Q & A with Troy Hanford

What is your favorite color? Red.  I like red, fire engine red and deep red. I also like blue.  I don't really know what periwinkle and all those other fancy colors are.  I am into the basics, the primary colors.  Although, with that said, my daughter's hair color is a nice shade of red.  What can I say, I like red.

In a few words, how would your friends describe you? Good guy

In a few words, how would your colleagues describe you? Innovative, Hard-worker

In a few words, how would your family describe you? Good guy

What does your family think you do for a living? I work with my wife, Lynn, so she knows what I do.  But, like me, she has a tough time explaining it.  I am a business and communications consultant.  My kids think I work with computer and cameras.  And, they are right too.

What is your professional background? I have 15 years of business and IT consulting experience and an MBA.  I like to think that I help clients define and implement new communication systems. I have led video production projects, system development projects, IPTV projects, and numerous business strategy and planning projects.  I am something of a techie, compared to my peers.  But, I am not a hardcore developer by any stretch of the imagination.  I leave the development to the developers.

What excites you in an average day at FC? I think that helping our clients deliver important messages to their audiences is fundamentally what we do here at Flying Colors.  And, I think that is exciting. Today there are numerous communications paths/systems that can be used to reach an audience.  We help clients understand the costs and benefits of each and help them figure out which ones to choose, given their particular needs. Understanding the impact of our services is what I find the most exciting day-to-day.  And, with today's technology we can monitor results on behalf of our clients very very closely.  I could go on-and-on about this stuff.  I like everything about it.  Oh yeah, I also like the people who work at Flying Colors too.  They are nice, smart, funny, capable.

What attributes from you personal life fall into FC? I like to solve problems.  A part of each solution is technical, a part is human.  There are many tools, techniques, and technologies that can be applied to a problem and that define a solution.  Finding the right combination for a client is what I enjoy doing at work.  The same applies at home.  I enjoy working with my kids on whatever they are into. Whether it is making a photo album from their experience this summer or building a fort with the sofa cushions, count me in.

What is your favorite age? The age I am now, the age I am about to be. 

Who is your best friend?  Best client? Best friend, tough question. I have many really good friends. I would have to say my wife Lynn is my best friend.  But, I have a lot of buddies (mostly from school and work) that I enjoy hanging with.

What is your favorite "tool" at your work? Flying Colors has about 10 specialty computers that provide a variety of services on behalf of our clients, from blast e-mail, to video encoding and live webcasting, to data management and reporting.  I can access them all from my laptop.  My laptop goes everywhere with me.  It is not the smallest or fastest laptop, but it has been very reliable.  It is my gateway to the services we deliver and the world as a whole.  It has to be my favorite tool.  Actually, I think the "human brain" is my favorite tool of all time.

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