Getting Real in the Classroom
Classroom lessons still guide Tom Clark’s career journey at Faith Technologies, Inc.
Tom Clark’s career journey has been nothing short of impressive. Before joining Faith Technologies, Inc. (FTI) in 2008, where he is now Chief Experience Officer, Tom previously held positions at respected local companies such as School Specialty, The Boldt Company, American Medical Security and Hoffman, LLC. With such a remarkable professional resume, you might speculate that Tom’s time as a college student in the mid- ‘90s was just a blip on the radar.
But, you would be wrong.
“Fox Valley Tech has been a major part of what I’ve been able to do in my career,” says Tom, who graduated with an associate degree in Marketing in 1995.
After high school, Tom was unsure what he wanted to do so he enrolled in a few classes at the local UW center. A business class introduced him to marketing and he was hooked. After doing some research, he enrolled in FVTC’s Marketing program.
“What still sticks out to me about my time at Fox Valley Tech is the instructors I had when I was there,” Tom explains. “I can recollect how many of them brought their real-world experiences to the table. While we were learning content and theories behind marketing, they always related it to what we were going to do in the real world. We learned how to take theory and apply it.”
After graduating from FVTC, Tom entered the workforce and ultimately pursued a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Lakeland University while working full time.
At Faith, Tom coordinates all sales and marketing, and internal communications efforts for three divisions of FTI: Faith Technologies, energy division EnTech Solutions and Excellerate, the manufacturing arm of the company. FTI has been a great fit for Tom for more than a decade. He feels strongly Faith is a great fit for future FVTC graduates.
“Our culture as an organization fits an FVTC grad very well,” Tom says. “We are focused on the development and growth of the person and that’s one of the great things about FVTC. It’s a bit smaller and there is a caring culture for the students to develop. And they’ll get that type of environment at Faith.”
Faith Technologies, Inc. has hired FVTC graduates almost every year since 2002, with most grads coming from business or electrical-related programs.