Genie Powell Celebrates 20 Years with Atlas Systems
The beginning of 2020 represents a major milestone for Genie Powell and Atlas Systems as she celebrates 20 years on the Atlas team. As the second employee of Atlas, joining founder and President Jason Glover, Genie was instrumental in the growth of the fledgling company focused on the ILLiad software offering. Celebrating this milestone gave us an opportunity to talk with Genie and share some stories and thoughts on her 20 years at Atlas.
We have to start with the story that there was some doubt you would show up for your first day. What is that all about?
By the time I became a full-time employee at Atlas Systems, I had already worked with both Jason and Dan (Specht) for many years. Atlas was a tiny company, and ILLiad had 50 licensees we were working hard to support. Jason was able to match my salary to hire me away from Virginia Tech, but I needed to pay for my health insurance using COBRA until the company grew. It was a risk, but I believed in ILLiad and the company's potential. My first event in public as an Atlas employee was ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia.
The conference was long and exhausting and I had a bad cold. Jason and Dan were handling stress in their own way--by teasing me and each other, which was more than I could bear. In our exhibit booth, I would light up when customers stopped to chat but had stopped speaking to Jason and Dan. Jason eventually offered to send me home a day early. I just nodded, picked up my bag, and walked off the exhibit floor. When I walked away, Dan asked Jason, "Do you think she'll come to work next week?" Jason replied, "Honestly, I don't know."
But I did show up. And I kept showing up. And, you’ll be happy to know, we all learned to get along much better at future conferences.
Once you showed up, what do you remember about those early days at Atlas and the ongoing growth of the ILLiad software?
The biggest thing I remember is traveling. The Sopranos series was popular then, and I was able to watch all the episodes live without having HBO because I was always in a hotel room on a Sunday night. Jason and I were both on the road a lot, and it was "seat of the pants" work.
I could only rent a car from Enterprise because I was under 25. Late one Sunday night I had to take a taxi to SUNY Stony Brook because the car rental office had closed. That Long Island cabbie was pretty grumpy about the drive, but I stood my ground because I had to install and train everyone on ILLiad the next morning.
We had so few licensees back then that we could make software changes on the fly to accommodate anything those first users needed. It was exciting and a little terrifying. It was great customer service, but it's not something a company can maintain for decades.
You have done a lot at Atlas. What are a few of the things you are most proud of accomplishing or doing?
As a Communication Studies graduate, effective communication has been a significant part of my personality and my professional life. Rather than a specific technical breakthrough or feature, my most significant contribution to Atlas has been my honesty, my openness, and my willingness to listen. Our users believe in Atlas because we keep our word. I also hope that they trust us because of the relationships they’ve built with me over the last two decades. We are nothing without our community.
What has changed at Atlas over the last 20 years, and what has stayed the same?
In the last 20 years, we have grown from two employees to almost 35. That inevitably leads to cultural changes. When there are only two of you, and everything is a critical mission, you don't fill out a lot of timesheets or expense reports. You don't sleep much either. As we've grown, our staff have been able to specialize in diverse technologies, library environments, and business services. We don't all have to be able to do everything and we have backup help when needed. All this allows us to deliver better service and products to our customers. It's a good feeling. Not traveling quite so much and sleeping in my own bed feels great, too.
Over the last 20 years or more, we have maintained excellent relationships with our licensees. We are proud that every Atlas employee feels connected to our users and is vested in their success. Even within the last year, we have made considerable changes to be more transparent with our users and expand our quality time with them listening and learning. As a lifetime learner, I enjoy that each day at work gives us all something new to discover.
How has your role at Atlas changed over the years?
When I first started at Atlas, I felt like the catcher Crash Davis on the pitcher's mound in Bull Durham. Everyone—first users and then later Atlas employees—needed different things to succeed. Over time, I became the Lorax, speaking for the trees. I was the product owner for all our products and did everything I could to understand the needs of our users so that we could develop superior products and services to meet those needs. Most recently, I have become Winston Wolfe from Pulp Fiction. If something goes wrong, or people need a solution, I'm the person to make it go. Currently, I'm a department of one, talking to users daily and furthering lasting relationships with many of them.
What do you wish for the next 20 years?
My dear friend says, "Joy comes to the brave." My wish for Atlas in the coming decades is that we continue to be brave-- in the services we offer, in the technologies we employ, in the ideals of information access that we uphold for our users.
It took some bravery for me to quit my state job (and its insurance) to become the second full-time employee at Atlas. That bravery paid off for me as well as the company. I want Atlas to continue helping our users be brave in the services they offer their communities and the way they look at and manage sharing information.
Henry Rollins once said, "No one goes into any library seeking to lose knowledge or leave knowing less than they did before they went in." Let's all keep seeking knowledge together.