Top Ten Things I Love About The CI Team

I’m the longest tenured employee at Capture Integration, celebrating 9 years this summer. There’s a lot of things I enjoy about CI, but perhaps what I enjoy most is what I see every day; The consistently outstanding personnel that make up the CI Team. What is truly unique about CI is not only that we carry amazing products, and provide great support to our clients, it is that we fight hard to do better and better at this each and every day. In doing so, a number of attributes stand out. Below are 10 things I love about our CI Team, not listed in any particular order.

#1 Care

How does care come into play in an “add to cart” world? Equipment solutions come from in-depth discussions for intended usage and real world capability, not marketing speak or datasheet claims. Photographers don’t work in an office with bankers hours, so equipment delivery is often complex and critical in terms of where shipments are going and when they get there. Many of our clients shoot cameras that tether to computer, so reliability is multi-faceted and failures can be complicated to resolve. All of these elements require not just knowledge, urgency, and professionalism, they require something more – they require that the individuals providing these services truly care about the person they are serving.

Brad is so valuable to CI, we granted his wish, bought him a helicopter. When he is solving your problems, that’s where he is sitting.

#2 Brad Kaye – Soul

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Brad Kaye for about 14 years, first as a client, then as a friend, and now as a colleague. Brad knows more about things than I ever will. I will never catch up. This knowledge has been accumulated from a desire to know about things, and to know the truth of things. You could say the same about many people, the difference is that Brad seeks these things out with an open mind, but I think of it more as an open soul. In today’s world, it is refreshing, but more, it reveals a person who is authentic.

#3 Chris Snipes – Professionalism

I’ve known Chris as a competitor, as a partner, and as a colleague for many years. There are not many representatives who are focused on the very high end of photography solutions the way Chris has been throughout his entire career. And none that I know of who have handled that responsibility as seriously and as professionally as Chris has. It takes a lot of energy and motivation to maintain that level, to resist the slide to mediocrity that is too abundant in our industry. Chris always brings that energy.

#4 Excellence

The CI Team is a collection of talented individuals brought together by a common task. Exceptional people work at CI. They are uniquely talented and have a desire to achieve excellence at what they are doing. That excellence can be the result of technical knowledge, accumulated wisdom, or a knack for the specific skill required. But really, it is more, what pushes the CI team past “very competent” is the desire to be above that, to provide more than that.

Kristin loves snow. I mean, she really loves snow. Snow is great.

#5 Kristin Partridge – SuperGlue

When Kristin started at CI, she didn’t necessarily have one specific role, she had a lot of roles, so as a result she found herself initiating some things, following up on others. Dave started calling her “The Glue”, as in the thing that holds CI together. Today she has settled more into a role in our accounting department, but still finds herself involved with oversight into shipping operations, order tracking, website layout, and more. She is the person who says – “But what about …. ?” As great a team as we are, we aren’t perfect, but you may never know of an error, and that’s because of Kristin.

#6 Cam Williams  – Passion

As a team, almost everyone at CI has a love of photography, but Cam brings that to a different level and shoots regularly, mixing lots of different light sources for his portrait work and utilizing some of the shift solutions we represent for his landscape work. This passion and enthusiasm for the art of photography plays a huge role in Cam’s responsibility as rental equipment manager, allowing Cam to guide and recommend ideal, project-based solutions for our rental clients.

#7 Dedication

With the crazy hours and variable locations that our clients work in, the CI Team operates with a focus on response, rather than considering traditional business limitations. Staff cell phone numbers for the entire team are on our Team Page. We have client support availability before and after normal business hours. We increase our knowledge base so that a problem can be resolved with a simple phone call, email or text. In 2018 physical proximity is overrated. What is truly valuable is knowledge, accessibility, response, and dedication. This level of dedication is rare and requires individuals who accept the challenge.

#8 Bryant Genesi – Patience

As President of the Company, Bryant is involved with every facet of CI’s business. Bryant came to CI initially in the role of accountant, which was a good pathway to being President, since his eye is on the bottom line. But at CI, everything contributes to the bottom line. How we answer the phone, how we support a client, how we ship a product. Everything we do has to be done a certain way, a way that produces close, long term relationships with clients that enjoy our partnership. Running the CI shop can be a big load on a plate, but Bryant handles it with a steady hand. We do our best to try his patience, and yet he forgives us every time! Ok, well, not every time.

#9 Kyra Linnen – Joy

The CI office can be an intense environment. Often there are shipping deadlines, ordering deadlines, detailed equipment inspections, a lot of mission critical activity. Kyra is CI Head of Marketing. Ever since Kyra joined the team, her ready smile and easy laughter have provided a daily lift and reservoir of lightness. It’s hard to catch Kyra on a bad day. Unless you are late turning in a Top Ten article!

#10 Teamwork

When I began at Capture Integration, there were 4 employees. Everyone did everything. Today, we have grown, and while we have expanded to dedicated department heads, at given times, it still does seem that everyone at some point does a little bit of everything. We are a small company, but from top to bottom we’re committed to providing the best possible experience for our clients. As a team, we have adopted the “failure is not an option” mindset.

#11 Dave Gallagher – Heart

I like to think of Dave as the bull in the china shop of life. He cannot hide himself. There’s not much that is hidden or concealed at CI, it’s a pretty transparent environment. And as a result, from the beginning, CI has been a place where as a team, we share a lot. We share our wins and our losses, our struggles and our breakthroughs. It’s made us a close team, and emphasizes to everyone that we are all human beings, trying to do our best. Whether we come down rightly or wrongly, personally or professionally, we do our best, and our heart is always in it. And that comes from the top.

And lastly, what I love about the CI Team is they don’t mind if I have a Top 11 for my Top 10!