It all begins with an XT and 123.
I graduated from Clark University in the mid-eighties with a major in Applied Mathematics and dreams of being successful. Through the years of my professional career, I have achieved things I could never have imagined back then, and everything I could have hoped for. Most importantly, I have had the pleasure of working with great people who have helped shape me as a person and businessman. The day I was handed my diploma at Clark, I was focused on “being successful” but have since come to realize the journey itself is so much more meaningful and enjoyable.
I began my professional career at a time when technology was just emerging in the business world. My first desktop computer was a duel floppy IBM XT with 128 KB of RAM and I ran Lotus 123 on it. A year later I had access to a Compaq portable (laptop) that weighed 28 lbs! I began a 30-year journey of software development that took me through many development languages and platforms all the way up to web development and today's content management systems.
In the mid-nineties, I found myself part of a small business team that set out to start two new insurance companies. Our technical strategy was to build a platform that solely ran on a network using client-server technology, which was just emerging at that time. My job was to network together all of the agencies with the corporate office and provide them with software and a sound workflow to run their business. It was during this period that I began to understand what an entrepreneurial environment was really like, and I was lucky enough to work with great people.
In 2000, two individuals and I started Blue Cod Technologies Inc. Blue Cod delivered a SaaS product to many insurance companies across the United States. It also had a top-notch business process outsourcing division that ran the back-office of several insurance companies. Many of the same great people I worked with in my first start-up helped me build Blue Cod into a very successful business. At Blue Cod, I designed and developed much of the software we used to service our customers and run our business. I also designed and built the infrastructure to support our outsourcing business. Running Blue Cod was a great experience and I learned a great deal about people, business, and myself.
We grew Blue Cod to be a $25M company with over 200 employees. The best achievement for me at Blue Cod was when our employees voted us “Best Place to Work” in the Boston Globe. We had a great family of employees, all working towards one common goal.
I left Blue Cod in 2012 to set out on my own. I started Clearly Works Inc. with a mission to use what I have learned over the past 25 years to assist others in their businesses. Since then, I have had the pleasure of helping a variety of businesses - from a small 2-person company up to extremely large corporations - tackling technology challenges and solving their business problems.
In September of 2013, I learned about a new emerging industry called coworking, and could relate to the need for such a business. At the time I was working out of my house and really struggled with the day-to-day routine of working and living at the same place. Two years later in the fall of 2015, I opened my doors as Clearly Coworking Inc.- one of Worcester's first professional coworking spaces. Since then, over 600 businesses have used our coworking facility and we have been blessed with being voted Worcester’s Best in Business for two consecutive years.
Through all of these experiences, I have learned that being successful is really about working with great people and delivering sound solutions that drive businesses forward. No amount of money or prestigious titles can replace the great satisfaction of seeing your products helping others succeed. Through the years, my “product” has been many different things. But in the end, my goal has always been to produce a solution that helped make businesses and people better and hopefully more successful with their clients, teammates, and businesses.
I look forward to my next chapter!
