Veteran Spotlight: David Gentile

After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1988 and completing Nuclear Power School, Nuclear Prototype Training and Submarine School, David Gentile spent the next three-and-a-half years as a Nuclear/Submarine Qualified Division Officer aboard USS Baltimore (SSN-704), a Los Angeles class fast attack submarine based in Norfolk, VA. When it came time for Gentile to transition out of the Navy, he followed his fellow JMOs advice and began to work with Orion International. He was subsequently placed with International Paper as a Plant/Manufacturing Engineer by Orion in 1993.

Gentile obtained his job with International Paper through a Mini-Conference® held at their Memphis corporate headquarters. He was one of about 15 JMOs interviewing for positions in International Paper’s manufacturing facilities within the corrugated container division in the United States. It was the combination of salary and location with a big name company that attracted Gentile to this position in the management training program. “In a very short time there, I got incredible exposure to all aspects of manufacturing operations,” says Gentile.

Since his initial position outside of the military, Gentile’s career has shifted from manufacturing operations to wireless/software service management. After 18 months with International Paper, Gentile took his “invaluable experience” gained, and parlayed that into a Production Manager role with Brown & Williamson Tobacco. He was at Brown & Williamson for about three years before deciding to take a Plant Manager position with Seaward International. The role at Seaward turned out to be much more than a Plant Manager role, however, and Gentile gained experience in Sales, as well. While at Seaward, he attended George Washington University and received his MBA.

After graduating from GWU, Gentile made the jump into the high-tech field and took a Program Management position at a wireless IT startup in Northern Virginia named Ztango. “What on paper looked like a step backwards, actually ended up being a great decision. There, my leadership and management skills served me well, as I developed the reputation for being able to get complex revenue generating services launched quickly and profitably,” explains Gentile, “Even though the IT bubble burst about nine months after I got to Ztango, I was one of ten people of the original 150 that survived and built the company up that was subsequently acquired by a South Korean company (WiderThan) and later by Real Networks.”

Eleven years later, Gentile is still with Real Networks and is now the AVP – Service Management, responsible for all services to wireless carrier customers in the US. He has a team of about 40 employees and an annual revenue stream of about $50MM. “In my current role, I am effectively the CEO for my part of the organization with P&L responsibility and a large amount of autonomy. I’m looking to translate that into a COO or CEO role in a technology firm hopefully in my not too distant future,” says Gentile of his future plans.

Gentile credits not only the leadership and management skills he obtained in the Navy, but also his ability to confront any challenge head-on with his success in his career. “There were no challenges in industry that came anywhere close to the pressure and intensity of submarine and nuclear power operations. I always seemed to be the calm in the storm,” says Gentile. He also points out that the frequency with which he changed duty in the Navy prepared him well for increasing responsibility in his civilian career.

“I learned that you had to build upon what you knew and then question everything else,” explains Gentile, “This served me incredibly well when I moved from traditional manufacturing to wireless IT with Ztango. When I got to Ztango, everyone other than me had an IT background or a wireless communications background or both. I had neither, yet I was effective. My effectiveness came from my strength as a leader and my willingness to admit what I didn’t know and quickly learn from there.”

During his time at Real Networks, Gentile has hired three JMOs, each of which was a USNA graduate. All three were well-regarded and effective in their roles. Gentile suggests that other hiring managers value veterans for more than just their directly transferable skills. “Subject knowledge can be easily taught. Instead, value veterans for the qualities that are critically important in industry today, including integrity, aptitude, and strong and effective leadership and management skills,” advises Gentile.

David Gentile’s career path reveals the flexibility and wide-ranging skill set that veterans bring with them to a civilian position. Hire a Hero, Hire a Vet continues to herald the value of veterans and is proud of veterans like Gentile.

What Employees Need From Their Managers

Each employee requires different traits from their manager in order to make the relationship work. It’s impossible to know what each person might need from their employer. But a recent survey of 500 U.S. employees, published in the book What People Want, by Terry Bacon, will give you an idea of what employees want and don’t want from their employers.

90% of respondents want honesty from their manager. Among the other top needs were fairness, trust, respect and dependability. Still other employees crave collaboration, genuineness, appreciation and responsiveness.

What many employees feel they don’t need from you is friendship. Only 3% of respondents said they wanted their manager to be their friend. They could also do without TLC, emotional support and conversation.

