10 Years a PMGer: Jacob Herman, Special Projects Lead

It’s been so long, I don’t remember much, but what I can tell you is that it was quite different from my day-to-day now. There were only a handful of us working at PMG, and at that time, everyone did a little bit of everything. On my first day, I sat down with PMG’s founder and CEO George Postefanov as he set up my email address and showed me how I could start pitching in on current projects. Throughout the years, there have been days where I would help build office furniture and other times when I managed client relationships or worked with software development on building our technology stack. Every day has been different, and it’s really kept things interesting. 

My title and responsibilities have changed, but my role as someone who helps bring special projects to life for the company has ultimately stayed the same. One of the things that drew me to PMG was the opportunity to work alongside our founder and CEO, because of his innate ability to empower people like me with the freedom and support to go out and solve problems without having to wade through the red tape you normally experience at companies. I’ve always tried to make myself useful, and fortunately for me, there are always new challenges that pop up and need to be solved as a company grows. 

During my first few years, I helped translate client and media management needs into technology solutions, which has been one of my biggest career achievements here at PMG. Being able to work side-by-side with software developers and technologists like Chris Alvares, Chris Davis, and Evan Wooten, to decipher the needs of media managers and create software that ultimately resulted in a better product feed management system was a cool experience. Seeing it in its current form as a part of Alli and a technology solution that’s been used by so many people—not to mention powering incredible brands—has been really fulfilling. 

Definitely the people. I’ve worked on both clients and internal projects alongside some of the smartest and most down-to-earth people in this industry, from software engineers to SEO experts and financial analysts, media managers, and everyone in between. That’s not something I can easily quantify or point to, but it’s made a huge impact on my life. I’ve made some lifelong friends, which isn't the norm of work life. It really has been the people here who have made PMG a great place to work these past ten years, and it’s something I’m really thankful for. 

My favorite memory would have to be meeting and getting to know my now-fiancé Lauren at PMG. I first saw her on her very first day at PMG in the lobby. Shortly after that, I remember I was looking to buy some shirts online and knew she had great style, so I called her over to my desk to get her opinion on all these shirts I was looking at, and the rest is history. 

Seeing PMG continue to grow at an incredible pace and exploring new ventures has been really exciting. At the end of the day, your work life is what you make it. It’s easy to go to work, get your projects done and go home without getting involved and meeting the people around you. Some of my best memories have been when I’ve gone out of my way to meet someone who was new to the company or raised my hand for a new project, and I think it’s paid off with life-long friends. I’ve worn a lot of different hats at PMG and being open to new challenges has kept things entertaining and really interesting. There’s never been a dull moment, and I doubt that will ever change.