In celebration of Astron’s 25th anniversary, Astronology® will be interviewing the Astron team members to get their thoughts on various HR matters and Astron itself. This issue is the first of a two-part interview with Astron’s Founding Partners and National Directors, Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich.
In the early days, we started the company with no revenue, no clients, just the belief we could do it.
–Michael Maciekowich
Astronology®: Tell us – what were the early days like? How did you gain clients?
Michael Maciekowich: “As we started thinking about names for the company, we wanted to have a name that sounded like an established firm. From this we thought, how about a Greek name? We decided that we needed to try and pick a name that starts with A because of alphabetical order listings in conference directories. We reviewed some name lists and, with a few possibilities in hand, made sure to check that it wasn’t a name already being used.
As we were brainstorming, we came upon Astron, which is Greek for star, similar to words like Astronaut or Astronomy (study of the stars). We like to think we’re the guiding stars for our clients facing compensation issues.
Once we had the name, we began putting together marketing materials. We hired a freelance graphic designer. He created marketing ideas including what became our first tagline, ‘Guiding Human Resources Into The Future.’ He immediately thought of the North Star when creating our logo, which is a combination of a compass and a star.
With logo in hand, we sent postcards advertising Astron’s presence in the compensation space. We gained our first client a few weeks after that. A lot of our earlier client work came from networking referrals from decades in compensation.”
Astronology®: Can you recall a challenge Astron faced in its starting days?
Jennifer Loftus: “Yes – as Astron continued to grow we did face some issues in attracting and retaining talent. We would meet with candidates, and they would ask, ‘Why would we work for you? I could work for Goldman Sachs or American Express. You’re an unknown company.’ This caused us to focus on our total rewards offerings and to seek candidates with an entrepreneurial spirit like me and Mike.”
Facing the tragic events of 9/11:
Michael Maciekowich: “We had just started the company and two years later 9/11 happened. We were exhibiting at the 2001 New Hampshire ASHHRA Region 1 Conference. That morning we were at our booth, and noticed no one was coming by. Then somebody came up to us and said, ‘aren’t you guys from New York?’ We confirmed, and he responded with, ‘Well, then you better get out to the lobby with the televisions.’ We watched with everyone else and were shocked. Getting home from New Hampshire afterwards was very challenging.”
Astronology®: In the first ten years (1999 – 2009), what economic challenges did Astron and our clients face?
Michael Maciekowich: “On our 10th anniversary, we celebrated with the staff in our conference room. Not too long afterwards, clients were calling to cancel their projects with us. The Great Recession of 2008 / 2009 had begun, impacting us just as much as the next company. There was no income for about six months.”
Astronology®: What was your biggest highlight in the first ten years of Astron?
Michael Maciekowich: “I think the excitement of our first client was a huge highlight for me. We could finally say, ‘oh, somebody wants us!’ and they weren’t even from New York. They were in Georgia.”
Jennifer Loftus: “I had three:
1. Making it to that 10-year point.
2. Being featured on ESPN 2’s Cold Pizza in 2004. At the time, a consulting firm would do a study every year during March Madness about how the event was a huge drain on the economy. They needed someone to take the counterpoint and say ‘no, March Madness’ effects on the workplace can actually be a good thing.’ The stars aligned and I got to be the counterpoint on national live TV, which was awesome. Afterwards, clients reached out and asked, ‘did I just see you on TV this morning?’
3. The awards we won over the years, including our first award, the Regional Commuter Choice Award, as well as Best Practice Recognition at the National ASHHRA Conference. Michael had attended and spoke on the nursing career pathing program he developed for a hospital in Northeast Georgia.”
“In the early days, we had a lot of fun, long days and had limitless energy. Everything was new and exciting. In between the occasional negative there were a lot of good things.”
–Jennifer Loftus
In part two of our interview, Jennifer and Michael will share their thoughts on how Astron has changed since the start-up days, and how the world of compensation has changed since 1999.
Do you have a favorite first decade Astron memory? Please share in the comments below!