N27 W23588 Paul Road, Pewaukee
www.cc-n.com
Industry: Technology
Number of employees: 164
Education: B.S. in business administration with specialization in finance, Marquette University; post-graduate program, continuing education in management, Marquette University
Family: Husband, Daniel James Reardon, and children, Nicholas, Shaylan, Daniel and Moira.
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
“In 2009, CC&N defined its four company priorities and developed a strategic plan around those priorities (employee owners, customer excellence, financial safety and growth).”
What’s new at your company?
“Among our accomplishments in 2009, CC&N has created a new sales and marketing department. We also have launched new processes and metric tracking through the adoption of a CRM system (Microsoft Dynamics). We also recently attained Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status and became an Avaya business partner.”
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
“Currently, CC&N’s sales team cannot keep up with the leads we are receiving. In order to support the ongoing demand, our company anticipates adding the following staff sometime over the next year: one to two additional business development executives; one to two additional design account managers for low-voltage connectivity systems; and one to two additional Avaya sales engineers. CC&N also is making capital investments within our IT department. The department will be implementing several changes over the coming months. One of the first updates will be installing a SAN (Storage Area Network) that will allow CC&N to engage in new initiatives, including an enterprise-wide CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database, photo and video documentation, server virtualization and SQL development.”
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?
“CC&N’s biggest challenge over the next year will be to secure quality employee owners to fill key positions in order to support growing sales demands.”
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
“Three of the hottest trends in our industry currently include server virtualization, wireless networks based on the 802.11n standard and supporting the mobile workforce with voice, video and data in an anytime, anywhere environment. CC&N provides solutions for all of these trends and we design, implement, and manage the infrastructure that it all rides on.”
Do you have a business mantra?
“During the development of our strategic plan, CC&N adopted the following mantra: ‘your business accelerated.’ This mantra is consistent with our company mission, which also was created during CC&N’s strategic planning process: Provide premier communication technologies that accelerate business success.”
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
“I look up to Dick Hettwer, who founded CC&N. He remains CC&N’s chairman of the board and ESOP trustee.”
What was the best advice you ever received?
“When I first began my professional career more than 20 years ago, Perry Wyatt, my manager and mentor, gave me the following advice: ‘The secret to business success is very easy and yet so many individuals and companies fail at it – it is service excellence.’ If you build your business with like-minded individuals that value the customer, then you’ll be successful. When I joined the CC&N team 15 years later, Dick Hettwer, who served as president at the time, gave me similar advice: ‘Make the customer successful, and you’ll be successful.'”
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your career?
“When I was a sales manager for another technology firm years ago, I was driving the director of communications and sales for the company’s Western region during her business trip to the Milwaukee area. The car I had at the time had a very leaky sunroof and, as luck would have it, it was pouring the day of her visit. All day, I drove very carefully, pulling up to stop signs and traffic lights as slow as possible to avoid water dripping from the sunroof. After dinner that evening, I was driving the director back to her hotel and had to quickly brake for a yellow light. The director was instantly drenched – it looked like she’d just been on a waterpark ride. Unbelievably, she remained completely calm and composed.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“I enjoy watching my four active children participate in various sporting events. I also like taking leisurely weekend walks with my husband and our golden retriever. I enjoy coaching basketball, and I’m a good cook, but a horrible baker. In addition, I am an avid photographer.”
