Difference Makers

One of the best things about being 24 years old is having a lack of fear in doing things that might make the 44-year-old version of one’s self take pause. Depending on your perspective, losing the “boldly go” urge could be a good or bad thing, but there’s a universal, romantic Read More

Robert Covington has taken a pragmatic approach to business in the post-COVID era. The senior product marketing manager for Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) is mindful of the impact the pandemic had on business communications, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. Read More

If you’re trying to come up with a gift idea for Robin Fonck, a puzzle book might be your best bet. Or maybe a 1,000-piece jigsaw representation of the Eifel Tower. There are few things Fonck, the director of strategic technology for GreatAmerica Financial Services (GAFS), enjoys Read More

Had Sarah Custer decided that she wanted to be a track star, the only question is would she be more suited in a role as a sprinter or a distance runner? After all, the vice president of sales operations for Distribution Management began her career working summers at the firm Read More

To paraphrase a popular book’s title, everything a salesperson needs to know, they learned by teaching kindergarten. Or, in the case of Justin Wagner, it was fourth grade. It’s no secret that there’s a correlation between being an educator and a salesperson. Success in either Read More

It’s not known whether Josh Craig has ever watched the movie “Barbarians at the Gate” or other business/finance thrillers, but the general manager of Docugraphics found out a little something about the world of mergers and acquisitions: he absolutely loves it! It only took one Read More

The enormity of her career growth and continued success is not something Debra Merritt takes for granted. Her twin sons like to point out that she used to work in the mailroom, and is now the group manager for commercial channel marketing, North America at Epson. While that Read More

Lindsay Keller has a valid point. The operations manager for The Swenson Group (TSG) in Livermore, California, points out there’s no lack of meetings, programs, webinars and consultative opportunities for office industry professionals engaged in sales and finance. In her world of Read More

It’s been long said that one runs the fastest when being chased. Jeff Rudisel has long appreciated that notion, but in his case, the only thing that was hot on his heels was the fear of failure. Let’s turn back the clock. Rudisel was working in the service department for Savin Read More

Not that it matters, but it may be the case that Brandi Noye never attended a Penn State football game when she was a student. But when you listen to the phraseology used by the school’s alumna and current director of business development at Doing Better Business (DBB), one can Read More

Much credence for success in the business world has been attributed to “who you know”; e.g., leveraging relationships to get ahead. Every now and then, we’re reminded that “what you know” likely carries more weight, and that certainly was the case for Matthew Baroletti in the Read More

One of the common denominators among millennials who have embarked upon a career in information technology is a passion early in life for video games. Whether it’s the Atari 2600, the Nintendo Entertainment System or a host of other console- or computer-based platforms, video Read More

In his early days, David Lynch was a hockey player, which makes a lot of sense. He has the steely gaze and square jaw of a punishing defenseman who could clear the net front and mix things up with opponents to set the tone of a contest. Hockey, like other sports, dictates that in Read More

Former two-time Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld once delivered a speech about the “unknown unknowns” in addressing Iraq and its purported link to weapons of mass destruction. The quote, confusing in its repetition yet stunningly logical, pointed out that “There are known Read More

Katie Wagner’s professional career path had been set even before she obtained her degree from Western Michigan University. She was going to be a teacher. It was 2005, and it seems a lot of people had their hearts set on being educators, because the job market was decidedly thin. Read More