Walk us through your career path to becoming Vice President of IT at Thryv. What attracted you to software development?
I started writing code when I was seven years old, when my dad purchased an Apple 2, and handed me a BASIC coding book, and said: “If you want video games, you are going to have to write the code yourself”. Ever since then, I have been interested in SW, and SW Development.
I graduated college with a dual degree in Mathematics & Computer Science and started working as a consultant at a small consulting firm, where I eventually was promoted to managing all the development consultants while continuing to do development myself.
A predecessor of Thryv hired me to be one of their Senior Architects, to help design & develop the core platforms for print & digital advertising. Throughout my career at Thryv, and the various predecessors, I always volunteered for areas I didn’t understand, or wanted to work on.
For example, when the manager of the Finance IT team resigned, I offered to manage that team to learn about the intricacies of Finance/Accounting. After doing that for multiple areas over the years, I developed a deep understanding of all the various IT components.
Is your position now anything like you thought it would be when growing up/going through education?
I originally thought I was going to become a professor when I was going to school. I didn’t realise how much I would come to enjoy solving problems, which wouldn’t be something I could do if I went into Academia.
I also didn’t really want to manage, when I was in school. I didn’t think that would be fun!
Leading IT as Vice President at Thryv
Today, Jeremy Uniacke is Vice President of IT at Thryv. With his responsibilities spanning back office development, infrastructure, security and internal IT audit, Jeremy is well-positioned to oversee the company's digital transformation.
“Thryv is broken into three segments,” Jeremy explains. “We still print the Yellow Pages, we provide digital marketing services, but primarily what we're shifting all of our energy to is our all-in-one software platform for small businesses.” This platform, he notes, allows businesses to both run and grow their operations efficiently.
The platform's three core components are the command centre for centralised communication, the marketing centre for business growth and the business centre for day-to-day operations.
By operating this three-tiered approach, Jeremy believes Thryv evidences its commitment to providing small businesses with tools that can level the playing field with larger competitors.
He adds: “Being trustworthy is very important with small businesses, they have to trust you a lot,” he notes. This trust factor has been crucial as Thryv has expanded its operations globally, now serving customers in five countries.
The company's evolution has been significant since Jeremy joined. “When I originally joined Thryv, we were involved in print advertising, print media advertising and digital advertising, and we provided that to small businesses all over the US,” he recalls.
“Since then, we've created this do-it-one software platform that serves both our existing and new customers. We have also expanded globally with software users in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.”
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