I am very fortunate, as I have several “right arms” here at WorkersCompensation.com. Sadly however, I am losing one of them today.
I first met Jim Malachowski when he became one of my customers, and we worked together to build a website for a professional photographer association he belonged to. Jim was very hands on with the development of that site, and due to his guidance and direction it was at one point named the best regional photography association website in the nation by the Professional Photographers Association of America.
Jim was a professional photographer specializing in nature and model photography. (You should see some of the calendars created as a result of his work. Makes me very sad I wasted my youth playing with model trains) He was also a former computer programmer well versed in older languages like Fortran and Pascal, and had a very strong interest in the newer web centric programming languages. Therefore, when we started this company back in 1999, he was the first person I called. Inviting him to come along for the ride just made sense. Plus, I liked the guy, so that didn’t hurt.
Neither of us had a clue of what a long and interesting ride it would be.
Jim, today our Vice President of Operations, is retiring and will be departing our company at the end of the day. Jim has been an instrumental force in the evolution and development of our company. He has been my “go to guy” for many things within our operations over the years. Regular conference attendees may remember Jim, as he was one of the early crew putting in long travel hours schlepping around the country promoting our cause. And our early booth assembly exploits are practically legendary, and the fact we still spoke to each other after each conference was the source of great humor.
We’ve come a long way in 15 years, and Jim is one of four amongst us that is considered “founding staff”. The successes and changes we have seen over the years have been the collaborative effort of a truly talented team, and Jim has been there through it all. We wish him well in his retirement, and want him to know his service has been greatly appreciated.
And after 15 very short years, I still like the guy.
Thank you Jim; for your time, your humor, your commitment, and most notably your friendship. It’s been a blast. We wish you the best of luck in your retirement.