Ben McLendon

Strategic I.T. Leadership

Abundance

I truly believe that we live in an amazing time when there is such an abundance of resources and opportunities. As in Peter Diamandis' book, we all can use innovation to turn scarcity into abundance.

Wellness

Food & exercise are the keys to wellness. I made big diet changes about 5 years ago and began going to the gym regularly for over two years ago. I've never felt better!

Growth Mindset

This goes along with 'Abundance'. There are so many incredible opportunities for learning more and doing more. I may not be the smartest guy in the room, but I am smarter than I was yesterday. @growthhackoftheday

Positivity

Each day, I spend time focusing on positivity, happiness, and motivation. You can find it everywhere if you just take a moment and look for it.

Music

A musician since I was eight years old. This is a leisure activity that gives me a lot of joy. No matter what's going on in the world, I can pick up or sit down at an instrument and I'm centered once again.

Photography

Ever since my grandmother gave me a Brownie box camera, I've been taking pictures. As an amateur, I enjoy street and scenic photography. As a professional, my experience includes: dance, theatrical, family, and portraits.

Work

My work history goes back to when I spent my high school summers working for my uncle's construction company. It was hot and hard work, but I learned a lot about work ethic and gained some skills too. My first real job was with the United States Air Force. Like those high school summers, it was often hard work out in the elements, but the work ethic I started building earlier was greatly reinforced and the skills I gained were substantial. After spending most of a decade in the USAF, I had a young family and a Bachelors degree in hand. It was time to give the civilian world a shot. Thanks to my training and experiences in the USAF, I was able to go straight into the burgeoning I.T. workforce. The opportunities for growth in the breadth and width of my skills seemed to be never-ending. Within just a few years, I was a partner in a medical industry MSP. I learned a lot the few years I was there. Then, the opportunity to join Barnes Health Care Services as their I.T. Director came knocking. I spent the bulk of two decades in that role at Barnes. My experience there significantly shaped my leadership style and allowed me to grow across a huge range of technical skills. I'll always look back fondly on my time with Barnes. About four years ago, the time was right for me to make a change. Through coincidence and my great fortune, RISE was looking for someone at the same time. Now as I approach my four-year mark with RISE, I can't adequately express the gratitude I feel for the RISE leadership team and the entire RISE family.

For many years, I've also provided technical services and guidance to a few select customers on a contract basis. One very loyal customer has been with me for about 25 years now. I am open to taking on new accounts. Feel free to contact me if you have a need and we'll see if it is a good fit for both of us.

Services

Here's a sampling of the services I offer.

Virtual I.T. Director

High-level assessment, planning, and project management. Extensive expertise in healthcare, retail, and technology services. Focused on 'right sized', high-value solutions with rapid ROI.

DEVELOPMENT

Full-stack custom web-based application development using state of the art tools including PHP, Laravel, MySQL, Javascript, and Bootstrap. Optimized solutions for your unique business processes.

Cloud First

Unlike some I.T. guys, I'm not in love with stacks of hardware and walls of blinking lights. I leverage a cloud-first strategy to reduce complexity and capital expenses while providing scalable solutions that dynamically adjust to your business needs.

About

I am a strategic Information Technology Leader with over two decades of experience spanning multiple industries. I have a particular ability for delivering high-performance solutions with minimum complexity and low costs. This translates into a low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and a rapid Return on Investment (ROI).