles South of Dallas in Red Oak, TX, where his graduating class had 96 students. Competing in 3a football, they were district champs and went to state playoffs three of his four years in high school. Today, Dale still has a love for football and includes it amongst his hobbies, which also include camping, BBQ cook-offs, fishing, and building street rods. Dale and his wife, Regina, are dedicated parents to two boys, Gabe and Jake. Dale says the boys are the perfect age for fun and they keep Regina and him young. His favorite quote is from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Showing Dale’s genuine sense of humor, it isn’t surprising to know that Dale’s favorite movie is Coming to America. In Dale’s younger years, he was really into hairbands and tells us he could be seen wearing spandex leopard pants, a deer skin vest and moccasins, although he claims his best accessory was his long hair. Dale has worked hard to integrate his support of the community into his work life, and years ago he started the semiannual company picnic which has been a successful and fun way to raise awareness and money for various national and local causes in Houston.

Lanny Hayes
Vice President of Marketing

Lanny Hayes is our VP of Marketing and a native of Monahans, TX. Lanny has spent the majority of his professional career with The Go Solution where he has worked in a variety of departments, held roles with increasing levels of responsibility, and was previously recognized as Manager of the Year. While working toward earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Texas A&M, Lanny worked as a bus driver, a position that proved to be an interesting experience which taught him how to deal with different kinds of people and the value of getting up early. One of the things that makes Lanny such an asset to the organization is his unwavering drive to “win.” Whether it’s tweaking existing systems or building something completely new, Lanny’s passion is evident in everything he does. Given this, it is not surprising to learn that the TGS core value that means the most to Lanny is Accountability. He says, “Most people look at accountability as a bad word, but it’s the one of the best in the dictionary. It means you get lessons when you fail, but also provides the spoils when you win.”

When it comes to success, Lanny carries his drive and enthusiasm into his personal and family life. He says, “How you define success will change as you grow, but the most important part of measuring success is “when.” The right answer is constantly. People who constantly win, constantly keep score.” He works, alongside his wife, Felicia, to instill a similar drive in his children, Caitlin and Blake. Lanny spends endless evenings and weekends coaching youth football and volleyball, and is also involved in other community programs through Felicia’s role as an administrator at Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. His love for sports extends well past the youth programs he supports – Lanny is an avid fan of all Texas A&M sports and often proudly wears his school colors. Lanny also enjoys traveling to new places and learning about astronomy. Anyone who knows Lanny would agree his favorite quote is quite appropriate and telling of his approach to life, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence….” –Vince Lombardi.

Michelle McKinney
Chief Financial Officer

Michelle McKinney is our Chief Financial Officer here at the Go Solution and she's a proud Texan born and bred in Cypress, TX. She graduated with a BS in Accounting from Texas A&M University in 1992 and immediately started her career at Deloitte & Touche. When Michelle first got into the world of accounting, there was a shortage of accountants, a lot of businesses were either starting or going under, going public, or merging. Because of the atmosphere in which she started working, she was immediately thrown into the fray right at the beginning and servicing clients from a variety of backgrounds including oil and gas, retail, governmental, and manufacturing just to name a few. This experience was eye-opening for Michelle as she got a broad breadth of experiences under her belt at the beginning of her career.

Fast forward a few years, Michelle left Deloitte & Touche and moved to Academy Sports & Outdoors where she got to see all aspects of how a business is run. From accounting, distribution, buying, real estate, and more- Michelle was able to dig her hands into every piece of the business which helped shape her understanding of how everything works together as a whole.

She started as an accounting manager and worked her way up to the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. It was at Academy that she met her mentor, the CFO. She credits him for challenging her to take on new opportunities where she thrived as well as deepened her understanding of businesses' need to work cohesively from all aspects. Most importantly, he taught her the importance of a work/life balance- something highly-valued here at The Go Solution. After leaving Academy just before the company was sold, she took her talents to a few other businesses including Litton Loan, The Friedkin Group, and The Adam Corporation before bringing her wit and accounting acumen to The Go Solution.

One of Michelle’s biggest strengths she brings to TGS is a strong career with a lot of experience understanding not only various industries but how each department of a business needs to work together in harmony. Throughout her career, she’s had her hand in everything from an operational standpoint so she has a great appreciation for both sides of the business, as opposed to just watching the numbers. Michelle has big goals for TGS, but for now, she’s focused on building consistent reporting and access to information. TGS is growing at a rapid pace and Michelle is dedicated to bringing key-decision makers the right information to make timely decisions to help position ourselves for the future. Her biggest goal is to make TGS grow as quickly but as profitably as possible!

When she’s not crunching numbers, Michelle enjoys spending time with her family and helping with the duties on their family farm. She’s been happily married to her husband, Phil, since 1991 and has three wonderful kids, Reece (26) Aggie Class of 2017, Trevor (24) Aggie Class of 2019, and Maddie (18) who is just starting her freshman year of college, and has her first grandchild on the way in the spring of 2021!