52 Questions in 52 Weeks: 5 of 52
What kind of work did your parents do (farmer, salesman, manager, seamstress, nurse, stay-at-home mom, professional, laborer, and so on)?
Eric - My mom pursued a career so that she could support our family. When I was young, around 6-9, she ran a daycare out of our home. She watched a few of the neighborhood kids. After doing that for a while she decided to go back to school and pursue a career in teaching. I am certain she could have chosen a more lucrative profession, but she chose to teach. I think she chose to teach so that her schedule would sync up with ours and we could spend as much time together as a family as possible. I think she also chose to teach because it gave her the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of her students. I have seen the joy she has when she gets a note from a student expressing their gratitude for the impact she had on their lives.
My mom went back to school to get her master's degree so that she could advance her career as far as possible. She got her Master's in Special Education. She taught Special Education math and English, although later on in her career it seemed like she switched to just math. She taught at a couple of different high schools nearby and eventually ended up at a charter school.
I remember many times when my mom would pick up extra assignments to make ends meet. These assignments often required her to get up extra early on the weekdays or weekends. I have always been proud of my Mom. As I look at her career path I can see the many sacrifices she has made. Her career was built upon hard work and her determination to support our family.
My dad, Kurt, was a Pizza Hut Manager in his 20's. He started working at Pizza Hut in high school. He stuck with it because he found it challenging and fun. Eventually, he wanted to go back to school, but the restaurant hours would not allow him to pursue an education. In 1996 he was hired as a supervisor for a credit card company, Providian Financial. He enjoyed working there and the hours allowed him to finish his degree. He excelled at Providian, first being promoted to be a manager and then a senior manager. He had the opportunity to open several new departments, retention, and collections, with them. In 2001, the company faced some legal problems and he decided it was time to move on.
He went to work for Wells Fargo Auto Finance as a supervisor. He was quickly promoted to a manager and eventually a Director. During the mid-2000, his father was dealing with some serious health challenges and Kurt decided he needed to move his family back to Logan. To facilitate the move he took a job as the Sale Manager for Murdock Hyundai in Logan in early 2006. He found this was not a great fit and moved on to Direct Financial Solutions (DFS).
At DFS he managed multiple departments including training, compliance, and monitoring. In 2010, DFS was purchased by Community Choice Financial. At that time he was promoted to VP, Installment Lending. Over the years, he has managed many areas of the business. He is currently expanding his duties to include all the online lending. His duties include managing. multiple offices, developing new loan products, and managing up to 350 employees.
Alison - This was always a hard question for me to answer growing up because I didn't really know what my Dad did. I knew that he traveled a lot and usually I would go with the generic "He's a computer guy" answer. Now that I'm older, I have a really great appreciation for the work that my Dad did and continues to do.
My Dad was an entrepreneur that started his own Dealer Management System company in the early 90s. The company started really small and grew very quickly. Because it was a small company, he did everything. He wrote code, managed customer support, did implementations, and managed finances. As the company grew, he continued to wear many hats. Eventually, the company was acquired by Dealertrack in 2007. He stayed on with Dealertrack managing product development and engineering. In 2014 he left Dealertrack to go work for Autopoint as their Chief Technology Officer, which is his current role.
My dad always traveled a lot when I was growing up for work. When the company was small, a lot of these trips were for implementations. He also went to the National Auto Dealers Association Trade Show every year. We had opportunities to travel with him, One year the NADA convention was in Orlando, so we went to Disneyworld! It was so much fun.
It must have been hard being an entrepreneur. I don't know if I could handle the uncertainty and instability that comes with owning your own business. I know there were a few months when my family went without a paycheck when the company was growing - how scary. I currently work for Dealertrack and it's incredibly rewarding to see the work that my Dad did to create an extraordinary product that is changing the automotive industry. And of course, provided good jobs for thousands of people. The company is still growing and expanding today!
My mom was a stay-at-home Mom when I was little. When we all got old enough to go to school, she became a loan officer and a loan processor. She did that until I was in high school and then she went back to being a stay-at-home Mom. She was and still is, always there whenever we needed her. She made sure that we had healthy lunches and dinners and taught us how to do chores around the house. Her house is always spotless! She drove carpool thousands of times to school, music lessons, dance, and other athletic events for both us and other kids in the neighborhood.
Alison - This was always a hard question for me to answer growing up because I didn't really know what my Dad did. I knew that he traveled a lot and usually I would go with the generic "He's a computer guy" answer. Now that I'm older, I have a really great appreciation for the work that my Dad did and continues to do.
My Dad was an entrepreneur that started his own Dealer Management System company in the early 90s. The company started really small and grew very quickly. Because it was a small company, he did everything. He wrote code, managed customer support, did implementations, and managed finances. As the company grew, he continued to wear many hats. Eventually, the company was acquired by Dealertrack in 2007. He stayed on with Dealertrack managing product development and engineering. In 2014 he left Dealertrack to go work for Autopoint as their Chief Technology Officer, which is his current role.
My dad always traveled a lot when I was growing up for work. When the company was small, a lot of these trips were for implementations. He also went to the National Auto Dealers Association Trade Show every year. We had opportunities to travel with him, One year the NADA convention was in Orlando, so we went to Disneyworld! It was so much fun.
It must have been hard being an entrepreneur. I don't know if I could handle the uncertainty and instability that comes with owning your own business. I know there were a few months when my family went without a paycheck when the company was growing - how scary. I currently work for Dealertrack and it's incredibly rewarding to see the work that my Dad did to create an extraordinary product that is changing the automotive industry. And of course, provided good jobs for thousands of people. The company is still growing and expanding today!
My mom was a stay-at-home Mom when I was little. When we all got old enough to go to school, she became a loan officer and a loan processor. She did that until I was in high school and then she went back to being a stay-at-home Mom. She was and still is, always there whenever we needed her. She made sure that we had healthy lunches and dinners and taught us how to do chores around the house. Her house is always spotless! She drove carpool thousands of times to school, music lessons, dance, and other athletic events for both us and other kids in the neighborhood.
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