What do you consider to be your main area of expertise?
This is hard to answer as some of the skills that made me an expert in my previous life have been mapped to IT and managing a consulting company.  However some skills have been learnt since I’ve changed careers and now represent a key area of my expertise.  I guess the two skills that I bring to any role are communication and coordination.  I’ve always been able to talk the leg off an iron pot, and in a small, close knit group of people like Congruent, this makes an huge difference to the feeling that everyone is involved and has a chance to have their say.  I really enjoying writing and I ken right reel gud! so I can make sure that we have first class resumes for our consultants, marketing material, web content and proposals plus re-write all the techno-jargon that normal people can’t understand.  I’ve always been pretty organised, so I find managing a variety of tasks at the one time pretty easy.  This has been very beneficial in a small team where everyone has a chance to get their hands dirty and where we often have to cover for each other during vacation time or when we’re busy.

What originally drew you to consulting or the computing field?
That would be Anton’s fault!  Originally I was going to help out on a part-time basis for a couple of months until Congruent was in a position to appoint a full-time Administrator … that was in 1999 and I’m still here!  I guess now that I have experience in the industry, it will affect the career choices I make, IT doesn’t give me the buzz that I get from Event Management but I have good skills that are in demand so it might be hard to resist any interesting offers.

Why did you join Congruent?
In early 1999 I decided to take a break from touring, as I had been a Producer and Tour Manager in showbiz for a few years.  Anton and I had moved to the UK about 6 months earlier and Congruent was starting to take off with about 5 staff at the time.  I decided to help out part-time as Anton had been doing all the administrative, financial and sales work on top of consulting full-time.  That part-time role quickly developed into the position of General Manager which I held until last year, at which point Christine and Anton each took over different parts of the job and I was finally able to get some time off!

How is working for Congruent different to working for previous employers?
There’s no easy way to answer this, as anything I say is going to sound biased because I share Antons’ vision of Congruent’s values and goals…. It is terrific to work with such a great team in an environment free of politics and backstabbing and that’s very different from previous employers!

I guess the biggest difference is the huge career shift from working in the entertainment industry to the IT industry and the fact that we have started our own business.   You find good and bad aspects of any role and any company, but I have really enjoyed being involved from the very beginning with Congruent and seeing the company grow and become successful.  The challenge to start a company is one that we might not have taken in Australia for fear of not being successful on our home turf.  We moved to Europe figuring we had nothing to lose by giving it a go and so far it’s been a damn tough but rewarding experience. 

Where do you want to be in 5 years time?
In Australia, spending plenty of time with our family and friends and working as a freelance Tour Manager for Marilyn Manson ….. well maybe the last part is on Anton’s 5 year plan ‘-)

I’d settle for the Wiggles.

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