While it’s important to understand these traits, they aren’t universal. Take the time to understand the needs of each employee. Workers who are fulfilled at work stay longer, are more loyal, and do a much better job, making your job that much easier.

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Industry Spotlight: Medical Device

A recent article on Military.com spotlighting Orion alumnus Brian Schulz and his position in the Medical Device industry draws attention to an expanding industry that appears to be weathering a down economy well. In the article, From S-3 Vikings to Medical Devices, Schulz discusses how his roles as a Naval Lieutenant and flight officer relate to his current role as a Spine Consultant with Medtronic Spine and Biologics. Schulz is just one of many veterans who are finding success in the Medical Device industry.

According to Hoovers, the United States medical device industry includes about 11,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $85 billion. Top companies in this field include Siemens Healthcare, BD Medical, Baxter International, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific. A September 2011 Medical Device Stock Outlook on Zacks.com recently discussed the growth opportunities that will keep this industry growing at a vigorous rate. Factors include an aging Baby Boomer population, high unmet medical needs, and increased incidence of lifestyle diseases. With growth factors and figures like those, hiring managers are finding veterans to be an outstanding talent pool from which to recruit.

“We walk into our first squadron, platoon or ship when we’re 22 or 23 years old and we immediately get leadership experience,” Schulz tells Military.com of how his military skills relate to his civilian career, “Most people don't get the opportunity to manage until they're in their late twenties or early thirties. We get management and leadership experience at a very early age, and we get to utilize that over our full term of service.” That experience has served Schulz well as he has now been with Medtronic for four years and is responsible for his own territory in Montana. Schulz adds that his understanding of communication up and down the chain of command has helped tremendously with his career. “In the military, we’re very aware of keeping our leadership informed and keeping those who we are responsible for informed of what’s going on, and it’s been very beneficial in my current role,” explains Schulz.

Orion International has found medical device careers for Officers, Senior Enlisted, and Non-Commissioned Officers in positions including Sales, Engineering, Production Management. One such placement is Michael Moore. Moore was a Firecontrolman First Class in the Navy who states, “I found that the professional and electronics training I received during my time in the service helped me immensely. I would not have gotten my job with Toshiba American Medical Systems as a Field Service Engineer had it not been for that training.”

Brian Davis, an Army Captain, has settled into this industry as a Manufacturing / Production Manager for BD Medical. “Of all the positions I held while in the military,” says Davis, “I will apply my skills I acquired while serving as an Assistant Operations Officer to my new position as a Manufacturing/Production Manager for BD Medical. As an Ops Officer, I learned how to lead teams that would routinely go above and beyond expectations. I learned how to motivate team members to accomplish the mission and learned that as a Leader it was my responsible to ensure the morale remained high throughout the project.”

Schulz’s success, coupled with that of the many other veterans throughout an expanding industry, reveals how big of an asset veterans are to their medical device employers. Hire a Hero, Hire a Vet encourages hiring managers to look to veterans for their expanding hiring needs.

Interview Questions to Find Team Players

The old definition of “team player” has changed. The term that once meant someone who always supports the company program is now a bit more complicated to define. Today, managers who are looking to recruit team players should look for candidates who can provide meaningful feedback, raise questions appropriately, work well with all colleagues and prioritize over their own success.

To gain insight into a candidate’s mindset and figure out if they are a modern team player, consultant Glenn Parker, Skillman, N.J., author of Team Players and Teamwork, Completely Updated and Revised: New Strategies for Developing Successful Collaboration, suggests incorporating the following interview questions:

• You are on your way to the first meeting of a new project team, what questions are on your mind?
• What does it mean to be a good team player?
• Let’s say you’re on a virtual team (you’ve never met most of your teammates.) How can you develop trust with your teammates?
• Is it possible to be a good team player and yet disagree with your manager?
• Is it more important for a team player to have solid technical skills or effective interpersonal skills?
• In today’s fast-paced, global, technology world, what team attributes are going to be most valuable?
• In this organization, you will most likely work with several teams, each with separate goals. How will you adapt your style as you move from team to team?
•Imagine you are a member of a project team. One of your teammates is pushing the team to come up with an overarching goal, specific objectives and a timeline. You are frustrated by all this talk -- you want to get to work on the tasks at hand, given the challenging deadline imposed by management. How should you react?

Team players are an asset to any company. Adding these questions to your interview routine can help you discover which candidates fit into this important group.

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