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Faces of Interface Featuring Lauren O’Hagan

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In today’s Face of Interface, we feature the artist behind Interface’s branded content in all types of formats. Lauren O’Hagan is an integral member of the sales and marketing team, bringing her creative flair and hunger for learning all about the world of force measurement.

Lauren grew up with a highly creative influence in her life. Her mother is an artist and it drove her to express herself through many different art forms growing up including painting, sculpting, jewelry-making and other creations. As Lauren investigated her post-secondary education, she wanted to continue expanding her artistic repertoire by going to school for graphic design and digital art.

She would go on to receive her associate degree from Glendale Community College in Digital Media Arts, followed by a Graphic Information Technology bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University. During her time in school, she also took on a few different internships in both graphic and apparel design. One internship was with a web development company in Maryland.

Following college, Lauren went on to intern for a friend in New Jersey who owned an entertainment company called ‘Jersey Turn’t Up Ent.’ In this role, she continued to apply her graphic design skills to help the company’s brand development. She also worked as a supervisor at Kohls, as well as doing some freelance graphic design on the side.

At the same time, Lauren was applying for full time jobs throughout the Greater Phoenix area. Interface’s Scott Whitworth found Lauren’s application and brought her in for an interview. The two bonded over a similar creative upbringing and interests, and Lauren proved her capabilities and was hired! Lauren really enjoyed making the transition from entertainment and retail to manufacturing, as she is a self-described nerd who loves to learn new fields while still being able to express herself creatively.

In her role as Interface’s Multimedia Specialist, Lauren is responsible for Interface’s creative asset design and development, including brochures, animations, infographics, and application notes. She also manages web development tasks. She is constantly exploring ways to share Interface’s story. She is responsible for the development many of Interface’s new and innovative marketing campaign assets, as well as designing images, digital materials and visuals utilized across a multitude of platforms.

The thing that Lauren enjoys most about working at Interface is the atmosphere and culture. Everyone is friendly, engaging and always willing to help her out when she has questions. She also enjoys the opportunity to work across different departments and with a wide variety of different people.

In her free time, Lauren continues to develop her digital art and sharing it on social media platforms. She also takes pleasure in stocking up her online store with new digital art prints. She is an avid gamer, often playing games with her Fiancé who happens to live in France. The two plans to be married by the end of the year. The highlight of her day is spending time with her family and her four dogs!

We had a wonderful time learning more about what makes Lauren tick and what inspires her outstanding creative work. If you’re interested in learning more about the rest of the Interface team, tune into our blog for the next team member highlight in our Faces of Interface ForceLeaders Series.  For information about Interface careers, go here.

Faces of Interface Featuring Ryan Roden

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Ryan Roden, one of our outstanding engineers, is our feature in today’s Faces of Interface. Ryan has been a team member at Interface for more than two years. He is instrumental in leading one of our most important product lines, the revolutionary AxialTQ wireless rotary torque transducer.

Like many of Interface’s talented engineers, Ryan’s interest in the world of electronics and design started at an early age. He remembers working on cars, building, and fixing things around the house constantly as a kid. In addition, his father owned a machine shop, so he always had the tools around, as well as the mentorship of his father.

This early interest led Ryan to pursue an educational foundation in electrical engineering at LeTourneau University in Texas. During his time in school, he also had the opportunity to join Colorado Engineering as an intern, which eventually led to his very first role in the industry as an associate electrical engineer with the same company.

In this role, Ryan worked with a wide variety of different applications, most notable military grade products involving radar. As an associate engineer, he worked on digital design, board layout, testing and troubleshooting across military and commercial applications. He worked with Colorado Engineering, Inc., for two years before moving back to Arizona.

When he came back, Ryan worked for his dad for a few months while looking for a job in the area. He found Interface had an opening and immediately saw that his skillset fit the types of things we’re doing in the area of electrical engineering, and he was excited to have a diverse set of industries and applications that can utilize his experience.

