AT THE HELM

An "employee-oriented" culture is natural at GreenPages Technology Solutions, said President and CEO Ron Dupler, pictured here with his senior management team. From left, Mike Healey, CTO; Stephen Manero, CFO; Ron Dupler; Tobi Evangelisti, V.P., Solutions; Belinda Braley, Director of Human Resources, and Glen Jodoin, V.P., Marketing & Operations. Courtesy photo

When Ron Dupler came to GreenPages Technology Solutions in 2004, he was charged with taking the IT solutions company to the next level.

So far, so good. Dupler, a long-time high-tech executive who lives in southern New Hampshire, has overseen dramatic revenue growth (55 percent in the past two years to more than $100 million) and numerous company hires (almost 100 in 2006 and 2007).

But Dupler, who won a major industry award in 2000 as CEO of Amherst Technologies, defers almost all credit and cites a company culture that fosters innovation, accountability and career growth. This GreenPages virtue was affirmed recently when the company, which was founded in 1992, was named one of the 2007 Best Places to Work in Maine.

GreenPages has always had a reputation as a superior work place with an "employee-oriented" philosophy. Some of its less-conventional benefits include on-site child care, paid maternal and family leaves, flexible scheduling and pet insurance.

Other outside-the-box perks include impromptu cookouts and ice cream deliveries, an office foosball table, a basketball hoop and Monday morning breakfast. It also doesn't hurt to have one of the best Piscataqua River views around.

Dupler talked with Seacoast Ventures about taking over an already steady ship and giving it a new heading into the future.

On GreenPages' sustaining strengths

One of the enduring strengths of the company stems from the founders who understood the importance having a strong employee-oriented culture. These leading edge working values have persevered over time.

Many of our core employees have been with the company for more than 10 years and they embody and perpetuate that culture. They have built and added the continual drive to increase value for our customers and partners and creating an exciting and empowered workplace.

On his first three years

I've learned a lot. When I came aboard, we put a plan in place and executed well over the past three years. I've always been a believer in a strong employee-oriented culture combined with a strong technology-solutions-oriented culture. It creates good value for everyone.

We felt we had a strong organization that delivered an important value to our customers. Our job was to execute strong IT solutions, to scale it and drive it forward to provide better solutions for our customers.

On the company's expanding market

We provide IT solutions to enterprises throughout country: about 60 percent general corporate or commercial enterprises and 40 percent in primary vertical markets; health care, financial services, state and local government and eduction. We add a higher level of value by providing advice to help our customers craft IT solutions that work for them.

Some of our clients include Blue Cross Blue Shield, Gannett, and then in a local market, Liberty Mutual. We work with mid-market enterprises, corporations and have new initiatives we are excited about in education to provide a 21st Century interactive environment.

On the company's strengths

From a customer's perspective, I think we offer expertise, with a broad range of policy solutions and become a trusted adviser and solution provider to help them meet their business challenges.

On �technology evangelizing'

We certainly have strong marketing programs and we do a lot of technology evangelizing events. We're out in the field providing seminars to help them understand and decipher what's going on in technology.

On the next five years

It is a very good time to be in IT. There's a lot of compelling technology that really is a difference maker for our clients such as server virtualization and iSCSI storage. One of the main ongoing trends is that technology is becoming very democratized, very affordable for small to mid-market companies.

The art comes in is how the different pieces of the platform are put together. At the macro level the economy is going well "" but at the micro level, it will be interesting to see how businesses will consider if the economy will hold up.