In this month's edition of "Driving Success" we cast our spotlight on an individual who has been instrumental in shaping the trajectory of the Tranztec's company as whole.
Meet Fernando Sayago, our esteemed Director of Engineering Solutions. For nearly seven years, Fernando has been the linchpin in helping our customers embark on their Tranztec journey, navigating through complex problems and providing unparalleled solutions. A proud Colombian native, Fernando has traversed the globe, bringing his rich experiences and unique perspective to our team. Outside the realm of his professional life, he is a devoted family man with a passionate love for cinema, proudly owning an extensive collection of geek toys that would rival some of our offices best collectors. We asked our CEO Toby, to share a few words about Fernando and here is what he had to say, "Fernando has been with our team for over six years. In that time he has proven himself to be an exceptional member of our team - always willing to jump in on the tough jobs, dive in and learn new techniques and technologies, and go above-and-beyond to provide great customer experience. Fernando has a complete willingness to jump in an help others on the team, take initiative to get things done for customers, or even to pitch in and assist with other departments like Support, QA Testing, and Implementation. He has some of the most in-depth experience with our Platform and has provided some pretty amazing solutions for our customers. We wouldn't be where we are today without Fernando's keen eye for the customer and willingness to contribute at every level in the company."
TRANZTEC: What is your job title?
Fernando Sayago: I need to look up. I’m the engineering solutions or something.
TRANZTEC: the director of engineering solutions?
FERNANDO: something like that.
TRANZTEC: What can you tell us about your role here? What does Fernando do?
FERNANDO: Nothing in the morning and reports in the afternoon. [Laughs] Pretty much work on the implementation team. So I help put in place all the pieces that new customers need to get started and to operate. Mainly on the VIA extend side of things that's what I do. Beginning implementation and then automation things. Again, just in the VIA side
TRANZTEC: Around the office I hear your name a lot, Fernando is doing this… Fernando is doing that and it all sounds like very complicated work that is going into your VIA implementations. You make it sound easy here. For those who have no idea what you do can you explain a little more about what an implementation looks like?
FERNANDO: Well it's pretty simple, actually. So I'm more of like a system administrator actually, so I don't go behind the curtain and do magic. I just use whatever tools we already have in place. So we have a very nice system, a very robust system, a very big system. I just put in place all the things that the specific customer needs. What are their needs in terms of what they would like to see in the system; They need to see drivers, trucks, trailers. All that information they need to see their orders and trips. They need their other partners etc. So I just put in place all those things. Again, nothing behind the curtain, it is in fact something that even the customer themselves can do. I just help them because they don't know our system when they are just starting out. So I just do it for them at the beginning. That's it.
TRANZTEC: Okay, now, that feels like magic. When I first started Tranztec I was emailing you constantly like, Oh, what is this and then you just show me where it is. It's like Oh, it's this this and this
FERNANDO: Yeah it is just about knowing where it is at, so what I'm saying is that the customer doesn't know. They know their needs. They don't know how to approach a solution on our systems. That's what I point them to. Here's your new system, its actually pretty easy. Here is what you're gonna need. Here's where it is. Again. I'm just going to the very specifics for each person, it is different for each customer.
TRANZTEC: So how did you get started in in this industry?
FERNANDO: By pure luck, pure luck.
TRANZTEC: There sounds like there's a story attached to that answer.
FERNANDO: I was there in the right place at the right time. Speaking the right language. That's the truth. I started with a sister company of Tranztec doing support for some customers in Mexico and in Brazil, because I speak Portuguese and Spanish. So I started here with them actually. I started doing support and then I moved to Tranztec the big mommy company and the rest is history
TRANZTEC: Okay, can you take us back even farther. Take the time machine to little Fernando. How did Little Fernando get to that point?
FERNANDO: Well, again in this industry, It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. That's it. We were living in Brazil right before we came to the States. Six years ago, six or seven years ago. I think. So I was the neighborhood. We had moved to Perrysburg because of my wife’s work. So, I was in the neighborhood looking for an opportunity and I found Toby. Well, I actually found Marty and they gave me that opportunity, because they needed some help with customers that speak Spanish and Portuguese. Right? That's basically how I ended up here. So I started here to translate and at some point I did a lot of things over there or over here. Product, a little bit of development, and the administrative part of it not doing development itself just trying to help with people. I do a little bit of documentation, do a little bit of QA testing I do implementation automation and all sorts of other “magic” things. Other than that, I've had been working as a teacher at a Tech Institute back in Venezuela
TRANZTEC: What did you teach?
FERNANDO: System development there on the theoretical part of development, not any language specifically. There again on the theoretical part of system development. I am a Systems Engineer, automation engineer. I never work on the physical part of automation. But that's my background. So I worked as a teacher. Oh, I also worked in tech, TV, cable TV company. I worked at a telecommunications company. Then I worked in the glass industry. I used to come to Michigan for that company. Then I moved to Brazil. Again, glass industry and then move to the furniture industry.