Ryan was hired and he has been an excellent member of the team. He notes that his day-to-day is always different, but typically he can be found troubleshooting electrical challenges, designing PCBs, dealing with the supply chain to source parts and materials, and working with the engineering lab on new products.

What he enjoys most about working at Interface is that it is a diverse mix of different fields of engineering including electrical and mechanical. He also enjoys the deep level of problem solving required to serve customers. He says the work keeps him on his toes and constantly shifting gears to solve different challenges.

In his free time, Ryan is an outdoors person. He enjoys boating in the summer and hunting as much as possible throughout Arizona, as well as spending time with his family. He also still enjoys being around and working on cars, a passion that never left him since he was a kid.

Ryan has proven his abilities as an engineer repeatedly over the last two years with Interface and we are proud to have him on the team!

We hope you enjoyed learning more about Ryan, and if you’re interested in getting to know the rest of our outstanding Interface team members, tune in monthly to the Interface blog for more ForceLeaders features.

Additional Resources

Interface Celebrates Engineers

Electrical Engineers Choose Interface Sensor Technologies

AxialTQ Technical White Paper Details Comparative Testing

Recap of Latest Spin on AxialTQ Webinar

Interface Solutions for Production Line Engineers

Quality Engineers Require Accurate Force Measurement Solutions

 

Faces of Interface Featuring Eric Cassidy

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In today’s Faces of Interface, we share the story about the man behind the money, Eric Cassidy, Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis. Eric has an interesting background rooted in the scientific field and a journey that eventually led him to take a leading position in our Finance Department at Interface.

Eric Cassidy took an unorthodox journey into finance after pursuing an education and early career in chemical engineering. He graduated with a chemical engineering degree from the University of Illinois and went to work for a chemical plant mixing and packaging industrial cleaning supplies. In this role, he was responsible for managing 30 people.

However, Eric realized that this was not what he wanted to do. Rather than sticking it out, he decided to go back to school in the evenings for an MBA in finance. Fortunately, the chemical plant had a great track record of moving engineers in other roles, and he was able to move to a finance role. He stayed with the company for five years.

His background in chemical engineering also allowed him to move to new finance roles within the industry. He served as a controller for 13 years at Ecolab, where he was charged with being a controller for a chemical engineering plant and a few warehouses. When the pandemic hit, he also spent some time working for a bakery for a year before joining Interface.

Eric found Interface when looking for a new job. He lived in Dallas at the time, while his whole family lived in Phoenix. He had never heard of us but found our listing during a job search in the area. It seemed like a terrific opportunity because his chemical engineering degree and background significantly helped with understanding the way things work in a manufacturing facility like Interface’s. As he did more research, he found himself excited about the opportunity due to the level of engineering that goes into our products.

He joined on as the Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis. He quickly got to work revamping the budgets for all departments, performing a cost analysis, and creating a system to help keep better track of financial data. Eric worked hard to review all financial details for Interface to fix material costs and absorption matching to get the budget back in order and improve pricing on products.

Eric mentioned that the work he has done for Interface so far has been a challenge, but it is what he enjoys most about the role. He enjoys taking on difficult problems and finding impactful solutions. As mentioned before, he also genuinely enjoys the level of precision and details that go into the products we make, and he appreciates his role in getting these products in the hands of customers.

Outside of the office, Eric is a big history buff and enjoys reading historical biographies on prominent figures and events in history. When we spoke with Eric, he was digging into Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb. To stay active, he can also often be found working out or hitting one of the many incredible golf courses found here in Arizona.

Eric’s financial and leadership expertise and experience has been critical to Interface and were thrilled to have him on the team.  Learn more about Interface’s excellent staff in our Faces of Interface ForceLeaders series highlighting the individuals across all departments and disciplines making Interface the world’s premium force measurement solutions provider.

ForceLeaders is a registered trademark of Interface, Inc.

Faces of Interface Featuring Dave Reardon

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In today’s Faces of Interface series, we are talking to one of the newest members of our distinguished sales team, Dave Reardon, regional sales director. Dave grew up around the force measurement industry and has made his way to Interface after a distinguished career in the aerospace industry.

