So? Who is this guy?

Hi, I’m Jeff. Please do call me Jeff. About the only one who ever called me Jeffrey was my mom…and it was usually followed by “Scott Ton” and it ALWAYS meant I was in trouble!

I tell people all the time, this is the most exciting time to be in technology. Heck, it is the most exciting time to be involved in business. There is not a business today that is not impacted by technology. The world around us is changing so fast, business is evolving, technology is exploding, we truly are in a new age…a digital age.

Yet, with all this change, it still comes down to one thing. The people! Afterall, isn’t that why you are here? Either you want to learn and grow as a leader or you are seeking ways to help those around you learn and grow as leaders. That’s where I come in! I want to help! I bring a unique perspective to technology, business and leadership.

To see that perspective you have to realize I didn’t want to be in leadership, I didn’t want to be in business, and I certainly didn’t want to be in technology. I was dragged kicking and screaming into them.

You see, I wanted to be a rockstar! Long story, short, I lacked talent. Where I found my talent was in a Commodore 64. I found I could make that computer “sing”! I fell in love with coding. I devoured every book I could on computers: system development life cycle, database theory and design, PL/I, IMS, and more. I set my sights on moving into the Informations Systems department at the bank where I worked.

That kicked off what turned out to be a 35 year (and going strong) career in IT. I was a coder! I loved listening to someone’s business problem and solving it with code. Not only did I love it, I was good at it! It was all I ever wanted to do! Ten years later, two of my good friends kept trying to convince me to go into management. “You’d be good at it”. No, I would say, I love writing code. Finally, I succumbed.

I fell in love with managing. I devoured every book I could on leadership and managing. Not only did I love it, I was good at it! I had a knack for building strong teams, developing those teams, and building leaders. To me, my job was to help those who worked in my departments learn, grow, and succeed. If I was able to do that, the department would succeed and we would help the company succeed.

I have successfully lead teams as small as five and as large as 50 (150 if you count contractors) spread across four continents. I’ve been in multiple industries, including: banking, consumer electronics, real estate development, non-profit and tech. Through this experience I came to the conclusion it is not about the technology, it is about the business; more importantly, it’s about the people.

I bring that experience to each of my keynotes, breakouts and workshops. Discovering the people, enabling them to grow, giving them the tools to succeed, and inspiring them the desire to do the same.