Today, the tables are turned! These Team Gartrell introductions have all been hosted by Ben McLeod, but we decided to give him a break since it’s his turn in the spotlight.
Ben! Hello, hello. Thanks for letting us interview you for a change. Can you share with our readers what you do at The Gartrell Group?
I've had so many titles over the years. My current title is Chief Storyteller because every company needs a storyteller.
Don’t stop there—we want to know everything!
Let's see: I started in 2010 by helping prepare responses to RFPs. Then, I began to manage a few projects, but I was pretty bad at that. I had difficulty saying no or understanding scope creep, so I kept promising stuff to clients without discussing additional costs. It was kind of a mess. While I was terrible at managing our developers, I was pretty good at understanding what our clients needed, so I began down a new path as a "Project Owner," meaning that I would meet with the clients, prepare requirements documents, and then work with the developers as they iterated through sprints. I would test the code they developed and then, once I was satisfied, release the work to the clients. Additionally, I managed the Gartrell Group website.
In 2017, I went to work for my kids' school. It was not the best decision, but it spurred my wife and me to seriously look at our priorities - which then saw us moving to Bend, Oregon, in 2018 so we could live our lives the way we love, skiing and mountain biking. I was quickly able to resume working for Gartrell Group. This time, I was testing iterations of an app we were developing for a utility company. Others wrote the requirements, so all I had to do was write the tests and implement them. That job also morphed into writing documentation for the app. I've continued to help a bit in testing, but now that we have a full-fledged team of QA professionals, I'm mainly in the shadows for that. This past year has seen me move into more end-user training and documentation and learn ESRI’s Storymaps. I also usually write these blog posts.
Out of all those roles and responsibilities over the years, what’s been your favorite part of your job?
A couple of things:
1. I love meeting people from different industries and learning about their work.
2. I get to do all sorts of cool new things.
Love that! Where did you grow up?
Concord, NH
Hey, isn’t that where Molly & Bryce grew up? (Note to our readers: Molly and Bryce are the sister/brother team who run The Gartrell Group.)
They grew up in Warner, a town about 20 minutes from Concord. I met them when Bryce and I were in Kindergarten. My family lived in Warner for half a year as my parents searched for a house to purchase in Concord. At that time, we lived in my grandmother’s house in Warner, a former Inn that was super creepy and definitely haunted. Bryce and I had many adventures in that place, as well as the huge old barn and acres and acres of land to play in. My sister Molly and Molly were friends and also had their adventures.
What should people know about you?
I don’t know if I can call myself an artist since I didn’t go to art school, but I love to create visual art. I've been a still photographer for years—primarily landscapes - but recently, I got a GoPro and started playing with video. And even more recently, I got a drone and enjoy playing with the amazing perspective I can get for still photos and video.
You probably don’t get to have much fun in Bend, do you?
I live to move my body (I get really grouchy if I haven’t sweat in a few days). I love wheels and skiing, mountain biking, skate skiing, alpine skiing, ski touring. I also love to help other people do those things. I coach mountain biking in the spring and fall, and I'm a ski race coach in the winter. I run the U10 race program for Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation. We have about 70 kids and ten coaches. I love watching a kid overcome a challenge. It's the best feeling in the world.
Oh! Do you have any shots we can see?
Yep—lots of videos and photos live on my Instagram.
Thanks for letting us hear your thoughts and share them with the world!