Dave Reardon has known the world of strain gages since he was young. His father was a long-time strain gage expert in the aerospace industry and Dave followed in his footsteps. He also took a liking to the industry at an early age, participating in CAD classes in high school followed by attending Cal State Long Beach in pursuit of an electrical engineering degree. He ended up finishing his bachelor’s degree, switching to information technologies at University of Phoenix, followed by a master’s degree in business administration from Kaplan.

His first role came as an assistant engineer for aerospace industry giant McDonnell Douglas. His role involved flight test engineering team as needed, until they learned about his CAD skills, at which time they had him primarily doing strain gage drawings.

Over the next 18 years, Dave took his talents across a wide variety of aerospace leaders including Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier, The Boeing Company, and more. His roles varied from instrumentation engineering in flight test, to test directing in avionics development labs, and eventually sales. On the sales side, he was working with systems very akin to Interface’s portfolio including data acquisition, telemetry products, and sensors. He even owned his own rep firm for a time that included a few sensor lines in addition to other testing equipment.

A few months ago, Dave was looking for a new opportunity. He was well acquainted with Interface’s products and when he saw an opportunity to work here, he jumped on it with the help of a referral from a friend. Dave came to Interface as our regional sales director in charge of the East Coast. His long-time work in aerospace industry, and specifically his knowledge of strain gages and sensors, made him a great fit in this role.

His responsibilities include managing sales across the region, working with customers daily to find a solution that is right for their specific needs, working with applications engineers, and managing rep firms across the large territory. Dave works across all industries; however, with his background in aerospace, in addition to automotive, he certainly knows what fits bests for those industries.

Dave has made an incredibly positive impact on our team at Interface. Dave mentioned what he enjoys the most is that he has never worked for a company with better communication internally and throughout our community. He specifically highlighted the marketing team’s ability to continue driving leads as critical benefit of working sales at Interface. He also loves collaborating with customers and seeing the incredible potential of the innovation landscape.

When he is not solving customer challenges with force systems, Dave is usually off traveling. He has visited 46 of the 50 states, as well as multiple countries. He lives in Daytona Beach, Florida, but still loves to vacation in other beach destinations. Italy is his favorite international get away so far, having spent two weeks there back in 2014. Dave also has five grown children, a grandchild, with another on the way.

We appreciate Dave taking the time to speak with us and look forward to watching him flourish here at Interface . To learn more about our incredible team members, check in each month for a new Face of Interface’s feature. You can see all our ForceLeaders here.

Faces of Interface Featuring Robert Hawk

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In today’s Faces of Interface feature, we spoke with Robert Hawk, director of information technology (IT). He is responsible for keeping Interface’s business operational using all kinds of hardware and software, which is core to our fundamental success.

Robert was our very first IT guru at the company and since joining the company and has helped modernize our systems to keep our operations running smoothly. We sat down with Robert to learn about his background and get some insight on everything he does for Interface, our customers, our partners, and global network.

Robert’s background in the world of information technology started with his time in United States Army. He spent his early years in the service with the Infantry. When looking for new opportunities and challenges for his career, he switched his military specialty to Communications and IT, and he then transitioned to the Wyoming Army National Guard.

During his time with the National Guard, Robert worked as an Admin NCO for the 115th Fires Brigade and the IT Department at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base Medical Center. While doing all this, he also continued his support of the Communications and IT section as a Wyoming Army National Guard soldier serving on weekends. Thank you for your service! He obtained two Master of Science graduate degrees, one in Computer Information Systems and one in Computer Engineering.

Robert’s transition to the private sector was as an outsourced IT consultant, serving customers in Wyoming and then Arizona. It was a demanding role that required long hours and some travel; however, it was a wonderful experience. He decided that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and this is when he found Interface.

