Employee Spotlight: Kyle Piepmeier

Natural leader and committed family man, Kyle is always ready to take on a new challenge

Some people are natural leaders - born with an innate ability to guide, direct, and manage. PaperWise Project Manager Kyle Piepmeier is exactly one of those individuals. Athletic and competitive as a child, Kyle grew up playing a wide variety of sports from basketball, football, and baseball to golf and other outdoor activities like hunting and fishing. In his youth, Kyle was the kind of person whom others easily trusted and could depend on through good or bad. He commented, "I have always been direct and honest, so it was easy for me to become a leader and feel comfortable in a management position."

When it came time to pick a career, Kyle wanted to make sure he chose a field that would appeal to both his creative side and detail oriented personality. He attended Missouri State University where he double-majored in CIS and Marketing with an emphasis in Advertising and Promotions. "I have always been a very detailed person who likes things nice and perfect; however, I've always felt like I was also creative in the things that I did, which is why I believe I chose Marketing," shared Kyle. "As far as CIS goes, I have always enjoyed technology and working with computers, so it just felt right to go down that path."

With his degree, Kyle entered the work field ready for the adventures and challenges that waited. In his career path, Kyle said, "There have definitely been ups and downs, but I feel very lucky and fortunate in every position that I have held, most of which have been managerial type positions." His widespread experience from IT Manager for Marriot Hotels in Lake of the Ozarks and city-wide St. Louis, Missouri, to Software Administrator for Liberty Bank in Springfield, Missouri, prepared him for his roles at PaperWise since joining the team in May 2008.

During his more than two years at PaperWise, Kyle has had several positions. He joined the team as a Support Technician and soon became a part of the Professional Services Group until he took his present position as Project Manager. Within the PaperWise structure, there are account management teams. These teams manage books of business, covering the entire PaperWise customer base. As Project Manager, Kyle oversees project schedules for each of the four account management teams. In this role, he ensures that each account is serviced correctly and in a timely manner when it comes to customer projects, customer care, and issue resolution.

According to Kyle, working with projects is a great job for him as each day holds something new. "Whether it is the people you are with or the customers you are servicing, everyone has a little different way of how they look and react to things," said Kyle. "As a result, we work on hundreds of different projects each year, and each day we are challenged as a team and a company. I like that. It keeps me alive because it's not a cookie-cutter environment where things are the same day in and day out."

When he is not serving the PaperWise customer base, the most important thing to Kyle is spending time with his wife, Kristi, and two children, Katelyn and Keith. "My family is the reason I do what I do. They are what is most important to me, and as long as I have my marriage and continuously work to bring my children up to be individuals of strong character, nothing else really matters," said Kyle. The family also has another member - a cute and cuddly Boxer named Maximus, or "Max" as they call him. They love spending time together outdoors, playing sports, or just simply spending quality time at home. With two young children, many times the family is at one of a variety of events from sports to plays and concerts. They enjoy having mother-daughter and father-son nights and vice versa, and every year they try to make it to St. Louis, Missouri, so they can cheer on their beloved Cardinals.

Kyle has a natural talent for anything sports related, and given his competitive nature, athletics suit him well. He specifically enjoys golfing and hunting, and when he isn't busy playing the game himself, he finds joy in coaching his kid's sports teams.

If you take a deep look at Kyle, it is clear to see that his character at home definitely influences his role at PaperWise. Though he tries to keep work separate from his family life, his value of integrity and character as a leader in his family unquestionably crosses over into what makes him a valued member of the PaperWise team. Encompassing so many traits essential to any good leader, it is obvious why Kyle is so great at what he does.