Aaron Call is an opportunist. And it’s not just because he works for a company that helps business owners solve problems in areas like human resources and risk management.
Call graduated in 2003 with a BS in business management. Since then he has worked for a national corporation, a small Utah-based business, a start-up venture, and an expanding enterprise that has twice been named to the Inc 500 Fastest Growing Companies list.
His career started at Payless ShoeSource in Topeka, Kansas, where Call was employed as a distribution analyst. While there he developed a system that measured the inventory levels and sales results for any given product line, an assignment that allowed him to make presentations in front of senior executives and management team members.
“In Kansas you interact with lots of people who have different backgrounds and degrees,” Call says. “I learned how to communicate at a business level and to challenge others’ thinking—while having my own thinking challenged without feeling personally attacked.”
While he admits Payless seemed like a great fit for him, Call wanted to work in an executive position sooner rather than later, and he moved to become director of operations for Evolution Services in South Jordan, Utah, in 2004. The move allowed Call to do things only two years after graduation that most business professionals would have to wait much longer to even consider.
In 2006 Call helped start Core Innovative Solutions in Midvale, Utah, where he was named chief operating officer and charged with overseeing all sales and operations for the business. After enrolling its first client on 1 January 2006, the company experienced double-digit growth in its first year.
“Jumping around is not the ideal way to build a strong résumé, and I understand that,” Call says. “But I saw this as an opportunity to diversify myself, to not just be ‘the operations guy’ but to have my hands in every asset of the business, from accounting to marketing to sales, and to have a full picture of what it takes to run a business and hold 50 percent ownership in it.”
On 1 March 2009 Core Innovative Solutions was acquired by G&A Partners, a Houston-based human resource outsourcing firm. But rather than make the jump to a new venture, Call decided to stay on as the regional executive in Utah.
“The acquisition of Core Innovative Solutions, which is such an up-and-coming industry player within Utah, provides us a solid foothold in the West,” says John Allen, president and COO of G&A Partners. “By combining the strengths of these two organizations, we will not only broaden G&A’s geographical reach, but we will also expand our service capabilities as well.”
Opportunity knocked again—and Call answered.
