This month, we celebrate Darren Tauer’s retirement. A longtime friend and Tamarack team member, Darren spent 36 years working in the equipment finance industry on both the client and supplier sides.
Darren first crossed paths with Tamarack CEO Dan Nelson in 1988 at the start of both their careers at Decision Systems, Inc. (Solifi today). After Dan started Tamarack, Darren utilized the company many times over the years with various projects he managed. When Darren decided to move out of the corporate environment in 2018, he joined the Tamarack team as a senior consultant.
Before he set off to spend more time at his cabin in Northern Minnesota, we asked Darren to share some of his thoughts on his career and how the industry has changed over the years.
First off, what are your retirement plans?
My first grandchild was born this week, and my second is due in November, so I hope to spend a lot of my time with them. Travel has always been important, so that will also be a piece of retirement. My dad retired very early in life, but never really retired, as he always moved from part-time job to volunteer work, to full time work in a different field, back to part-time work, etc. I expect my remaining years to be similar.
What has been your favorite part of working at Tamarack?
I’ve loved how working for Tamarack the last years of my career allowed me to really challenge what I learned over the previous 30 years. Working with many customers, sometimes 5 or 6 in the same day, I saw so many ways to do the same thing. It was often very challenging, but also super rewarding, to take something that a customer thought was working well and suggest a host of other ideas based on experience. Another favorite was the people I met and worked with over my career. In fact, Dan Nelson and I have worked together in varying degrees since 1988.
What are some of your most memorable projects?
During the heyday of M&A, I worked as the IT manager for a bank that acquired many companies and portfolios. I loved the due diligence, analyzing their systems and figuring out their processes and how to create a combined company that incorporated both companies and transactions into one unified platform.
What are some of the key career milestones you are most proud of?
In 1988, PCs were still somewhat uncommon but getting more popular. When I saw the “green screen” of the leasing software I would be designing and developing, my initial thought was “this would be a good way to get some experience” as my first real job. It wasn’t the type of software I had in mind when I became a developer. I stuck with it, learned as much as I could about the software and industry, and I am proud that I based an entire career on something I initially thought of as short term.
What are the most significant changes you have seen in the equipment finance industry?
The biggest changes have been regarding computer hardware. The phone in my pocket has much more processing power and memory than the “super computers” of 1988. In my first position, we had one Apple computer that was used for word processing since what sat on my desk was a “dumb” terminal that really could do nothing but accept input and display the response. Obviously, software has also improved over that time, but at its core a lease is still a lease, which is why many of the industry software vendors have sold updated versions of the same software for 20, 30 or more years. The internet at that time was just text/document sharing, accessed via dial-up connections.
How do you see the equipment finance industry evolving in the next decade?
In addition to software updates to handle new types of equipment and industries, I expect that the diligence regarding tracking of leases and processes will continue to change. Since the Dodd-Frank Act, we have already seen many of these, but some things like Section 1071, processing controls and fair credit reporting will be ongoing. Also, I anticipate the introduction of AI into workstreams and into more identity protection as hackers become increasingly proficient in stealing data and/or systems.
What advice can you offer someone just starting their career in equipment finance?
From an IT perspective, you need to really understand what the business needs and then implement the correct solution. This can be done by learning the customer’s business, identifying what they need, and knowing what a properly designed system can do. Sometimes you need to question what’s being requested, because often what is really needed is not what the user asks for, but what they think will be the quickest or easiest. Or conversely, they ask you to design the ultimate process to automate a somewhat insignificant item. Neither is always the right solution, so try to look at it from a process standpoint and not be “fed” what someone thinks is the best -- your solution may be better. Having the degree and ability to develop is only half the job.