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A conversation with ... Dan Reisig [The Wichita Eagle]
[October 24, 2014]

A conversation with ... Dan Reisig [The Wichita Eagle]


(Wichita Eagle (KS) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 24--Dan Reisig is preparing for a new round of growth for his 13-year-old company, Concergent IT.

The company -- which provides software, hardware, network services and support to mostly small and mid-size businesses -- is two weeks away from opening a satellite office in Overland Park, where it will have three employees.

It's also working on a joint venture with Underground Vaults and Storage -- called DataCenter650 -- to establish a large data center in the salt mines in Hutchinson.

"That's a big part of Concergent's (future) growth," Reisig, Concergent's president, said.

The name, Concergent, was conceived by combining the words concierge and urgent, Reisig said.

The Oklahoma City native and son of a diesel mechanic founded the company with partner Jeff Hogland in 2001.

They originally started the business providing IT services to companies and then expanded it to include sales of computer hardware and software. They later added a data center in the basement of the Farm Credit Bank building downtown, which provides off-site data storage for companies mostly in Wichita and the state, but also in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma.



Concergent occupies a 2,800-foot-office on the second floor of the Farm Credit building, and its data center encompasses about 4,500 square feet.

The company employs 12 people, and Reisig said it is expecting to hire more people in the sales and technical departments.


How did you get started in the business? It was in the Air Force. I got very lucky. I was in telecommunications and that turned into telecommunications and computers. And because I was doing a pretty good job at that, I got to help deploy the first Internet in Europe. We provided Internet across Europe for the military ... Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines.

How long were you in the Air Force? From 1984 to 1995.

That's almost 10 years. Why didn't you make a career out of it? The proliferation of the Internet was starting, and a few of us knew how to do it. The IT industry was booming, and I thought it would be a good time to get out. I could just make a lot more money on the outside.

What was your first job in the civilian world? The largest IT project in the world at the time, I was a project manager for. It was the Texas Instruments Power Path project and they were literally gutting all cabling, networking, servers in their facilities. They were literally gutting all their IT infrastructure and replacing it. And I was in charge of the McKinney, Texas, facility. And yes, I was scared to death.

First job out of the military. First time in the real world. I didn't know how the civilian world operated. It was just so different. But when we successfully completed that project (seven months later), I just I knew that I could do anything from that point because it was such an undertaking. We put in over a million feet of cabling, thousands of network switch ports. For a first timer, it was a staggering project. And I had a great team there. We all worked together and got it done.

How did you get to Wichita? I was a contractor for AT&T at Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth. AT&T had bought the networks for all of Textron, which included Cessna Aircraft. And the AT&T folks called down to Bell Helicopter and said, "Hey we've got some networking issues we need to solve." And so they said could you come up for a week? (Then) ... they said can you stay another week ... they (eventually) asked me if I would stay and work with AT&T and Cessna.

Next month you graduate from the Small Business Administration's first Emerging Leaders program in Wichita. Has that program been helpful to you? It truly was one of the best programs I've ever been a part of.

Why do you say that? It's kind of cliche, but as business owners we're always working in the business and not on the business. And this class helped us understand and gave us the tools to work on the business, and not in the business.

It basically filled in every gap you thought you had plus more ... and gave you a huge tool set to move forward with. It really did. It was a lot of work but it was more than worth it.

If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing? I honestly cannot imagine doing anything else right now. I am living my dream. I love learning about and implementing new technology, and I love meeting new people. I am now in a position that allows me do both of those things on a daily basis, and I look forward to many more years in this business." What's one thing most people don't know about you? I love gold prospecting and treasure hunting. I do it a lot. It's almost a weekly activity, if I can get away. I have panned every river and creek that's possible in Kansas and have found gold across the state. Small quantities, of course. I'm not going to quit my day job.

Reach Jerry Siebenmark at 316-268-6576 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @jsiebenmark.

___ (c)2014 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) Visit The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) at www.kansas.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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