Interface hired Rob as our first official IT guy in 2014. In fact, which was the name of the role at the time – IT Guy! In the eight years since Rob joined Interface, he has brought our technology light years forward to meet the demands of a growing and thriving manufacturing technology brand leader. The company’s investments in IT allowed Rob to modernize our infrastructure, systems and vastly improve our digital efficiency internally, and with customers. One example is our transition from Windows 95 to Windows 11. He and his team are now rolling out an entire ERP system that will create huge efficiencies and capabilities for the 54-year-old business.

His role at Interface includes managing a team of nine information technology people who are responsible for ensuring the business and production is running smoothly, all the time for a 24/7 business. He is committed to always staying on the lookout for innovative technologies to help streamline operations, support continuous improvements, and help stay on the forefront of ways to engage with all stakeholders. He is also keen to keeping Interface on the forefront of information security.

One thing that you will certainly learn from Rob is that he loves his work because he enjoys helping Interface in their role of helping our customers achieve remarkable things across a wide variety of applications.

Robert is a bit of a workaholic, so part of his free time includes learning, recertifying, and reading up on the newest technologies. He is definitely an IT guy through and through. When he gets some time away, his hobbies include giving back to the military community through charity work with veteran’s organizations. He also loves to ride his motorcycle. Most importantly, he spends time with his three kids aged 21, 19 and 12. In fact, the 19-year-old works for us here at Interface!

Robert is a critical member of Interface’s team, and we could not provide the outstanding technology solutions we do without his work on our digital systems. We thank him for his dedication to his craft and to Interface! What keeps him up at night, keeps us running all day!

 

Faces of Interface Special Edition Featuring Human Resources

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We have a special edition of Faces of Interface featuring our Human Resources team members. As a people-centric organization, our HR team is instrumental in creating our culture and bringing us all together to meet the needs of our customers.

Our vision, mission and purpose are solidified by the work of our HR team. Core to our tremendous growth, is a team of people committed to ensuring from day one our team members have the resources and support they need to get the job done.

As with all things related to people, change is constant. That is why our HR team has spent the last few years upgrading our employee experience and HR processes. As a 54-year-old company, the HR team continually evaluates where we can effect change and positive outcomes. There are some original processes that have withstood the test of time and some that need constant refreshing. It is the focus of our team members in the HR department that are putting those plans into action.

Some instrumentation changes our HR leadership have deployed includes updating Interface’s leadership development programs, revamping performance reviews for production employees, and renewing employee recognition programs.

From a recruiting standpoint, the team has implemented a new training program in the critical onboarding process. Benefits have changed as well, including a brand-new benefits package introduced this year to all team members. The HR team designs and orchestrates these changes to maintain Interface’s efficiency in the recruiting process and improving retention to keep the company’s growing and experienced staff together, so everyone that interacts with Interface benefits.

Our team members in the HR department are excited with these changes and look forward to how the new recruitment strategy, as well as the new employee benefits and recognition programs demonstrate Interface’s commitment to the team members, our value chain and represent us as one of Arizona’s best places to work.

Get To Know Our HR Team Member Gabby Simpson

Gabby has lived in Arizona all her life, growing up in Scottsdale and raising her family here. She worked in property management when she initially met Interface, as she helped to work on our expansion in the early 2010s. She joined us in 2014 to help assist with the HR, accounting, and our sales department for three years. In 2017, she got back into real estate doing HR for a brokerage firm while also selling homes as an agent.

We are thrilled that Gabby rejoined Interface after she stopped by to say hello to some old work friends, and we presented her the opportunity to join our HR team. She mentioned that she loved the company and the people, so she was excited for the opportunity to return.

In Gabby’s role as HR Administrator, she helps to facilitate employee needs regarding benefits, payroll, and daily support. She is also part of Interface’s Navigators. This group of peers works to offer ideas for process improvements that help Interface become more efficient and innovative.

Our HR team plays a crucial role in improving the people side of Interface. From process to engagement, our HR is key to accounting for the company’s continued growth.

If you are interested in joining your team, please go to our online to apply for open positions.

Faces of Interface Featuring Jeff White

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In today’s Face of Interface, we are going global. We are sharing our recent interview with Interface’s International Sales Director, and one of the newest members of the sales leadership team, Jeff White.

