1. Tell us about yourself.
I grew up in Zephyrhills, Florida and started working at 16 as a part-time ground’s maintenance member at a local golf course. My grandfather owned a golf course but working in the office was unappealing at the time and to avoid any favoritism, I took a job at another course across town. At 18 (graduation), I was still undecided on my future, so I enrolled in Pasco-Hernando Community College and switched from working part time to full time. I completed my AA degree and was accepted into the Florida State University College of Engineering, choosing Electrical Engineering over Pharmacy. I choose Electrical Engineering as I naturally excelled in math and enjoyed electronics and computers.

After graduating FSU with my BSc in EE, I took my first Engineering job at Northrop Grumman as an Avionics Engineer. I am extremely proud to have worked on Northrop Grumman’s JSTARS (Joint Strategic and Attack Radar System) Aircraft, providing the US Air Force with unrivaled ground surveillance radar. I worked at Northrop for two years but found the pace of the job undesirable as a recent graduate. I had doubled my responsibilities within my group over my two years, accomplished 2 special projects outside of my normal job role, and started an EE Master’s Program at the Florida Institute of Technology, but ultimately decided to take a job at Jabil Circuit in Saint Petersburg as a Test Engineer. I was able to thrive at Jabil Circuit, given the fast-paced manufacturing environment, and quickly became one of two Global Test Engineer’s for the Dell Portables manufacturing line.

I was approached by my friend in early 2000 about joining EDI full time. (I had helped them with some CAD work for the NY Port Authority Twin Tower’s as a contractor when I started at Jabil) At that time, EDI had incorporated about 1 year earlier with 5 employees and was awarded an implementation of IBM’s Maximo Enterprise Asset Management System and related CAD Services for the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana. I joined EDI as the only software technology expert with little experience in EAM. I’ve been working for EDI for 20+ years and have been fortunate enough to work with our clients to understand their business and implement World Class Asset Management across numerous verticals.

2. What do you enjoy most about your job?
Solving problems, learning new technologies and seeing things other people can’t.

3. What motivates you every day?
Nothing motivates me more than to help clients and employees solve problems.

4. What makes you unique and different?
My ability to see things or correlations where others don’t and my tireless pursuit to figure it out.

5. What are your favorite types of projects to work on?
I would probably lean towards innovation related projects. Understanding new technologies and applicability in the marketplace.

6. What are your future career goals?
Continue to grow my knowledge in the ever-changing field of technology and assist companies with insight, implementations, and governance of these technologies to drive organizational change and expanded capabilities in the marketplace.

7. What is the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?
Curiosity, Motivation, and Resourcefulness. As an engineer, you must understand enough about the problem you’re solving to provide the best solution. You must be willing to ask the question, “Why?” and attempt to fully understand what the overarching goals are and how did we get to where we are now. You also must be motivated to figure it out, research gaps based on the information you’ve received and do whatever is asked or necessary, not just stay “within your lane.” It is improbable that you will know everything, and I believe an unrealistic expectation that you should, so you need to also be resourceful enough to find the relevant information for the problem at hand.

8. What do you like most about working at EDI?
The employees. I’ve developed friendships with several different current and former employees at EDI and appreciate the family environment it has fostered over the years.

9. What has been your favorite memory while working at EDI?
When you have worked for a company for 20+ years, it is difficult to identify one specific memory. Over the years, I had always enjoyed the Christmas Parties and the opportunity to see employees and their significant others outside of the work environment and the various memories that were created from that event each year.

10. Outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
I like spending time with my family up in the mountains, being my dog’s toy, and attempting any DIY out of necessity. I would certainly love the opportunity to get back into hunting, fish more than two times a year and of course, play more golf