The dealership’s vice president of service is an inspiration to fellow veterans and co-workers.
I discovered Ron Rupright in Portland, Oregon, at the Pacific Office Automation (POA) meeting on January 13. He is the company’s regional vice president of service and a 32-year military veteran.
Rupright enlisted in the Army in 1986 and served for seven years on active duty. Rather than reenlisting when his time was up, he joined the Air Force Reserve in 1993. In 2018, he completed 25 years in the Air Force Reserve. Upon his discharge, he achieved the rank of E9 Chief Master Sargeant, which is about as high as you can go as an enlisted person.
Preparation for a Second Career
In that 32-year period, Rupright survived four deployments as flight chief for his unit to the Middle East, a region that has been highly volatile for many years. His training and experience were devoted to sophisticated electronics such as airplane navigational systems, which made him ideally suited to serve as a highly skilled service technician after leaving the service. His first job was with United Business Machines in Kirkland, Washington.
United Business Machines was headquartered in the Puget Sound area of the state, a location with multiple military installations. The result was that when Rupright joined the dealership, 90% of its service department were former military. In addition to United Business Machines, Rupright worked for Copiers Northwest and Kelley Connect until 2014.
Rupright joined Pacific Office Automation in 2021, a dealership that employed his daughter. By virtue of his military training and previous positions at office technology dealerships, Rupright had a strong understanding of the products and services that Pacific Office Automation sold and serviced.
The skills in management he learned in the service provided Rupright with the necessary leadership and training to oversee a dealer service department. The fact that he is a regional manager for POA in two different geographic areas is evidence of those skills.
Rupright acknowledged that the office technology industry has been very good for him. He referred to it as paralleling his time in the Air Force Reserve. “The two go hand in hand,” he emphatically stated. “Studying details for a mission and business training are similar,” he said. “We were dealing with overlay electronics, avionics, navigational systems, and reserve logistics.”
One of Rupright’s most difficult tasks is keeping service capabilities up to speed with the advancement of technology. That means ensuring the service departments have the necessary training to execute their mission. “Those resources also help us search for new hires to maintain an elevated level of proficiency to manage the growth within all the POA service departments,” he added.
We asked what he would say is the key to sustainability in the office technology industry. “It is diversification and the ability to blend into a single account print, copy, managed IT, and possibly other solutions,” Rupright responded. “When you provide all that, for the same account, that represents a lot of leverage.”
He also referenced Pacific Office Automation’s transparent environment. He says it is all about hiring good people and taking care of them.
Center Stage at Pacific Office Automation’s Annual Sales Meeting
During the Pacific Office Automation meeting, Rupright participated in two regional presentations. The first was with the regional vice presidents for the dealership’s branches. The second focused on acquisitions in Southern California and Nevada, plus organic startups in the building phase. We assumed that the new locations were all acquisitions of smaller dealers. When many of the regional vice presidents discussed reaching $10 million in revenue in their locations, we learned that was not the case.
Pacific Office Automation’s organic startups have an enviable record of success in such a highly competitive business. One of the locations that Rupright supports started with $800,000 in total revenue five years ago, and today, it generates $21.9 million.
When I asked for the key to this kind of success, Rupright responded, “We work hard together.” He went on to speak of the resources available to him, which has enabled the hiring of talented people and provided a great workplace to succeed.
Rupright believes Pacific Office Automation’s distribution model is successful due to the dealership’s entrepreneurial spirit. As he put it, “Our industry has evolved significantly with tremendous challenges because of it.”
Family Matters
Rupright met his wife in the military, and she is also a retired Master Sergeant in the Air Force with 26 years of service. She is currently a nurse at Army Madigan Hospital. The two together have a blended family of four children who are each pursuing their own careers.
As we were talking about Rupright’s family, he described his family’s commitment to service. “My Dad was a Navy E-9 (Chief Petty Officer) and served from 1965 to 1988, with multiple tours in Vietnam and throughout the Pacific theater,” recalled Rupright. “We also spent several years in Italy,” where the Navy’s 6th Fleet has its home base in the south.
After our interview, I asked Doug Pitassi, president of POA, to share a few words about a man who has served his family, his country, and his employer with a great deal of dedication. “We’re proud to have Ron Rupright and all of our veterans as part of the POA family. The principles acquired during military service such as work ethic, loyalty, and teamwork are valuable to our organization. I’m continually impressed by Ron and the example that he sets.”