Jeff took a non-traditional path into the force measurement world and has truly taken the lead ever since. We are extremely excited to share his story, which includes a long history working with Interface.

Jeff grew up in Chicago and attended Northern Illinois University where he received a bachelor’s degree in public health and a minor in business. After school, he was working at Target when one big sales event, known as Black Friday in the US, made him realize his time in retail was ending. Over that Thanksgiving period a friend talked about an opportunity with Rice Lake Weighing Systems and Jeff jumped at it.

Rice Lake manufactures and distributes weight-related products and supplies, so Jeff leapt headfirst into the force measurement industry. His first role with the company had him working in inside sales where he answered customer calls and got his first taste of real-world applications. As he learned more about solutions, products, and customer requirements, he moved into a position “on the road” in Rice Lake’s Mobile Marketing Unit (MMU) Bus.

This role had Jeff traveling the country showcasing Rice Lake systems and meeting customers, partners, and vendors. This is also where many people at Interface, and others around the country, came to recognize Jeff as the bus guy! His dynamic enthusiasm, passion for helping others, and product technical knowledge were a perfect mixture for this innovative way to bring solutions to the customer’s door.

Jeff loved the role in his younger years traveling and getting to know everything he could about the industry. Working with a network of hundreds of distributors, he was able to help solve all kinds of customer challenges. Some of his time was learning how to best help Interface with a range of products to satisfy all types of customer requirements. This experience helped Jeff quickly become an expert on all things force measurement, including Interface’s sensor technologies.

As Jeff managed different territories and distributors around the country, he realized living out of a suitcase (and a bus) did not align with goals he is aiming to achieve in his personal and professional life. At this point, he had lived in Arizona for a few years and became acquainted with the growth and opportunities at Interface. His vast technical, sales, and leadership experience across a wide range of industries and distributor groups, as well as collaborating with suppliers, made him a great fit for the International Sales Director role.

In this position, Jeff is responsible for growing international sales through our extensive global sales network. By focusing on building relationships based on trust and respect, Jeff brings tremendous value to Interface’s valued distributors and customers. He wants to ensure they are secure in sharing their business and product requirements in territory, by working together with their committed partner – Interface.

Jeff says that he has enjoyed meeting and learning from the team and learning all about Interface’s production area. He is also excited to have a home base and office that is close to engineering and production, being able to get answers quickly and communicate effectively, and build a relationship with co-workers, while he represents the interests of “rest of world” through our global network. He also understands that when he is in territory, he brings practical know-how and experience to support and train our representation throughout the world.

As for his free time, Jeff loves all things Chicago sports. Despite his travels around the country, he stays true to his hometown teams. He is also active in sports himself. He golfs, plays pickup basketball, and is part of a Friday night softball league.

Interface is thrilled to have Jeff on the team. His experience, force measurement expertise, and leadership aligned to an enthusiastic commitment to success is the perfect alignment to help us grow our international business.

To learn more about our excellent Interface team members, tune into our blog every month for a new Faces of Interface ForceLeaders posts.

Faces of Interface Featuring Sean Malone

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In today’s Faces of Interface, we talked with Sean Malone who is responsible for calibrating and repairing our customer’s force measurement equipment. As our esteemed warranty coordinator, his important role requires extensive knowledge of force measurement technologies. This is because not only do we support the products we make, we also calibrate and repair force measurement products from a wide variety of other manufacturers.

Throughout his life, Sean has always had a propensity for working with his hands. Hi family owned a locksmith business, so he grew up to become very mechanically proficient. In fact, Sean worked for the 35-year family-run business for 25 years before the family decided to sell it. Sean also went to school at ITT Tech during that time and received his associates in computer networking and science.

After leaving the locksmith business, Sean investigated a new role where he could continue to work with his hands every day. This desire led him to Interface. He began his career at Interface as a repair technician in our production facility, then he moved on to become a calibration finalist, and the manager of the service department before settling into his current role as warranty coordinator.

