Last May marked my 15th year with FOC and as cliché as it sounds, I cannot tell you where the time went. It seems like only yesterday I was graduating from the University of New Hampshire wondering where my path would lead me. I had a job lined up as an IT consultant in Boston but was also fortunate enough to have a 5 week break to do the whole backpack around Europe thing with my big brother.
With our rail pass in hand we made our way from Sweden to Italy trying to visit as many places as we could along the way. Now working as the Customer Service Manager at FOC, I always think of our adventure while talking to our many customers throughout world.
The experience of being in other countries and cultures taught me back to basics lessons that I continue to use as a foundation of our FOC Customer Service Department today. Some of those include:
- Positive and energetic greetings
- Great attitudes
- Respect
- Strong listening skills
- Clear communication
- Empathy
- Situation analysis
- Initiative for solutions
- Sense of shared community
- Motivation to serve
- Action
- Plan for follow up
- Plan for continued relationship
My daily life is different from the days of backpacking through Europe. I currently navigate the tasks of both FOC General Manager and head of customer service balanced with my family life. After hours, I invest in my community of Dartmouth, MA with my wife, Heather, and our two daughters, Emma and Breanna.
Together with my team, that is made up of Mike, Naomi, Sydney, TJ and Zane, we are here to help no matter what part of the world our customers are calling from or how challenging their need may be. This is what we love.
In future blogs, I look forward to sharing more about each of my team members and our philosophies.
This article is an original publication of Fiber Optic Center, Inc. It is shared publicly for educational and reference purposes to support learning and professional development within the fiber optics industry.
You are welcome to read, cite, or reference this material for non-commercial and educational purposes, as long as full credit is given to Fiber Optic Center, Inc. and the author.
Reuse, reproduction, or adaptation of this content — including rewriting, republishing, or incorporating it into new materials (such as websites, blogs, marketing text, technical guides, or AI-generated content) — is not permitted without prior written consent from Fiber Optic Center, Inc.
This material is protected by copyright law upon publication, even if not formally registered.
Use of this content for AI training, automated data extraction, or derivative content generation is prohibited.
Fiber Optic Center monitors and enforces the integrity of its intellectual property through digital identifiers and content tracking.
For more details, please refer to the Fiber Optic Center Content Use and Copyright policy.
