This month we have chosen to highlight Wayne Peterson, our Account Manager. Wayne works in the Madision, WI office. He helps us manage IT staffing and accounts. Read more about Wayne in this post.

What is your experience in? What brought you to V-Soft?

I’ve been in information technology and information technology management for most of my career, which eventually lead me to Safe Bridge Solutions. I went to V-Soft from there around nine and a half years ago. 

I always had a strong liking for mathematics – I guess because it seemed precise – there are infinite ways to write a theme, but math usually results in a very specific answer.  During the Vietnam War, I volunteered for the draft and, long story short, ended up in the Army Security Agency on a four year enlistment monitoring the Soviet missile ranges using a Sylvania computer.  That experience sparked an intense interest to pursue computer programming when I returned to complete my college degree.  I took every IT course possible – COBOL, FORTRAN, PL/1, Assembler Language, Systems Analysis and Design, etc. I eventually graduated and began my IT career as a PL/1 programmer at State farm Insurance in Bloomington, IL.

After two years there, I relocated to Madison where I continued my career as Programmer/Analyst, followed by Systems Software Specialist, then Database Administrator and eventually moved into a career in IT management.  I still enjoy the creative aspect of programming – I wrote very sophisticated application in Excel that automatically tracks all our scoring (wagering) for our Myrtle Beach golf trips.

What do you consider a fulfilling work day?

When a number of requirements appear and eventually turn into interviews and placements.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Probably in the upper peninsula of Michigan, fishing and enjoying my retirement.

What do you think is the best thing about V-Soft?

I would say that the company is set for tremendous growth and opportunities.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I do a lot of home improvement activities, golf and fishing.

I began fishing as a young child when I was old enough to hold a pole in my grandfather’s boat at our family owned cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Still fish there as often as I can get there including ice fishing – last January the ice was 42 inches thick!  I have fished in very remote areas of Ontario, Canada many times for walleye and northern.  Fished for king salmon and halibut in the ocean off the shores of Queen Charlotte Island in northernmost British Columbia.

What I like most about both of these is the companionship and being outdoors enjoying nature – particularly golf where I see more of nature with my errant shots than do most golfers.  I consider fishing a new lake or golfing a new course a wonderful adventure.

Do you have a fun fact about yourself?

I’ve travelled extensively, which includes Canada, Mexico, Europe and Africa.

Despite my father’s modest blue collar wage and me having five siblings, he took us many places beyond the usual summer jaunt to the cabin in the Upper Peninsula.  As a youngster I went out “west” twice to the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian Rockies in Banff.  He instilled a love of travel in all of his children.  Consequently I have spent time in all but six states (HI, AK, VT, ME, UT and OR).  My military experience took me to West Germany for two and a half years where I exited the Army from there and traveled down into Italy, France, Spain and Africa (Morocco).  We’ve traveled to Mexico 3 times with my family and have a cruise planned in January.

A memorable trip would be in spring of 2013 when my daughter, who at the time attended the University of Minnesota (MSP), studied abroad in Toledo, Spain.  My wife, a mutual friend, and I flew to Madrid and connected with my daughter at the conclusion of school.  I rented a diesel station wagon with manual transmission and we toured many southern cities in Spain and Portugal – Granada, Nerja, Torremolinos, Gibraltar, Ronda, Seville, Lisbon, Nazare, Porto and Salamanca. Saw fantastic scenery, ate phenomenal cuisine and took in a great deal of significant Iberian Peninsula history.