EXECUTIVE TEAM
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Kent Jacobson
Chairman of the Board, Chief Operations Officer
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Mr. Jacobson is the driving force behind Team Absolute's double-digit growth for
the past eight years, currently providing implementation and technical
consulting services to Lawson-based clients across the United States, Canada and
foreign countries. He brings 28 years of information systems experience, which
includes 13 years of Lawson-based support services in all application suites,
environments, upgrades, web products, advanced technologies and supporting
infrastructures. His experience is split between
the health care and retail sectors.
Prior to working with Lawson-based systems, Kent had 9 years in the health insurance and 5
years in direct marketing industries.
Kent's passion, experience, and desire to do the right thing are contagious. Ask
any of our Consultants and they will agree that Kent challenges them to a higher
standard. Both with the internal Team and the larger Team of clients, friends
and consultants, Kent is always willing to explore, innovate, and put his all
into everything he does. He takes the time to understand strategic goals and
make them a reality; to Kent, your success is his success.
Tidbit: Kent is actually guilty of dialing in to a client on
his honeymoon!
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Jerry Snyder
Chief Executive Officer
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In 1965, Jerry began his career as a programmer. In 1975, he co-founded a
computer consulting company called Lawson Associates (now Lawson). In 1985,
Jerry spun off the Lawson Professional Services Division into a separate entity.
In the four years to follow, his "spin off", Lawson Professional Services (LPS,
Inc.) grew from $800,000 in annual revenues to $8,000,000. In 1988, he purchased
Legal Decision Systems, Inc. (LDSi) and in 1989, sold LPS to Computer Science
Corporation (CSC).
From there, Jerry went on to become President of Technalysis Corporation, a
contract programming services company with approximately 200 employees. At
Technalysis, Jerry successfully reversed the company's trend of declining
profits and positioned Technalysis to be sold to CompuWare. In the spring of
1995, he returned to LDSi as CEO and in January 2005 merged LDSi with Absolute!,
Inc.
Jerry's reputation in the local computer industry is unequalled. His ability to
create investor and employee loyalty has been instrumental in his many business
successes. Investors and employees have been known to follow Jerry throughout
his career and business ventures.
Tidbit: Ask Jerry about his original programs - in 0's and 1's!
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Larry Mattson
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
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Larry was among the first employees on Kent's Absolute team, filling the need
for a sales representative. Kent, believing in Larry's enthusiasm and honesty in
customer service and commitment, invited Larry to help build the Absolute dream.
In fact, Larry was so loud and enthusiastic, Kent assigned him an office in the
garage.
With a degree from UMD in Business Administration/Sales and Marketing, Larry
brings over 30 years of sales and marketing experience in a variety of
industries to the Absolute team of experts. His ability to negotiate services
that meet both customer and company needs has proven valuable to the growth and
success of Absolute and their customers. Larry's common sense combined with a
creative approach, along with fun-loving showmanship and humor when needed, has
contributed to Absolute's memorable mark in the Lawson-based market.
Tidbit: Larry was the most-requested Greyhound charter-bus driver for
bowling tournaments and polka fests, was a disco king in Dallas, and taught
country dancing to Kent, which is how they met.
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Lenny Murney
Vice President of Technologies Marketing
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As Vice President of Technologies Marketing, Lenny Murney brings a modern
approach to customers' use of business technology. Since 1982 Lenny has been a
business technology leader dedicated to the Professional Services industry, and
has served customers in retail, manufacturing, agriculture and finance.
Upon entering the technology field, Lenny leveraged large-scale database
technology to implement an inventory and production system for governmental cost
reporting and contract compliance. In the late 1980s, he led several teams in
increasing the efficiency of manufacturing processes by linking manufacturing
systems with front office ERP and MRP systems. Lenny's vision has always been to
present technology at its best. He followed that vision in 1992 when he
co-founded a data automation company that mixed wireless networks, RFID, barcode
and other leading edge technologies to increase the speed of business.
Lenny joined Absolute! in 2000 to be part of a team that offers best of class
service and customer-first loyalty. His prime focus is on Lawson's Advanced
Technologies including Portal, Business Intelligence, data analysis and remote
user access. Today Lenny works with customers in innovative ways to leverage
their information, employees and technical infrastructure.
Tidbit: Besides Kent, Lenny is the longest running Absolute employee.
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DJ Weisenberger
Practice Director - Business Development
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DJ Weisenberger works with our Consultants, Project Managers and Sales staff to
ensure we continue to deliver stellar services to our customers. His background
is as a Project Manager with an application background relating to benefits and
human resource. He is highly skilled in project management, functional
consulting, report writing, training, troubleshooting, and issue and program
analysis. His significant strengths include detailed project planning,
communication, presentation, and problem solving skills. DJ works extremely well
with all levels of management and end-users, as an independent contributor and
as part of a team.
Tidbit: The D and J stand for David James (but don't try to
call him that!)
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Ruth Strauss
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Ruth Strauss is a consummate IT professional with experience in process,
development, and integration management. She is highly organized, with
exceptional attention to follow through. She is also a well grounded person with
strong interpersonal skills for managing people and resources, and works well
with individuals at all levels. Ruth has extensive experience in the Information
Technology, Insurance, Finance, Banking, and Customer Service industries.
Ruth leverages all of her past experiences to run a strong and efficient Lawson-based
Services devision. Her ITIL Certification (Information Technology Infrastructure
Library) is a certification on best practices focused on the management of IT
Service Processes. It is a comprehensive, consistent, and coherent process to
deliver and support IT services based on business requirements.
Tidbit: Ruth's organization and fortitude were formed in the Marine Corps
and still serve her well today. OohRaH!