Craig Alexander Ironman World Champion 2008-09

Here is Craig with our Australian Distributor talking about the importance of the Trigger Point Performance Products…

Craig is an amazing athlete thank you ofr te kind words!!!

IM Florida 70.3

Trigger Point headed out to Disney World for the Ironman event last week. Though the weather was hot and humid Trigger Point came out in full force. The first day brought many athletes that needed help with all kinds of issues. We rolled them out and showed them how to maintain a healthy body.

The second day brought even more heat and humidity. Steve Ratchford, a TP sponsored athletes and expo staffer, had a tougher time dealing with the heat since he is from Chicago IL. He not only worked a great event, but also raced the event on Sunday. Steve may not have had his best race, but he pulled through the heat and exhaustion and came close to his goal.

We had several other sponsored athletes come by the booth, Hunter Reed and Alex McDonald to name just a few. They all had the same response when asked about the race. The heat and humidity was a killer, but it was a good training race. Many of them will be at IM Coeur d’Alene and we will look forward to seeing them succeed there.

TP Staff Update

Marco Antonio Salinas is one of the newest members of the TP crew. Below is a little information about our new Shipping and Receiving Manager.

“I was born in Houston, TX, but was raised in the Rio Grande Valley. I attended Edinburg North High School and graduated 4th in my class, out of 450. While there, I played tuba in the high school marching band, concert band, and symphony orchestra Since he took piano for two years, prior to high school, I also participated in the high school jazz band. For sports, I was on the varsity tennis team.

For college, I went to the University of Texas at Austin, where I majored in Engineering Route to Business. My engineering focus was Mechanical Engineering and my business focus was Supply Chain Management. I graduated in December 2008 with a Bachelor of Business Administration.

After the economy taking a downfall, I was having a tough time finding a job in Austin. It was by chance that I saw Trigger Point’s ad for a shipping & receiving assistant. I replied to the ad, interviewed with Thomas Boyken, and the rest is history. At Trigger Point, I am the shipping department. Nothing gets in or out without going through me. I fulfill orders, perform quality assurance, and get things where they need to be, on time. I also handle all of the expo supplies and product for tradeshows and Ironman events that Trigger Point attends.”

Trigger Point Staff: Meet Steve

Trigger Point has been lucky to be in a growth position, and with that growth we’ve experienced our fair share of success and challenge.  One of the biggest daily challenges we face is finding ways to improve and streamline our operations while removing obstacles, eliminating redundancies, and continuing to deliver the best possible product, education, and customer service possible.  Trigger Point prides itself in providing its customers, athletes, and associates with not only a world class product but world class education and information.

We’re a fairly small and close-knit operation, so whenever we decide to make an addition to our team, we go to great lengths to find the right person for the position.  A few weeks ago, you briefly “met” Thomas Boyken (see the FedEx Golf Challenge blog entry).  Thomas has been with Trigger Point for more than three years, and has done just about everything imaginable with and for us.  He’s currently in the UK working with one of our international distributors, and last week, he was at the Boston Marathon.  

We only mention this because one of the hats that Thomas wore was that of “operations guru.”  He has since transitioned into a dedicated sales position, and is now responsible for servicing and growing our east coast and international accounts – hence the gonzo travel schedule.

Thomas left some mighty big shoes to fill, but we think we’ve found the guy who can not only fill those shoes but take them and run.  We’d like for you to meet Steve Litscher, our Operations & Business Development Manager.  Steve started with us about a month ago and has been running non-stop.  Rumor has it he doesn’t leave the office until around midnight most nights… to say that he’s immersed himself in our products and process would be an understatement.

Here’s a picture of Steve in his office – if he looks a little scruffy it’s because he hasn’t had much time to do anything outside of work, including shave.

 

Steve sitting at his desk

Steve comes to us by way of Arkansas, although he’s a Cheesehead by birth.  Steve’s experiences are many – he most recently spent several years working as the AVP of Data and Information Services for a multi-billion dollar bank, where he masterminded a comprehensive inventory solution, architected and transitioned the bank’s infrastructure to a fully-virtualized Blade/SAN environment, served as project manager for all major software conversion and new systems implementations, created and led the bank’s disaster recovery plan group, and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the technical support department.

Automotive junkies may remember Steve as the guy who created “thewaxtest.com,” which was purchased by Jump Media Group and spun into a series of magazines titled “Guru Reports.”  Steve’s been a car guy for as long as he can remember, and his experiences in creating and publishing magazine and web content will serve us well.  

Steve’s a fanatic when it comes to organization, risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and all things “operations.”  We’ve tasked him with everything from helping design marketing materials for our soon-to-be-released-product (known as “The Grid”) to building a complete CRM platform, complete with inventory reporting, integration with our accounting packages, and compatibility with our shipping and order tracking software.  We think that project alone will keep him busy until he’s ready for retirement.

Steve’s hobbies are many, and his interest in triathlons and cycling have us stoked.  He is an accomplished video and sound editor – he claims to be quite good with Final Cut Studio – and as we mentioned earlier, he’s a bit of a wordsmith and shutterbug thanks to his work at Guru Reports and Roadfly.com.  He’s an avid blogger (his personal blog has been online for almost six years), loves animals, enjoys cooking, and prides himself as a bit of a technology geek (did you know he has seven iPods?).  

Steve’s got several triathlons planned for this year, and has already competed in at least one cycling race (he rides a Cervelo R3).  Look for him at some of the events we attend, including Ironman Wisconsin and the Longhorn 70.3 (although, our goal is to keep him locked away in the offices so that he can strengthen our operations).  He’s new to Austin, and apparently loves the area.  He’s ridden the 360 loop, run the Lady Bird Johnson trail, and swam in Barton Springs.  (editor’s note: why isn’t he working more?!)

So, that’s Steve Litscher, our newest addition to the Trigger Point Team.  Please join us in welcoming him aboard, and if you’re in the Austin area or see him at an event, be sure to stop by and say hello.  Oh, did we mention he’s also in love with our products?  We’ll leave you with a quote/observation from him:

“The benefits of working at Trigger Point are many and countless.  I’m surrounded by a great bunch of people who are incredibly talented, enthusiastic, and motivated; I get to work in an industry that is exciting, challenging, and extremely rewarding.  Answering the phone and working with people via e-mail may be the best part of this job – I hear nothing but positive things about our products and services, and there isn’t a day that goes by where someone doesn’t thank us for helping them with a problem or issue.  Heck, on my first day in Austin, a waitress bought me dinner just because I was wearing a Trigger Point t-shirt. She said that our products had helped her resolve an issue with her plantar fasciitis.  That’s amazing!  I’m really looking forward to doing great things here – Cassidy is an incredible person with an even more incredible product and I see nothing but great things to come.  That, and a phone call – looks like someone from the NFL is calling us, so I’d better run!”