His journey through Interface’s service department gave him a great deal of knowledge about the business and the ins and outs of a load cell. This allows him to perform his current role to the highest degree and aptitude. He’s also a great resource for questions and support for our team members and global network. His position today includes being a single point contact for service customers, performing root cause analysis, fixing load cells, calibrating them, and ensuring items sent in for services get back to the customer in premium working order.

Sean says that he’s caught his professional stride at Interface and really enjoys the fact that he is learning something new every day. He also remarked that the people he comes to work with make the job and the company that much more enjoyable. We’re glad to have you here too Sean, as you represent the best in ForceLeaders.

In his free time, you won’t find Sean anywhere else but at the golf course. Being an Arizona native, he has grown up with a passion for the U.S. golf capitol of the world and all it has to offer for an avid golfer. His skills in the sport also extend to a little bit of frisbee golf from time to time. All things golf, all the time. That’s the way Sean winds down.

We’re incredibly honored to have Sean on the team and his work is critical to keeping our customers products operating at the highest standards of accuracy and reliability, today and for many years to come.

To learn more about the outstanding team at Interface, check in to our blog each month for our Faces of Interface series.

Faces of Interface Featuring Justin Walker

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Our Faces of Interface feature focuses on Regional Sales Director (RSD), Justin Walker. Justin is a United States Marine veteran who grew up in the Texas oil fields. He received his knowledge and experience in engineering while in the military. He has honed his skills in engineering and sales across a variety of roles and was recently promoted to the critical role of Interface RSD.

Growing up near the oil fields in Texas and having a father and friend work in the fields led Justin to develop an interest in the technical side of oil rigging and engineering in general. However, his goal was to remain out of the fields and instead work to optimize the process through technology. To do so, Justin opted for the Marines to serve his country and receive the training necessary to accomplish this goal.

He joined the Marines at age 17, and scored very high on the technical aspects of the entry exam. This enabled him to serve as an aviation mechanic with a unique and interesting specialty in cryogenics. The cryogenics aspect of his roles allowed him to work with the liquid nitrogen and oxygen involved in weapon systems and base support. He also got some kicks freezing stuff, as well as curing a hangover or two with the highly effective chemicals.

Justin served in the Marines for four and half years before jumping into the oil and gas industry with a company named Weatherford. In this role, he worked as a wire line operator where he helped to determine where oil could be found and then using explosives to access it. He stayed in this role until the oil market dropped, and then moved into sales.

His first role in sales was at West Texas Nissan and Justin found a ton of success in a sales position. Unfortunately, the market crashed and Justin decided it was time for a change. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, because he was familiar with the area due to his time being stationed in Yuma, Arizona, when he was a Marine.

Justin joined Interface in July 2016 as an applications engineer. He had a desire to get back into technology and engineering, while still maintaining a sales role due to his success in the automotive industry. He remained at Interface for two years before leaving to join one of our rep firms in Florida, where he still sold Interface products. After a year and a half with Interface’s rep firm, we welcomed Justin back with open arms. First, as applications engineer; however, Justin was recently promoted to Regional Sales Director covering the Central North America region. Justin has thrived in his roles at Interface.

Justin really enjoys the day-to-day interactions with customers and our rep firms. What he enjoys the most is the differences in who and what he is working with each day. One day he could be working with a customer that works in the oil field like he witnessed as a kid growing up, another day he could be selling solutions to a company responsible for putting satellites and even humans in space.

When he’s not helping customers solve their force measurement challenges, Justin can be found spending time with his wife and six-year-old stepson. He and the family enjoy getting outdoors as much as possible. Together, they hike in the mountains, camp, take a ride on their ATVs, and boat the Colorado River.

We appreciate having the opportunity to share Justin’s amazing story. He is passionate about what he does at Interface and in life. We are thrilled to have him on the Interface team and working hard for all his customers and rep firms at ensure the highest levels of satisfaction! To learn more about our outstanding team members, check in each month for a new Faces of Interface feature.