Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Passing the Torch Again!

Earlier this year Scott Scrogin was named President of Heartland Tech Group. Recently another key announcement was made - that Connie Arentson is now President of Heartland Technology Solutions.

That makes me out of the loop on the day to day business of both HTS and HTG. Sort of like sending your kids to college. You work toward this day all your life, and when it comes, it seems like only yesterday you were starting the business. Connie and Scott are both fantastic leaders whom I trust completely. They are surrounded by a fantastic leadership team at both HTS (Jane Cage and Larry Hedin) and HTG (Ken Shetler and Christy Sacco) as well as strong boards that will be focused on keeping things moving the right direction. My role will be to focus on strategy, M&A, relationships and whatever else I can do to add value to both orgs. My official title will be CEO and Chairman of the board and I will still be involved in both organizations to support and bring opportunities to the leadership teams. The hard part is keeping out of the way of day to day decisions, although with my travel schedule it really isn't all that hard to be out of the routine.

Here is the official press release. It really is a great day for all - our teams, our customers, our partners, our members, our vendors and everyone associated in any way with HTS or HTG. Things are in very good and capable hands, and I am proud to still be allowed to be part of it all.

Harlan, Iowa (July 21, 2009) – Heartland Technology Solutions (HTS) announces that Connie Arentson has been named president of HTS. Connie will be responsible for day to day activities at HTS. Connie most recently served as Vice President of Professional Services where she managed the service side of the HTS technology business as well as leading the Precision Agriculture business unit. Connie has been with HTS since 1995 and served as a dispatcher for a number of years, and as a field engineer prior to that. “Providing great customer service has been an integral part of delivering solutions at HTS and that will definitely continue to be a top priority,” said Connie.

Connie is a member of First Baptist Church where she serves as a teacher for Sunday school and Baptist Youth Fellowship, an outreach ministry program for 170 kids in the Harlan community. She is also an active member of the praise team. Recently Connie served on the Harlan Sports Booster Board.

A graduate of Iowa State University, Connie earned double bachelor’s degrees in Agriculture Education and Dairy Science.

Kim Marples has also been promoted to service manager at HTS and will hold that role across all HTS locations. Previously Kim held the role of dispatcher for the Harlan location and worked closely with the technical team to ensure clients’ needs were met and expectations were exceeded.

Kim is also a graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor’s of Business Administration in Transportation and Logistics.

Scott Scrogin was earlier named President of Heartland Tech Groups, the international peer group program founded in 2000 by Arlin Sorensen. Scott has been filling that role since the first of the year and has recently been joined with the addition of Christy Sacco who is now part of the HTG team. Ken Shetler continues his role of building strategic relationships for HTG as well.

The longstanding HTS leadership team will remain in place with Arlin Sorensen continuing to serve as Chairman and CEO, Jane Cage as COO and Larry Hedin as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “Connie and Scott both bring a deep understanding of our client base and the proven ability to streamline processes and drive efficiency which will help ensure that our clients continue to receive the best possible service. This will allow my role to change from day to day management to strategy, M&A and industry relationships,” said Arlin.

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