Waste Management to Security Management: One Man’s Unusual Odyssey

Xentry Systems Healthcare Programs Manager Jesse Vroman recounts his unorthodox path to becoming a vertical market integration expert.

What do you think about your past experiences positioned you for your current success?

Vroman: First and foremost, all of my jobs taught me how to treat people well and with respect. Secondly, my experiences in the military showed me what it means to earn respect. Just because you have a specific title or your well educated doesn’t mean people have to respect you. You will always have to earn it. Lastly, Koorsen taught me to listen and learn all the time. Although I was a salesman, I took the time to learn from not only my sales manager but also from technicians. Every interaction is a learning experience. The more intimate you are with your technology offerings the better you can sell it as well as explain it in simple terms to potential customers.

How did you develop and progress within Acree/Xentry?

Vroman: From hire date, through the acquisition to Xentry, and even to now, it has been all about attitude and being in the right place at the right time. When Mark Ring hired me as a technician he made me make him a promise that I would always have a hand up and not a hand out. An attitude like that coupled with the hunger to make a better life for my family leaves a ton of room for success. I knew we had a need for some support in Cincinnati so I offered to take a lead tech role there and move the family. Charles Duncan, who is a lead tech for us still today in Cincy, taught me anything and everything he knew about health-care integrations while I was there. The more I learned the more I loved this industry, and I have been going nonst
op since.

When the OSU James Cancer Tower project started, I was driving every day from Cincy to Columbus to work on that project. I finally volunteered to move back to Columbus with the family after 10 months in Cincy. It was in everyone’s best interest, especially my wife’s as she hated Cincy, for me to move back. When I came back to Columbus, the acquisition had been completed and we were about 14 weeks away from completion on the tower. At this point the heat was on; from the executive team down I was being told that the tower was my chance to shine. After successful completion of the tower I was then promoted to my current position as healthcare programs manager. I have to reiterate that I worked with some incredible technicians who spent a lot of time passing on their knowledge and experiences. I never would have had the foundation that I have without those men.

What do you like about the security industry and your current work/role?

Vroman: My position lends itself to much more than security and that is why I love it. I can walk into a health-care facility and always find a way to make technology integrate or work better for everyone. Our technologies impact patient safety and staff workflow every day. It’s really neat to know that the technologies I have installed and programmed with my own two hands are saving lives and increasing people’s quality of life at work.

What do you find to be some of the biggest challenges?

Vroman: Selling, selling, selling. This is a tough, cutthroat industry to sell in. You have to do your homework. You have to know what the customer wants and why. When you are sitting in a room with C-suite members who don’t know you, don’t know what you do, and are certainly not experts on the technology, you have to paint a simple picture. Meetings like that are not the time to make yourself sound like an M.I.T. grad. You have to explain things in an easy-to-understand way. You have to say what you can do and what they can expect from you. I have seen many competitors lose to us on this part. Secondly, but just as equally challenging, is adapting to technology as it changes with the ever-changing landscape of health care. Like I said before, learning on a constant basis is a must and you will never succeed if you aren’t always reading magazines, books, articles and going to technology shows.

What skills do you think are most important to succeed in your type of job?

Vroman: Personal and professional time management. It’s easy to be that guy who will always answer the phone at all times of the night. Unfortunately, your family pays for that always. Also, I have had to learn to take notes, all the time and write in a planner. Also, anticipating and adapting to knowledge levels. One meeting may be with the director of IT while another one about the same technology might be with the CFO. You have to know how to handle both meetings. Finally, and this may seem cliché, but there is a quote that I love and live by on a daily basis. I remember this no matter who it is I am talking to: “You know a manager when you are talking to one because you know they are important. You know a leader when you are talking to one because you are important.” A solid quote I live by every day.

What else do you hope to achieve in this industry, and life?

Vroman: I want to be the premier expert in the U.S. on health-care integration technologies. I want to be the guy everyone calls to get ideas and opinions on what direction to go with their health systems. I think that would be incredible. If I did that I know I would benefit Xentry but I would also have a hand in how health-care systems across the nation are changing and saving lives. Personally, I would love to find some time to go back to school and get into biomed or mechanical engineering. As for my family, I will always do what it takes to give them the life they deserve and teach my children to never settle for the status quo. 

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About the Author

Contact:

Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].

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