Mary Hester

Mary Hester
CEO at LAN Systems
www.lansystems.com
mary@lansystems.com
Twitter: @LANSystems
770.662.0312

Life’s journey is certainly full of twists and turns.   My journey has taken me many places I never imagined – from a family driving school business, to a dairy farm, to an engineering degree, to parenting two teenage girls.  I like to think that each experience prepared and tempered me for the next.

My first position after completing my electrical engineering degree was at Commonwealth Edison in transmission line design.  I had a great boss, Ken Steele, and learned much about how an electrical utility works.  At that time, utility engineers tended to stay their entire careers at a utility.  But, for me, Atlanta was home and Chicago too cold.

After returning to Atlanta, I accepted a temporary position as a support engineer at Advanced Control Systems.  It was a 3-month contract that lasted 10 years.  Early on, I realized that not only did I like technical support but I was pretty good at it.  Many engineers look at support engineers as being a step (or maybe a couple of steps) below design engineers.  I imagine this is because many don’t think doing support is true engineering – I couldn’t disagree more.  I have the highest regard for any engineer that can provide quality, targeted support to users.  The best support engineers are problem solvers with strong interpersonal skills. And, yes, engineers with interpersonal skills exist!

After being promoted to department manager at ACS, I had the chance to prove my support model.  In a short amount of time, our group was renowned for its “Best in the Industry” rating and we set the standard for support organizations in our field.  This was because we focused on the needs of our customers and were uncompromising in our delivery.

Now at LAN Systems, I still devote myself to providing support without compromise.  My goal is to make LAN Systems known to all as the best IT Solutions and Service provider in the metro Atlanta area.  Still committed to providing exceptional support that serves the needs of the people that use technology, I work with our engineers to improve their problem solving and interpersonal skills. In addition to my responsibilities with LAN Systems, I volunteer with several non-profits that serve the electric utility industry and introduce engineering as a career to young people.

Technology is almost as awesome as people and look forward to exploring many “technology for the people” topics at AtlantaSmall.biz.