(PrintView Manager - Little Rock Office) - When Russ Hill joined the Datamax team right out of college, he’d never even touched a copier. The devices, of course, were far from office mainstays, relegated instead to print shops where you paid a dime to make a copy when it was deemed necessary.

But rest assured, the son of a farmer has the toner in his blood, now.  39 years later, he’s seen a little bit of it all. The evolution of the technology, and the productivity associated tools can bring to an organization are what keep him engaged. Russ is a chiseled veteran with a wide array of technical experience and professional roles that make him an expert at his craft here at Datamax.

What led me to Datamax?

Russ grew up on a farm outside of Almyra, Arkansas, but chose to take his talents to Arkansas College of Technologies after high school. Upon earning his degree in Electronics Technology, he went to apply for jobs, and the first to call was Datamax. The rest, as they say is history.

“My first job was a service technician making $5 an hour,” Russ recalls.

My experiences at Datamax:

Russ steadily moved up from within the organization. He was promoted to various roles over the years, including Field Supervisor, Shop Supervisor, a Canon-certified internal trainer, Service Manager over high-end color equipment, and more recently as the PrintView Manager. As such, Russ oversees many of the proactive, productivity-enhancing services provided to customers through tools like FMAudit.

“When I started here, a lot of our business was offset press,” Russ recalls. “As the copiers became more prevalent,  that went by the wayside. Faxes were huge at one time, as were electronic typewriters. The evolution has been astounding over the years…. But I learn something new every day. Some days it’s small, some days it’s really big. With the ever-changing technology, there’s always something new, and you never know what’s around the corner.”

What makes me want to stay at Datamax?

Russ jokes that he “loves the smell of toner in the morning.”

“For the most part, we’re just a big family. I’ve talked to a lot of people at other companies, and they don’t always have that,” Russ said. “Once you get so many years behind you, it’s like, what’s another year? What’re another two years? I’m in it for the long haul now. When it comes down to it, I believe in the company philosophy and how it treats its people.”