EightBlack.

5 years is a long time to work with anyone. Especially when that person is me.

Today marks the last day for David Galt, our Client Services Director. Most people know him as they guy who makes things happen or the guy who’s “Mr. Reliable” when they either can’t find me or cant get me to respond.

I honestly dont know how I would have run our business in the beginning (and now) if it wasnt for Dave. From those early days working beside each other in the 4th bedroom of our house, to our cramped office in Latrobe Street, to now our digs in St Kilda Rd.

I remember when I jumped off the corporate treadmill and I wanted to go and have a muck around with this internet stuff. Dave was a junior marketing assistant at the company I just left. I called him and said “Hey, I dont know what I’m going to do in the online space, but I sure could use your help”. To his credit, he jumped straight in. And I am eternally grateful for the faith he put in me in the beginning.

Like all start-ups, we’ve seen the good and the bad. Our seminar, back in 2004, would not have been possible without his contribution. He’s met some great people, both here and principally in the US. And he’s travelled well. He’s developed formidable online skills, he approaches an industry that suffers from hype and hysteria with a sense of calm and he is, quite annoyingly, mostly right with his calls. Which shits me.

My humble words here cant do the guy justice. Let the evidence speak is all I say. In the time he worked with me, I never had a client say one bad thing, in fact, all I heard was praise. To such an extent, a client hired him for a year to work on site. He handled that assignment with the maturity of a consultant 10 years his senior.

Dave has earned his stripes. He’s earned my utmost respect. More importantly, he’s earned the respect from each and every client we’ve ever worked with. Which is no mean feat.

Next week, his career takes off. He assumes control of the online efforts for Webjet, one of our clients. A public company with revenues in excess of A$250 million and a significant online budget. I know he’ll handle the new job with ease.

Dave deserves this opportunity. And from the bottom of my heart, I thank him for his contribution over the last 5 years.

(And next week will be an interesting environment for us all. Dave becomes THE client, not the employee. He’s joking with me that he’s going to give me a hard time. I’ll resist the urge to go and tell him to “sit and rotate” when he needs something done. After all, he knows how to do it all anyway).

Dave, I am indebted to you my friend. Always.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 20th, 2007 at 11:00 am and is filed under About Us, Clients, People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.