In this exclusive interview with Marie Wiegand, Vice President of Product at Tranztec, she shares insights into her pivotal role, marking five years of dedicated service. As the driving force behind product development, Marie discusses her responsibilities, from recognizing features that enhance the product to bridging the gap between customers and developers. With a background spanning over 25 years in the transportation industry, Marie traces her tech journey from high school to her pivotal role at Tranztec. The conversation delves into her experiences, including running her own consulting business and sailing a 50-foot schooner with a group of scouts around the Florida Keys. Marie reflects on her journey, expressing excitement for future product integrations and emphasizing her pride in mentoring scouts who achieved prestigious awards.
We spoke with members of Marie's crew to give us more insight about their leader and boss.
"Marie is an exceptional technical mind and leader. She treats her team not just well but as equal peers. She ensures her team feels empowered to make choices and take action while instilling the confidence that she is there should any of us need assistance while doing either." - John Johnson, Senior Product Analyst.
"Marie is a great boss and team leader. She is dedicated to Tranztec and it's vision and to our team and she has been wonderful to work with. She encourages open discussions and joins in when we are working through ideas or issues. I know that if I hit any roadblocks or problems she is available and willing to help me work through them." - Joanna Miller, Product Manager.
Join us in celebrating Marie's achievements and in looking forward to many more successes together at Tranztec.
Tranztec:
As always, what is your official title at Tranztec and how long have you been with gracing us with your presence?
Marie Wiegand:
My official title is Vice President of Product and it will be five years in May.
Tranztec:
As VP of product, what does that entail? Can you just sum that up for us?
Marie:
Gosh recognizing features functionality that that would enhance the product and knowing what's trending out there in the transportation world itself. I am kind of being a liaison, between the customers and the devs from the standpoint of I look at our partner's API's and how their product or service or you know, whatever it is right and get into the technical of it, and then how to take that and interpret it for our devs so they know what is necessary for incorporating it into our suite of products.
Tranztec:
How many people are on your Tranztec team?
Maire:
I say two and a half because Fernando is pretty involved in product even though he's technically implementation. So I have John and Joanna and then obviously I work really close with Don and the devs.
Tranztec:
I believe you were at Trimble before Tranztec.
Marie:
Yes, I was at Trimble before that for more than a decade. However, it is like 25+ years in the transportation industry. It could be less I took a hiatus for a time and I didn't start out in transportation either.
Tranztec:
Gotcha, very cool. So were you always in the technology field though?
Marie:
Yes I have always been in tech. So to backup first, I started in tech in high school. I was working in the IT department at my high school. I did multiple things because I was just like part time right? So I did some data entry I you know, would run stuff in and out of the computer room. I would have to get you know the big magnetic disk out of the library and bring it in for the operator. I would have to do card sorting and stuff. So I learned to read COBOL before I ever took my first programming course. Because at that time, developers would hand write their code, and then being data entry, I would key it in, and I would spot their typos, because otherwise they'd have to wait like, half a day for me to type it in, and then get the cards printed, get it into the computer room for them to try to compile to get their errors back.
Tranztec:
That is super interesting. I never heard of that. I mean, I knew people use punch cards, but I didn't realize it was like handwritten sheets that were then entered into a computer.
Marie:
Yeah, I mean, they would just hand write their code on sheets and then give it to us to key in and create the cards to be able to run it through the computer.
Tranztec:
So that was the beginning.
Marie:
That was the very, very beginning. Then, like Eric Walker, I also worked in the steel mills, but I did data entry in the steel mills. Which at that time, made a good buck, right but like they wouldn't let me into the computer room until I took like these three college courses and going to community college, the way those courses were offered it would take me a year and a half to complete.
Tranztec:
They were allowing only one class a semester.
Marie:
So I quit a really good paying job at that point of time to go to college and get a two-year degree. So then, you know, you have to remember the mindset, right? Because dating myself, this is early 80s. At one point, I was the data entry supervisor. So, I had like, five or six data entry people working under me, and we got in a new computer system. System 34, the prerequisite to the 36, which was the prerequisite to the ASR400. So then, we were running jobs at night and we needed a night operator. So then I became the night operator. Which in turn was how I learned to program because running night jobs predictably stuff would bomb and I'd have to call the programmers in the middle. of the night and step through code, read code to them and correct it and recompile and go from there. So that was my first programming stuff.
Tranztec:
I bet reading code to developers in the middle of the night was like a lullaby. How did you get started in transportation?
Marie:
So I was in northern Indiana, moved to Indianapolis area working for a manufacturing company, and had been there for I don't know, however many years, four or five years and was ready to move on to something different and McCormick and Associates had an opening. Which that was the TL 2000 product line. So I started with them in the later 80s then and that was my start into transportation.
Tranztec:
Which obviously you love and is your favorite industry that you have worked in.