TRANZTEC: Wow, you are a man of many talents. Can you tell us a bit about your family?
FERNANDO: Yeah, so I married my wife in Venezuela, like 13 years ago. Then we moved to Brazil. We have two daughters that were born in Brazil in San Paulo state. We moved around a lot. We move from Venezuela one city to Brazil one city to another city inside Brazil then we move to here to Perrysburg but will be stay here for a while. We have another daughter here in the state. She's just almost two years old. Yeah, well have been all over the place. We travel with one Colombian passport with one Venezuelan passport, two Brazilian passports and one now American passport. Actually, it’s funny when we travel Immigration actually asks our girls who we are. You know, because of the different passports they take them apart and ask them privately. Are they really your parents? [Laughs] We speak a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese and English of course, at home.
TRANZTEC: I like how you nonchalantly mentioned that you speak at least three languages.
FERNANDO: Yeah, well it was needs and opportunities. When we moved to Brazil, I had to learn right? I was born in Colombia. So I speak Spanish because of that. When I started working for an international company, I had to learn English as well. I'm still trying to learn. So you know, you have to. My mother always kept, like pushing me to learn other things or languages. I began studying English at the University back in Venezuela when I was 14 years old or so already had some knowledge of it. It was a good thing.
TRANZTEC: What is something about Fernando that people would be surprised to find out
FERNANDO: I tend to think I’m open box. I love traveling. I love Coca Cola. I love coffee. Pretty much it.
TRANZTEC: I know you love to read. What is required reading in the Fernando book club. Anything you would call a particular favorite?
FERNANDO: so no, I mean, I mainly read because of curiosity. An example is when I watched the first Lord of the Rings. I was so displeased by the fact that I was going to wait a whole year to see what was going to happen next that I just went out and read the other books. So I'm just you know, I get whatever I can whenever I can, whenever I'm curious about something and just go with it. That's pretty much it.
FERNANDO: Oh, I also LOVE movies!
TRANZTEC: Ah, so there is a fun fact about Fernando. He is a cinephile.
FERNANDO: Yeah, probably more than books. Whatever. Whenever.
TRANZTEC: What was the last movie or your favorite movie, or both?
FERNANDO: Oh. Still repeating the marvel
TRANZTEC: A particular favorite out of that bunch? A specific character?
FERNANDO: No, they're, they're quite different. So I like to talk a lot about those things with my daughters. So we watch Captain America The First one, and we're talking about the central idea behind the character in the movie, which is friendship and being logical to yourself and to your friends, your group, your team. So that's the kind of things that I try to retrieve or get from certain movies. Basically, when I talk to my daughters it’s not that we just go to the movies I try to get stuff like this from it. I try to link those things to society and how all these things link and play together.
TRANZTEC: I feel like I could ask Fernando questions forever. You are just super interesting. Easy to talk to you.
FERNANDO: I am just a regular guy. I like to think of it like that, I mean, I like to think that we all have stories to share. So of course I can talk about work. I can talk about myself. I can talk about what I've done and what I like but it’s just like anyone else. Everybody will have those same kind of stories.
TRANZTEC: So what's on your bucket list?
FERNANDO: Umm, That's a tricky one. Continue traveling.
TRANZTEC: Where specifically? Have you got a place you want to see?
FERNANDO: I want to go back to France. I want to go back to Italy. But there are a lot of places that we have not been to that we’d like to visit for the very first time. A while back we spent about a month in Europe traveling around a little bit. But I couldn't go to the UK because of my passport at that time. So that’s one place I would definitely like to get to. Other than that it would be Japan, China and some other countries around there. Maybe Africa, maybe, you know Egypt, anything really, anything. If you say there is a little town that I don't know about, I would like to go there.
TRANZTEC: If you wrote your younger self a letter what advice would you give him?
FERNANDO: That’s a tricky, difficult question. I've never been a person to regret anything that I've done because I've done what I needed or had to. Because, in that moment, I was convinced it was the best thing to do. So I try not to regret those decisions. I try not to think what if I was wrong about this, or I was wrong about that. I know I made a lot of mistakes. But I don't like to regret anything that I've done. But if could say something to my younger self, I would go and say study more. Study yourself better in general. Nothing specific.
TRANZTEC: I’ll leave it open at the end. Is there anything that we missed that you want to talk about or just anything you want people to know?
FERNANDO: Ah, I don't know. I mean, I don't get to talk about myself a lot. Most of my life right now gravitates around my family. I’m just so proud of what we’ve done as family. I'm just so proud and so happy of what we do every day. We try to achieve; we try to perform and I'm pretty happy with what I what I've done. What I achieved, even if it isn't that much.
TRANZTEC: Well, I think the rest of us would disagree with you on that point. You have definitely achieved much. I think this last comment illustrates the overall feeling you get when you spend any amount of time with Fernando, in one word, Humble.
Tranztec has made a donation to Cherry Street Mission in Fernando's name.
To learn more about the Cherry Street Mission and their vision please click here.
