It was a semi-retired NFL Referee who kickstarted Richard Martin’s drive into the business technology industry.

Richard was working security at Six Flags Over Texas while attending school for electronics and computer repair. There was an older gentleman who took the Six Flags gig in the NFL off season who hit it off with Richard, and knew of his professional ambitions. In mid 1997, he gave Richard a really great tip.

“He was like, ‘you need to get into the copier business, because it’s changing quite a bit. They pay well, and they’re looking for people with more technical knowledge, especially as things start to move toward digital environments,” Richard recalls.

Richard took that advice and drove straight into a number of Interviews, including technology giant Pitney Bowes. But that was Downtown, and at the time, Datamax was situated closer to his home and offered a a bit more of a “family-owned” atmosphere.

27+ years later, and Richard hasn’t veered elsewhere. Today, he keeps a team of IT Professional on course with speed, precision, energy, and a powerful sense of empathy.

Driven by Education.

Being a constant learner is one of the most powerful advantages you can bring to your IT career — not just to stay competitive, but to thrive and lead. It builds trust with clients and colleagues and future proofs your career. Richard was, is, and always will be driven to learn more about the space he works in.
Just check out the guy’s LinkedIn Page. The list of licenses and certifications puts a stamp on his educational acumen.  

“I’m constantly educating myself and learning and growing,” Richard said. “This industry changes fast. There’s a lot of effort that needs to be put into keep up with the technology landscape.”

Driven by a Stable Environment.

Corporate stability, in Richard’s case, should never be confused with stagnation. After all, Richard’s been all over the proverbial Datamax map in the roles he served. He started out as a shop technician. He next went into the Connectivity side of the copier business as the digital transformation erupted, and eventually took over manning the internal Datamax network.

“About that time we were running on Novell and so I went back and got Novell certified. About that time, Justin (Huffaker) came on board and we began the process of migrating to Windows… After a while, I shifted from doing internal work to helping Justin on the Document Management side and the IT technical support side as well.”

While his career steadily evolved, he enjoyed and appreciated the stability of the company that employed him and the people he reported to.

Driven by Empathy.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings, perspectives, and challenges of others. It goes beyond mere sympathy, and implies active listening, recognition of others’ perspectives, and a genuine response that makes others feel understood and supported.

Richard is the epitome of this sentiment. Whatever his employees are going through, he’s likely been there, too.

“I’ve always had someone in my career catch me if I get too close to the edge of the cliff, and maybe not give me the answers but point me in the right direction,” Richard said. “Experiencing that, and dealing with that, helps me understand what individuals on my team go through. I may not answer them immediately when they’re shooting me multiple questions, because I want them to figure it out themselves. But there’s a point that, if they are lost, I need to go in and provide that necessary level of support.”

Richard continues: “Datamax is very good at supporting its employees. We constantly strive for maximum effort from our team members, we have a strong team and know what they are capable of!  That being said, Datamax is always ready to help when personal situations arise,” Richard said. “Having people like Justin at the higher-level paying attention to all team members, and guiding management in decision making definitely helps. As with myself, Justin does not always provide the answers and most of the time wants a recommendation before he chimes in. This type of leadership has helped me grow to where I am, I want the same growth and support for my team.”

Exhibit A of Richard's empathy? Just ask Cloud Team Support Desk Manager Jennifer Edens.

"Richard has been like a  professional big brother to me. As I followed somewhat in his career path he has been there, whether he wants to or not, to support me and help me grow. He’s a great leader in my opinion and I feel lucky to know him,  to have learned from him and to see all the amazing things he does day after day," Jennifer said.

Empathy in action. Driving his team toward further success.