Marie:
Yeah, it's one of those things it gets in your blood. I think you know, when I left Trimble, I wasn't sure I really wanted like, I really didn't want anything to do with transportation. It's like, okay, I'm done. I need to see what else is out here and what to do type thing and I was just taking a little bit of sabbatical time taking some courses and in just updating my skill set map when Toby and I connected and I ended up back into transportation. Though, I guess I never really left.
Tranztec:
Very cool. I agree it gets into your blood. I mean, all three people on this call had established careers outside of transportation and chose this over reverting back.
Marie:
Yeah, I tried leaving for a while. I had my own company for a while. I don't know if you knew that John or not.
Tranztec:
I did not know that actually.
Marie:
Yeah, I had my own consulting business.
Tranztec:
How long did that last?
Marie:
Six or seven years in the nineties.
Tranztec:
Did you just fall out of love with that? Or what happened? What ended that?
Marie:
Y2K and the dot com bust. So I sold the company, not to make money from it, but to make sure the employees were employed elsewhere.
Tranztec:
How many employees did you have?
Marie:
At one point I had over forty-five employees.
Tranztec:
Holy crap, that's fantastic. I had no idea.
Marie:
Yeah, we had the main branch in Indianapolis, a satellite branch in Evansville, and one person working out of Fort Wayne. I was doing development and programming and landed a big customer and brought in a couple of people part time and had an AS400 in my basement with people, you know, five desks set up of people coming and going and then you know, moved into a real office and grew and I was a primary programmer and then did more just project management with a little bit of programming in that. Then yeah, you get, you know, more staff and more staff and everybody else is busy doing the fun stuff. While I'm president and running the whole back office, everything and it's like, I don't like this.
Tranztec:
Yeah, you kind of work yourself into a job you hate.
Marie:
Yup. So then I went back to the TL2000 group which at that point, it was owned by TMW. So the way I got back involved with that is I was going back into school and did some dot.net classes and got another certificate and stuff and I was working part time but more full time. When I'd gone back in I crossed paths with Paula. We were at a place together for a few weeks. She had been laid off from TMW which is why she was where we were. So when she went back to TMW, they were looking for developers for the TL 2000. Which I knew the guys that were pretty much running that product line and Paula was like, "Well, what about Maria?" and they're like, "Oh, she's retired. She's not working". Paula was like "oh, no, she is working! I was working with her over here". So that's how I got back into transportation.
Tranztec:
We are very happy you came back to transportation. You spoke a lot about Indiana, is that where you are from?
Marie:
No, I am actually from Buffalo, New York. We moved to Indiana when I was in middle school. So most of my vacations are to Buffalo.
Tranztec:
Do you miss Buffalo or is visiting enough?
Marie:
Visiting is enough for me. I don't need three-foot snowstorms.
Tranztec:
I understand that completely. When you were young did you always know you wanted to work in the technology industry?
Marie:
Once I got into high school, yes. Growing up, I don't really remember what I wanted.
Tranztec:
Was there a specific "tech dream"?
Marie:
I don't know if I really had a tech dream at that point in time. It was just being fascinated by the computers itself. You know, and then learning the programming languages. So just kind of the logic, thinking, you know, having to step through stuff and use your brain from that standpoint.
Tranztec:
Yes, I get that. We'll switch back to Tranztec for a minute. Do you have a favorite memory at Tranztec?
Marie:
I was pretty impressed with my first Christmas here.
Tranztec:
That's what I keep hearing. I keep hearing that. I missed something with the Christmas parties.
Marie:
Yeah, the white elephant gift exchange type thing. That is just Dana, Toby and Deb going out and buying all kinds of fancy little things.
Tranztec:
Yeah, it was something else; fun. Just fun that everyone got together on top of that.
Marie:
Yep. I do miss coming to the office. I need to try and do that a bit more.
I think just when I started just being in awe and impressed with all the people, in the knowledge. in all the different things that everyone's fingers were into, you know with the EDI with Tranztec Connect and all the integrations there and then having Tranztec Extend on top of that and everything that it does.
Tranztec:
We are very lucky here with great teammates. Without giving away trade secrets is there an item coming up from the product team that you're really excited about?
Marie:
Items that I can share right now? We have more integrations coming, a new TMS on the Tranztec Connect side. So it's just there's always more integrations coming. We are always growing and expanding who we can integrate with.
Tranztec:
We will keep our eye out for those announcements.
So I know your husband is retired. Not that I'm trying to put a countdown on you, but is retirement something you're looking forward to or you're trying to push as far away as possible?
Marie:
I'm not ready for it yet. My husband was a general contractor and with COVID his business had slowed down so the timing was right for him to retire. I got half dozen years yet to go is kind of my plan. So probably more than anything looking more forward to be able to travel some more again. So just you know, I don't think anybody took many vacations over the last few years so hoping to travel this year and be able to use some more vacation time.
