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InfoWorks Announces the Addition of Two Consultants - September, 2009
Bruce Haukohl and Teri Cindric join InfoWorks, Inc.>> Bruce Haukohl joins InfoWorks from Aflac, Inc. in Columbus, GA where he has been serving as Senior Manager for Business Process Excellence. Prior to this role, he was the Senior Manager of Aflac's Project Management Office. Aflac is the largest provider of supplemental health insurance in the U.S. Bruce is a certified Project Management Professional and has led teams of project managers on a broad variety of strategic initiatives. He is also LEAN certified, and utilized that practice, in addition to Six Sigma, to launch a new department at Aflac responsible for continuous process improvement . He joined Aflac in 2001. Bruce also served as a project manager and account manager for 6 years at GE Capital in the IT Solutions unit. Bruce has a B.A. from Auburn University. He is moving to Nashville with his family from Columbus, GA. Teri Cindric's career experience includes responsibility for a variety of business process redesign projects while working at Deloitte, Eli Lilly & Company, and Conseco Insurance. She successfully managed projects from the initial step of defining the optimal method to redesign a business process, through requirements gathering, software development and testing, to training and end user support. Teri has implemented Business Intelligence solutions in different operational areas, including finance and human resources, utilizing her expertise in SAP Business Warehouse, SAP Business Objects and a variety of databases and web technologies. Teri has a B.S. from Indiana University and has lived in Nashville since 2004.
Aquinas College Magazine - Spring 2009
Board Profile: Jim Clayton >>  Anyone who knows Jim Clayton knows why his company, InfoWorks, Inc., was named “Number 1 Best Employer in Tennessee” in the May 2008 edition of Business TN magazine. That state-wide honor, along with a two-year run as one of Nashville Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work,” is due in a great degree to the company’s commitment to employee satisfaction – and to the personal vision of the founder.Since Jim believes that high employee morale leads to superior client satisfaction, he has balanced company growth with employee satisfaction in a controlled manner that has completely avoided layoffs and achieved profitability every year. Crowning this achievement, InfoWorks made company ownership available to all employees in 2006. “Since most talented people have several employment options, I’m determined to give my employees reasons to choose to work for me,” explains Jim. “By providing the flexibility that everybody needs to balance work and family responsibilities, we form a partnership that empowers employees to succeed both on the job and at home.” Jim credits the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation with teaching him the importance of taking care of the whole person. “My mother was taught by the Dominican sisters at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga, and she wanted me to have the same experience,” recalls Jim. “I attended Holy Name School in Nashville, and years later I, in turn, entrusted the education of my own children to the sisters.” During the years that his daughters attended the schools of The Dominican Campus, Jim served as a parent volunteer and on various committees of Overbrook School, St. Cecilia Academy, and Aquinas College. After Lisa (OS ‘80, SCA ‘84), Susan (OS ‘84, SCA ‘88), and Carole (OS ‘93, SCA ‘97, AC ‘00) graduated, Jim stayed on. He currently serves on the Aquinas College Board of Directors. For the past five years, Jim has chaired the Board’s Finance Committee. One of his major contributions to the work of the committee has been to simplify the presentation of complex financial data so that board members and administrators can make prudent decisions. Another major contribution, and one of which Jim is particularly proud, is the order he has brought to the technological infrastructure of The Dominican Campus. By standardizing hardware and software, streamlining processes, and creating a centralized, shared tech-services team, Jim enhanced the cost- and labor-efficiency of operations so that the Campus can better address the current and future technology needs of all three schools. “Jim has a real gift for understanding the needs and identifying the potential of the people around him,” says Sister Mary Peter, O.P., president of Aquinas College. “If his approach at InfoWorks resembles his dedication to Aquinas College and The Dominican Campus, then I am sure that Jim is as beloved by his employees as he is around here.” Prior to founding InfoWorks, Jim spent 32 years with IBM in Nashville in various management and marketing positions. At IBM, he managed several Global Services consulting practices over a three-state area. He also handled IBM’s business partner programs and distribution and healthcare clients. After serving as InfoWorks’ president from its founding in 1997 until December 2008, Jim now serves as chairman of its Board of Directors. Jim is also very active in the Nashville community. In addition to his work on the Finance Committee at Aquinas College, Jim also chairs the Grants Committee of the Saint Thomas Health Services Fund Board of Directors and serves on the Board of Trustees of Watkins College of Art and Design. He previously served as president of the Board of Directors for Tennessee Special Olympics. Although Jim is involved with so many important causes, he feels a strong loyalty to Aquinas College and to The Dominican Campus. He notes that the sisters have supported him every time that he and his family have faced a serious challenge and that their caring philosophy and actions inspire him. “Their hearts are always in the right place, and that is part of the atmosphere of the College, modeled by the faculty and staff,” says Jim. “In a world that is not always such a good place, finding a place that encourages you to be involved in good things is a rare gift.” The same might be said of Jim Clayton.
Nashville Business Journal - December, 2008
InfoWorks Chosen as Best Place to Work >>  Nashville-based InfoWorks is a full-service consulting firm with a client focus on large and medium-sized businesses. That focus has resulted in great success, in part, because it’s been driven by a lot of energy being placed on employee satisfaction. For example, all employees can own InfoWorks stock and most do, says Jim Clayton, company’s president. InfoWorks also shares its financial results and balance sheet with the entire team at least quarterly, he adds. “We keep our culture and desire to remain an independent Middle Tennessee-owned company in mind with each new hire,” Clayton says. “We have a team goal of maintaining full employment which means we have never had a layoff.” No layoffs means stability and continuity. All InfoWorks employees prepare their own annual self-evaluations and review them with Clayton. “The focus of these reviews includes their business results, teamwork accomplishments, and skills needs,” he says. “Advancement is measured by increasing skills and experiences so each person can take on more challenge and responsibility to increase their earnings. There is no hierarchy.” InfoWorks budgets about $4,000 per employee per year for continuing education, Clayton says. That education is aimed as much at increasing broad-based interpersonal skills — such as “negotiation or project management, and various technical proficiencies needed by our clients,” Clayton says — as it is at increasing employees’ individual knowledge bases in the consulting industry. Eighteen of InfoWorks’ 40 employees have worked with the company for more than five years. And just six employees have left the company during the past two years.“Four of them joined a client firm at which they had been engaged,” Clayton says. Erin Morrison, the company’s director of business solutions, says InfoWorks supports flexible work schedules. “When I was pregnant with my first son, I was astonished at how supportive the company leadership was with me taking the time I needed to be home with my new baby, then creating a flexible part-time work schedule that allowed me to continue doing the consulting work that I enjoy as well as having the time with my family that I wanted,” says Morrison, who has almost six years of InfoWorks experience. “Two children later — it is a balance that still works for InfoWorks and for my family.” Eric Thrailkill, vice president and chief information officer at AmSurg, says his company needed a couple of programers for a significant project who had specific skills in Microsoft development tools. “We called InfoWorks, described the requirements over the phone, and secured the resources,” Thrailkill says. “InfoWorks is always easy to work with. There are very few requirements from their standpoint in order to secure the resources we need.”
VentureNashville.com - November, 2008
InfoWorks' Clayton names Heard president >>  InfoWorks Inc. Founder Jim Clayton today announced that Tony Heard has been named president of the 11-year-old provider of business consulting and custom technology services. Reached by VNC for comment on the appointment this afternoon, Clayton (at left) said he, himself, will remain chairman and a full-time employee of InfoWorks. Clayton stressed that with Heard's appointment, "we have a clearly stated succession plan for me. Clayton also expressed confidence in the firm's posture, despite the current economic climate. "While we realize the business climate is uncertain," he said, "customers are still making purchasing decisions, InfoWorks has a strong cash position, and 2008 revenues are substantially ahead of 2007’s." He said Heard's priority upon joining the company Dec. 1 will be business development and other "community-facing activities." Heard is currently a principal in NMG Advisers Inc. He joined NMG two years ago, after five years as U.S. Bank's regional chairman, based in Nashville. Within the management group at NMG, Heard served clients involved in mergers, acquisitions, turnarounds and other transitions. When Heard joins InfoWorks, he'll merely move to the other side of White Bridge Road. NMG's at number 95, and InfoWorks is at 28. Heard, a 48-year-old native Nashvillian, earlier spent 18 years with SunTrust/Third National Bank in Nashville, where he held a number of roles, including senior vice president for corporate banking and for private capital. Clayton formed InfoWorks in 1997, after 32 years with IBM in Nashville, where his duties included managing several global-servies consulting practices in a three-state region. He also managed IBM's business-partner programs and healthcare practice. Clayton had said at least three years ago that he'd be developing a succession plan to ensure continued leadership for the firm. InfoWorks became employee owned in 2005, after Clayton bought out Co-founder Beth Chase, who subsequently formed C3 Consulting. Three years ago, InfoWorks had about 34 employees. Clayton said the count is now 42. Clayton and Heard are veterans of the boards of numerous Nashville nonprofit organizations. Heard currently serves on the boards of both United Way of Middle Tennessee and the St. Thomas Health Services Foundation. Heard earned his bachelor's at Duke University. Clayton earned his bachelor's at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering.
Nashville Business Journal - December, 2007
InfoWorks about honesty, investment in its people >>  InfoWorks, Inc. nurtures a favorable employee environment by putting its people first – even when times are lean - and its paying off. “My philosophy is you treat employees as well as you treat a client, not just when it’s profitable – but all the time,” says Jim Clayton, president of InfoWorks, a business and technology consulting company with a staff of about 40. When times were tough for technology businesses in Nashville in 2002 and 2003, Clayton says he never laid anyone off. “When employees voted that they enjoyed working here, it’s because we do have this culture of treating people with kindness and respect, but at the same time being honest with them,” he says. Clayton says he shares the company’s financial results with his staff. “We’ll show them this is how much we made this year or lost this year,” he says. Employees at InfoWorks don’t report to him, they do self evaluations. Two years ago, InfoWorks made company stock available and now 65 percent of employees own shares. Employees describe the company as having a flat structure with no management team. “Leadership really takes time to know each employee on a personal level and that creates job satisfaction,” says Andrea Yanicky, director of human resources and business consultant. Clayton says the company focuses on having a work-life balance. To Yanicky, that means she’s in control of how and when she gets the job the done. “You know that you’re not being micromanaged as long as you get your work done,” Yanicky says. “No one’s looking over your shoulder here.” Clayton invests in employee training,and Yanicky says InfoWorks employees really feel like the company invests in their career. “If you take care of the people, they can take care of the customers,” says Clayton. Client Mary Yarbrough, Director for Health and Wellness at Vanderbilt University, says InfoWorks is “incredibly dependable.” She’s been working with them since 1996. “They are just so likable. I just can’t say enough about them. They are really a group that I can trust,” she says. |
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