Starting this week and running through the end of the calendar year, ENX Magazine will highlight participating Difference Makers with extended personality profiles in The Week in Imaging newsletter. You can read about all 67 honorees in our May issue.
Ron Robey sat in the lotus position on the floor of a customer’s office, with parts covering his lap. He was having difficulty catching his breath. This recently appointed service manager had just received his fifth call of the day from a tech requesting assistance. He hadn’t even worked his way through half of the machines that other techs had pinged him for help with, and it was just overwhelming.
Maybe, Robey thought, he was better off in his old job. “I remember leaving that account and calling our owner to tell him that I’m not cut out for this,” he recalled. “I was hoping he would allow me to go back to being a technician.”
Driving home that night, it occurred to Robey that being a manager didn’t mean he had to don a superhero’s uniform. He couldn’t do it all by himself, and frankly, he shouldn’t/didn’t have to. It was a realization that not only spared Robey’s sanity, but sent him on a path to becoming a true manager.
The next morning, he called the owner to him everything was under control. “I started looking at the strengths of all of the people around me and reached out for help based on what they excelled at,” said Robey, a 2024 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “I quickly learned how important delegation was to being a good manager and leader.”
Now the vice president of service and operations for Offix, Robey has learned much about his role and the art of management during his 35-year career. Talent development is one of his favorite tasks—and perhaps most challenging—given the next-generation’s general migration away from mechanically-intensive roles. But perhaps there is no greater feeling than having delivered exceptional customer service and seeing the relief on the face of a customer who earlier in the day had been hopping mad about a machine in need of service.
Perhaps most of all, Robey is gratified to know that his role can serve many without overwhelming him. In that sense, he has definitely found a groove.
“We talk a lot about core values on a daily basis, and one of those is ‘display empathy,’” he remarked. “I think I’m a pretty good listener which makes people feel that they can lean on me when they need most anything.”
Stars Align
The office tech universe was an unlikely path for Robey. He’d intended to join the army upon graduating high school, but a medical condition nixed those plans. Pivoting, he worked in construction by day and took night courses at a community college. Robey had a part-time gig at an office supplies company in high school, and knew a Xerox salesperson who worked out of the location. During a rainy day, he dropped in to say hello, and the salesperson informed him that their company was hiring. Robey interviewed and tested well for mechanical aptitude.
“I guess I did OK, because they made me an offer that day,” he added.
While Robey found contentment repairing equipment, it was the owner of Offix, Steve Valenta, who saw leadership potential in the tech. He joined Offix in 2005 and found great satisfaction in the customer service aspect. Frankly, the thought of being a manager stuck behind a desk all day didn’t seem appealing.
Valenta helped expand his thinking, however. “Steve showed me that there are so many other ways to excel at customer service both externally and internally with our employees,” Robey noted.
The 2023 campaign saw Robey take a more active role as integrator for Offix’s entrepreneurial operating system, which helped the company realize more of its goals. As for this year, helping Offix attain its revenue goal is high on his list. He’s hoping a little creative thinking and ingenuity could allow more team members to strive toward the goal and not put the onus entirely on the company’s sales department.
Shouldering Workload
In the long term, Robey wants to remove some of the operational burden from Valenta and his wife/co-owner Kim, enabling them to enjoy more time with their grandson and relax at their new river home. Speaking of operations, it’s the newest aspect of his duties, and it’s opened his eyes to many elements of business he hadn’t considered.
“What I have learned is that I thought I knew more about the running of the company than I actually did,” he said. “I can improve upon what I’ve accomplished so far by diligently involving myself in every aspect of our company and becoming a true partner to all of our employees.”
Robey and his wife Stephanie have been married 18 years. They reside in Virginia and have a daughter and five grandchildren in Florida. When they’re not vising the Sunshine State, the Robeys tend to their Orange County property, away from the bustling pace of Northern Virginia. An avid bowler who plays several times a week, he travels with the Underground Bowling Association (UBA), a national organization with more than 10,000 bowlers, and loves to meet great competitors.
