2018 Leadership Q&A | CTO Joanna Bergeron

What are you most excited about as we enter 2018?

"I'm really excited about the growth of our new markets and acquiring or building the leaders that we need to run those offices. I'm thrilled to spend time focusing on our Leadership Development strategy for the people that we need to run our accounts and the technical leadership we need to deliver outstanding client work. It's figuring out how we impart the knowledge that so many of us have, and the things that have made us successful, to the larger group of people that have joined us-to position them to be the leaders we need at our accounts and in our offices."

What are you most thankful for going into 2018?

"I'm thankful I get to wake up every day and work with amazing people, which is what I say when people ask me, 'Why CapTech?' I always tell them it's about the people. It reminds me of the Phil Knight quote 'It's never just business, it will never be. If it ever does become just business, that will mean the business is very bad.'

From day one, when I walked in the door at CapTech, I realized I was going to constantly need to learn and read and stay ahead of technology trends. Today, I still find that I have to keep reading and challenging myself. I'm thankful to have the opportunity to do that every day because the caliber of people that I work with is so high and the services that we're delivering to our clients are complex and forward thinking. I have to keep learning and growing for me to understand how to bring in the talent that can deliver those solutions."

What's your favorite CapTech memory?

"I can't tell you how many times CapTechers have rallied behind someone who had something bad going on in their life. In the early days, we helped move an employee who needed to move quickly. We had a moving truck with about 10 of us and believe it or not it was fun! Even though we were moving, we laughed, ate food together and spent the whole day moving somebody that needed help."

What are the biggest changes happening at CapTech this year?

"We had incredible growth this past year, and that's a testament to our National strategy starting to take action. I think with growth, you have to make sure that you are slowing down sometimes, to make sure that you're growing the right way, with the right people, and with the right clients. I think that we'll be spending a lot of time this year making sure this is a place where people want to work and continuing to invest in our employees. We have several changes to our Benefits this year, we're going to focus on diversity and inclusion, and we're going to continue to roll out our awesome coaching culture.

When you ask the partners here what they're thinking about, it's preserving the culture at all costs - for us that means making sure that we are not deviating from the pillar of work/life balance, ensuring that we're writing our statements of work for 40 hours a week and focusing on local clients for our consultants. So, the changes are an attempt to make sure that as we grow, we can accommodate the growth without losing what makes us who we are."

What was the biggest surprise for you last year?

"The kind of clients we opened the doors of and the kind of work that we were given the opportunity to win in brand new markets where we had no presence before. We've reached a point in our growth that we are seen (in this pool of people) as a company that has the ability to bid on these types of large projects. To actually win it from some large and notable companies was a great surprise."

What advice do you have for job-seekers in 2018? "If you are looking for a job, you need to know as much as you can about a company. You need to research using what's available digitally or through your connections. Ask people questions like: 'What's the culture, what's it like to work there?'

Then you have to absolutely come in with a list of questions of things you care about. A lot of people come in the door and they worry more about being interviewed, but we're looking for a fit both ways here. It's not just about, 'Can you do the work?' We're looking at, 'Is this person going to be happy?' and, 'Do we see this person here, two years, three years down the road?' Make sure you ask the questions to find out if the organization is the right fit for you."