Tranztec:
Do you have any bucket list places you haven't been?
Marie:
Ah, um no, not really just, you know, going to visit family and if something presented itself to go overseas. I would do that again.
Tranztec:
Where have you been? Do you have a favorite place?
Marie:
Italy is probably one of my favorite places and then Ireland. Of places I have not been to but would like to go is Scotland and Wales.
Tranztec:
Very fun places. We spoke about your husband earlier, but I have not asked about the rest of your family. How many kids do you have? Do you have siblings?
Marie:
I have a brother and a sister. So you'll hear me talk about my brother coming down (by down she means Florida where she is warm and we are covered in snow up here) so he retires in June. Even though I'm older he's retiring first. So we'll be living within a half hour of each other. So that's exciting. Um my sister comes down too now that I've moved down here and I'm close to my dad, which is why I moved down here. My sister comes down and visits a couple times a year. We have four daughters. Three of them are in the Indianapolis area and ones out in New Hampshire. We have I have to count now. Is it 13 or 14? I think we have 14 grandchildren now and one great grandchild.
Tranztec:
Congratulations. What do the grandchildren call you?
Marie:
I am just grandma.
Tranztec:
Nice. What are some of your hobbies outside of work?
Marie:
That's tough to answer. Because of the transition of moving to Florida full-time. So, um, you know, when the girls were in school and everything, like I was a scout leader for 20 years, so I was very involved in scouts did more than my share of camping and that. Now with the husband retired and being down
Tranztec:
What is your go-to game?
Marie:
It's been Tripoley.
Tranztec:
Are you competitive?
Marie:
Me? No!
Tranztec:
When you say boating, is it just straight up boating or are you doing little fishing too?
Marie:
Oh, it's just straight up boating. Going to a beach hanging out in the water or finding a restaurant or bar and stopping and grabbing a bite to eat or drink.
Tranztec:
So what is Marie's interesting fact?
Marie:
I am boring, I don't have anything off the top of my head.
*After much prodding from your Tranztec investigators Marie came up with this anecdote*
Marie:
Okay, okay, When I was a scout leader, I took a group of scouts to Europe when they were 16. So, like every other year through a cultural exchange program, some English scouts would come to Indiana and we would do host families with them and then we would send scouts over to England to stay with them. So, we took a group of 16-year-olds over to Belgium, Paris and London. We took that same group of scouts this is interesting on a 50-foot Schooner and we sailed around the Florida keys where we were the actual crew.
Tranztec:
Very cool. Saying you have nothing interesting then telling us how you sailed a boat around the Keys is burying the lede a little bit.
Marie:
It was a lot of fun. We would sail around for a bit then park and we could go snorkeling off the boat.
Tranztec:
I also think it's super interesting about you're forty-five employee company. I mean, I didn't know about that. It isn't, I assume, common knowledge. So I think that's interesting, but, yeah, sailing around the Caribbean, you know. Especially, on a sailboat with a crew of high school girls. That's some high level responsibility right there. I would have came back with 14 kids probably.
Marie:
Yeah, when we stopped in Key West, we let them out for the day and to roam by themselves. They had to stay in pairs and groups and whatever and it's like, okay, you need to be responsible. So then they came back to show us these tattoos and I like about had a heart attack. I'm like, they cannot be real. They cannot be real. They cannot be. They were not real thank God. They were henna or something, you know, but I'm like, Oh, my God, girls.
Tranztec:
Well, by that point in time, they probably believed they were pirates.
Marie:
Yeah. But yeah, I'm pretty proud of them, of all the scouts. So I mentored a bunch of the kids that got their silver awards. Um, five of them got their gold awards.
Tranztec:
When you say Gold and Silver awards, are those like the Eagle Scout designation from the Boy Scouts?
Marie:
It's more than the Eagle Scout. Okay, it is actually the equivalent but having seen what boys go through to get their Eagle Scout versus what the girls went through to get their gold. It's higher requirements and more involved in my bias opinion.
Tranztec:
Because you did that for 20 years. Was that all like different daughters or did you do it after your daughters finished?
Marie:
Starting with my daughters. So, starting with the oldest one and then through to the youngest. They all went through scouts into high school. Two of them went through their senior year.
Tranztec:
Congrats to them, that is very cool. As always our famous last question, is there anything we didn't ask you that you would like to add?
Marie:
I don't know if I come up with something I'll email you.
Tranztec:
Thanks, Marie. Appreciate and congratulations. Obviously you're a key player in everything. This was well, well deserved. We typically ask people, you know, who should we talk to next and your name always came up in your name.
Marie:
well I am glad to be here. I guess my big thing is I have such high respect for Toby and Deb after you know for knowing them for so many years and everything so I'm excited to be working closer with them in that. They have pulled together a great crew and that makes it fun.
Tranztec has made a donation to - Girl Scouts of America. This non-profit helps girls bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges.