My first (real) job.

In the vein of “pay it forward,” I offer the following for your reading pleasure. There might even be a ‘few’ hidden gems if you want an introduction. 

June 27, 2018, was a Wednesday; it was less than one week after I completed the mandated T-GPS (Transition – Goals, Plans, Success) course to prepare for post-#Navy life. A company-mate from the Naval Academy (Scott Wadle) introduced me to Jon Michaels—a fellow Marine with whom he served in his flying years—who was now building a team with Volta, a premier driver in my desired industry. The honesty and directness of my conversations with Jon would lead me to more introspective discovery than ‘What Color is Your Parachute’ had only started in scratching the surface. Over the course of 31 informational interviews with more persons across #EVSE, #fleetmanagement, and #telematics industries, I found myself searching for larger spheres of influence and growing opportunities for #data #analytics.

Then, I had a uniquely insightful conversation with Heidi DiAngelo about the convergence of telematics and fleet management, and my perspective of the #transportation sector went through a paradigm shift to better appreciate #MaaS and #smartcity design. #VisionZero become a foundational belief foremost in my approach, and I knew that could have a hand in changing the world for the better. I widened my aperture to consider all facets of #multimodal transportation, adopting the #completestreets mantra and knowing that ANY improvements would benefit all users of the transit construct.

Once we moved off-island from #luckyweliveinHawaii on June 13, I tried to put the job hunt on the back burner so we could enjoy some down time as a family and leisurely partake of the #roadtrip from San Diego, to Phoenix, to El Paso, to Houston, to New Orleans, to Laurel, to Atlanta, to Inverness, to Arlington, to NYC, and back to Atlanta. Alas, August 1 came sneaking by and I was back to searching for gainful employment, albeit with a big side of angst and frustration for the application process. I was fortunate enough to have lunch in #NYC with a fellow Sailor whom I first met years ago in #Djibouti, and Brett made the connection to Linda at the Atlanta Rotary Club. Linda offered for me to join her membership at the Loudermilk Conference Center for the remaining Mondays in August, whereby I met Sachin, Joseph, and Betsy on my first day. With each subsequent Monday, my confidence grew and the reminder that a smile and the Southern greeting of “Howdy” still carried significance in most circles.

While I could easily say that I have grown personally from many a night of burning the candle at both ends, it would not give credit to those persons that have truly asked me the toughest question, repeatedly: “What do YOU want to do?” So, without further ado, I want to publicly say THANK YOU to Eric, for constantly reminding me that people constitute the heart of the company; to Sachin, for opening his address book to a former/now-again resident of Atlanta; to Greg, for being patient while wielding the HOSC MAA responsibility all these years; to Jackie, for entertaining my pontifications; and, to Kim, my first and only #ACPmentor, for being my sounding board.

Last, and certainly not least, I want to say THANK YOU to my wife Robyn, for whom none of this would be possible without your love and support.

Today was my first day as the Director of Product Management with GreenSky LLC.

I have so many ideas that I am eagerly looking forward to tomorrow.