Chance Meeting Leads Alumnus to New Career Path

by Angela Daidone  |  Winter 2022

Christopher Beck was studying History at Ramapo College and, like many other college students, had a job at a local store to help pay some bills. One day, a customer came in who would change the course of his career. The Oakland, N.J., resident graduated with a degree in History in 1997, but parlayed that chance meeting into a successful career in Information Technology. Beck is now the Global Head of IT, Enterprise Business Systems and Product Management Office at Harry’s, Inc., which manufactures and sells men’s personal grooming products.

Beck’s career path started with a job at Staples selling computers with absolutely no technical background or knowledge. “A customer came in and started chatting and she found out I was going to college at Ramapo,” Beck said. “She told me she worked in the Co-op/Internship office at the College, and she could certainly help find me a more rewarding job than what I was currently doing.” He admitted he was skeptical, but went to see her anyway. Soon, he working at Volvo Cars of North America, training other newbies on how to use a computer, and he said, the rest is history. “I stayed at Volvo through the rest of my time at Ramapo, and ended up making computers and IT my career. It was certainly a lucky coincidence that I was working that day and met her.”

That experience eventually led to his current position at Harry’s, where he oversee IT, Enterprise Systems and PMO (technical Project Management Office) teams globally. This includes the internal teams that support our users and infrastructure, as well as our enterprise business systems (Finance, Supply Chain, Product Development, Retail, Product Design, etc.).

Like many other companies, the pandemic really “kicked IT into overdrive.”

“As a digitally native startup, IT was always critical to the success of the company, but now we needed to support our users in a more intimate and efficient way. I personally oversee global teams based out of the U.S./Canada, UK and Germany, so the video conferencing aspect tended to be business as usual. The biggest challenge was trying to manage and own large-scale technical projects where all of our users are remote and can’t physically be in a conference room to swap stories, brainstorm on white boards, and just celebrate successes. It requires more of the soft skills to ensure the entire team is feeling heard and appreciated.”

Beck is especially proud of the company’s philanthropic efforts, specifically mental health awareness initiatives. “Every year, the company sets aside 1% of our sales to donate to charitable organizations that share our ambition to bring quality mental health care to men everywhere. We do this because, actually, it is nothing short of an epidemic: Men are disproportionately affected by suicide. Each of our partners serves vulnerable populations of men in different ways. We also practice what we preach by providing mental health services to all employees, providing formal mental breaks throughout the year where the entire company is closed, and we allow all of our employees to donate time (5 work days a year) to work on the social causes they feel strongest about.”

He also discussed the importance of what he said is “all-inclusive leadership.”

When I first started in my career, it was all about delivering results (especially in the financial sector). That has shifted. Your team needs to know you’re supporting them 100%, valuing their input and opinions, and being totally transparent with them. If your team knows you will go through a brick wall for them, then they will do the same for you! Don’t overlook team culture and a team’s chemistry with each other. When I interview for new team members, they, of course, need to be able to perform the work required, but they also need to buy into the team and company culture.”

What would he tell students about a career in IT?

“Always remember that at the end of the day everything is about people and your relationships with them. Many people in technology get very focused on technical knowledge and training, but they can sometimes forget about the “soft skills.” You truly need to know how to work with people – whether it be managing a team with many different and wonderful personalities, or trying to understand what your end user/customer needs to best achieve their goals. You will never be able to achieve everything you want on your own, in a vacuum. Networking doesn’t mean exchanging contact information with strangers, but truly building relationships with people. Try to be as well-rounded as you possibly can.”