If you're motivated, you can move up fast.
When I first joined FEI, I was a technical service engineer focusing on installation improvements. If you want to learn how the company as a whole works, that's a great place to start. All our processes connect at the point of installation: sales, production, R&D, product engineering, logistics, field service – everything. About two years later, I was given the opportunity to take a front-line role as a service manager for one of our European service teams. That was a fantastic experience! From people management to crisis management to contract negotiations with tier one customers, it was like managing my own business inside FEI.
Now I'm our worldwide technical service manager. I think that says a lot about this company. It's small enough that you can get noticed, advance quickly, and have a real impact. It's also global and growing. We need people who are willing to learn and take on new challenges. There's no shortage of opportunity.
1998 Masters, Mechanical Engineering, University of Twente, Enschede |
2004 Joined FEI as a Technical Service Engineer |
2008 Became Worldwide Technical Service Manager |
When you get right down to it, it's all about people.
Our main focus is the relationship with our customers. Sometimes we pull off something that really thrills or inspires someone. That's a great feeling. But I take even more pride in being able to turn around the really tough situations.
I think that illustrates a major truth about this company, and I guess about all high-tech businesses. We face a lot of complex technical challenges, but finding solutions is really about the people. First you have to understand the issues. Then you have to get the right people in the right place and make sure everyone understands what's needed and how they fit in.
That defines my role as a manager pretty accurately. I have five global technical service teams, and I have to align their efforts to deliver value to our customers and to FEI. That means understanding how we want to grow our organization within the context of company-wide growth. It means defining specific goals and translating those goals into concrete actions that enable the people in my organization, and our colleagues in other departments, to reach those goals. When we do that right, good things happen – for us, for our customers and for the organization as a whole. Fortunately, we have a lot of great people here. That makes my job a lot easier.