Erik has had technology and business in his blood since high school, when he started an educational software company with a friend and sold it to teachers (like his parents) throughout the country. After attending Gustavus Adolphus College, where Erik studied Music Education, he worked at The Pillsbury Company where one of his job responsibilities was to wear the Pillsbury Doughboy costume at the Pillsbury Bake-Off (really!). Then Erik moved to American Express, first working on a technology helpdesk, and then managing technology support for senior management throughout the United States.
Mentored by an American Express executive, Erik wrote his business plan and quickly signed American Express as SCC’s first client. Not long after, other large companies followed, such as Target and Cargill. But Erik’s interest was really with those small senior management offices he supported at Amex, so he shifted SCC’s focus to small and medium-sized business, where he knew his technology solutions would have the greatest impact.
If you’re around SCC’s office for long, you’ll quickly discover that Erik’s true passion is relationships…with coworkers, clients, vendors, partners and friends. Understanding the people he works with…their objectives, their interests, and their frustrations…these are the things that spark his curiosity. To hear him say it, “When all is said and done, I’m quite certain SCC won’t be remembered for the servers we’ve sold…it’s how we showed up in those relationships and helped others that matters.” It’s that spirit that he tries to live out at work, and with a staff that’s wired in the same way.
Erik is also motivated to be the best…but according to his own definition. “We need to be highly competent at the technology we work with, of course, but we also have to be the most genuinely friendly and the most service-obsessed in our industry…and then we’ll build the most rewarding relationships out there…and it will be fun, too!” The rewards of these relationships show through the tenure of SCC’s client relationships, many of which are over ten or fifteen years old.
Today, Erik is honored to participate as one of twenty-five Microsoft partners on the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Advisory Council for small and medium business, which meets twice annually with Microsoft executives and management to give feedback and direction on a variety of initiatives. Erik also facilitates a Heartland Technology Groups (www.htgmembers.com) peer group of Microsoft partners from around the U.S., and was named Facilitator of the Year in 2009.
