Some appreciation that’s long overdue.
One of the things I think about a lot is how fortunate I am that a real group of people chose to build something with us again.
Two of those people deserve more public credit than they get.
Kay Cameron was the third person in the office at ATIS. We hired her because I had just botched payroll and it was obvious we needed an actual operator running the back of the house. She came in before we had a payroll system worth the name, and helped us scale ATIS to 350+ people. Today she’s our Chief Administrative Officer at Centered Partners and a founding owner.
A lot of what makes Centered work day-to-day has Kay’s fingerprints on it. And honestly, that’s true well beyond Centered — she’s the person who quietly steps up and takes care of things across the multitude of ventures and personal items I’m involved in, often before I’ve even thought to ask.
David Estes helped us scale ATIS too. Now he’s our Chief People Officer at Centered Partners and also a founding owner. Dave is the one I trust to tell me the truth about how something will land before I send it. He holds a high bar and a genuinely warm room at the same time, which is rarer than it should be.
Dave has a real hand in shaping the kind of place where disagreement doesn’t have to be personal, and he’s also been an all-around supporter, confidant, and sounding board for me personally through more than one chapter — the kind of person you call before you make the call.
You don’t build multiple businesses with the same people unless those people are the reason it worked the first time.
Grateful for both of you.
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