.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} After working various summer jobs and a receiving a degree in both finance and personnel management from the University of Iowa, Tom Beem decided to ride the “information superhighway.” He started selling computer communications equipment 20 years ago and has been in the business ever since. A new position as sales manager for Baker Communications, a subsidiary of Iowa Telecommunications Services Inc., allows him to travel less and sell complete network solutions.

.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Have you always lived in Iowa?

Yes I have. I grew up in Des Moines. I went to Valley High School (in West Des Moines) and I am a Hawkeye graduate.

What did you study at Iowa?

I actually double-majored in finance and personnel management, and I ended up in sales, so who knows. A book on megatrends came out sometime around when I was in college. They talked about the “information superhighway” and said that we all needed to get on, but it was more than getting on the highway. We were put on it. That was where the available jobs and growth were found.

What is your professional background?

Well, I have been in the computer communication business since the beginning, really, when I first started selling 20 years ago.

What led you to that field?

When personal computers first came out, I got busy selling them. I moved into IBM (Corp.) mainframe equipment. That led me into data communication equipment for Motorola (Inc.), and I did move to Kansas City for a couple of years. Then I moved back to sell for Sprint as a national account, and I spent the last 10 years with Avaya (Inc.). I was the sales director for them and managed Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas. This job gave me an opportunity to manage just Iowa and Nebraska and enjoy a local company instead of traveling all over the place.

What is most exciting to you about your new role?

Baker Communications sells “best of breed” communication solutions. From voice and data network solutions, we do it all. Avaya was really only on the voice side of the business. Now I can sell, whether the data network needs a solution, or with Iowa Telecom, one of the major reasons I joined here, I have the opportunity to sell voice solutions.

What are your primary responsibilities?

Sales, working with the sales team on accounts, hiring salespeople and promoting the Baker name. We kind of do it all here, because it is a small company.

What do you like best about working in sales?

I like getting out and working with new customers and finding a solution for their needs. I like going out on appointments, working with the sales team and staying busy.

How did you make your first dollar?

Probably mowing yards or shoveling snow. For my first real job I was a janitor, so I cleaned office buildings. I poured concrete my summers during college.

What would you define as your worst job experience?

It would be a flip between being a janitor and cleaning restrooms or working in a steel factory. I worked there one summer cutting steel; that was pretty dirty work. I was a census worker once over spring break. You would go out and try to get (forms) filled. You were knocking on doors in areas of town where people did not want you to know that they were there. You knock on the door and they slam it in your face.

Where would people find you on the weekends?

On the golf course or working on my 1947 Chris-Craft, an old mahogany wooden boat that I am restoring. Or in Pella working on a building downtown that has been in the family for around 100 years. I have twins, a boy and a girl. They are seniors at Valley High School. I am also leader in a Bible study fellowship at the Lutheran Church of Hope, but that’s on Monday nights.