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Employee Spotlight is a new Stronghold Data blog series meant to share the stories of the amazing individuals that make up our team. We know every team member offers a unique skillset to help our clients at every step of the way, and we’re proud of it. From the Engineers to Sales and Marketing, to HR and Executives and everyone in between, we want to tell you our stories. Check back for a new Spotlight and learn more about the people that make us Stronghold Data.
Meet Our Team Member
Name:
Joe Thomas
What’s your role on our team?
Responsible for External Operations (client facing teams)
How long have you been employed at Stronghold Data?
Since July of 2010
Why did you join Stronghold Data?
David Markley had a lot to do with it. I knew him personally prior to joining the team and respected his abilities and opinions and decided to join him. I was working for a hospital that was in the middle of a transition to new ownership and decided to move to Stronghold Data at that time.
What is the most interesting or favorite part of your job?
I really enjoy the different clients that we support, seeing how operations work for many different markets – manufacturing, medical, financial, retail, professional services, etc. It’s fun to see how we can use technology to help our diverse client base succeed.
What are some cool projects you’ve seen our clients do with Stronghold Data’s services/products?
There are many examples over the years. It’s always fun to see a crisis resolved and I could point to thousands of these of varying severity. I’m more proud of the clients that we have helped get from a bad state of their IT overall, to a place where it functions better.
Technology should allow business processes to function more efficiently, and many times it’s more of a frustrating mess.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
My job has changed over the years. I still get a lot of joy in resolving a technical issue at times. I also really enjoy encouraging and showing appreciation to team members. It takes a team working together and it’s always a challenge to stay on the same page.
When you think of Stronghold Data’ culture, what 3 words come to mind?
Our three core values come to mind, but that’s more than 3 words. Healthy Relationships, Others Deserve Our Best, and Results Driven. If I had to choose 3 words, I guess I would go with Team, Healthy, Fun – we have fun while we go about solving issues that is sometimes stressful. We function as a healthy team.
What are your hobbies outside of Stronghold Data?
8 years ago my wife and I had our son, Lincoln. 2 years later our daughter, Zoe. I would say that caring for and playing with them has replaced most any other hobby I had before. I wouldn’t change that for anything. I enjoy what they enjoy, traveling, and eating good food.
Tell us one interesting fact about yourself.
Coming up with one thing interesting about me is a challenge; I’m an incredibly boring person. “stable” would perhaps be a nicer way to say that. I guess I will say that my wife and I focused all our financial attention on paying off our home, and in 2011 we accomplished this right when a tornado nearly totaled it. We did that by taking her salary and applying it to the principle of the loan each month. We’ve since moved (and remain debt free) and this has been a huge benefit for us.
