DAVE SCHWETZ
Director of Technology & Innovation – Chenmark
Ask Dave what the biggest competitive advantage is in the modern business world, and his answer is deceivingly simple: “Technology.”
“At Chenmark, we build innovative technology to both create and capture value for our companies,” says Dave. “This provides a tremendous advantage in operating leverage, overall efficiency and forms the basis for intelligent business decisions to be made.” Whether it’s custom business applications, predictive analytics, operations optimization or just finding a better way to get things done, he and his team are always ready.
Dave is the Director of Technology and Innovation at Chenmark, a position that addresses the various technical challenges encountered daily by the team of Chenmark businesses. He holds a computer science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, which serves as a unique complement to his master’s degree in operations research from Columbia University.
Operations researchers make use of rigorous mathematics to make better decisions in business. “Cash may be king, but data is his aide-de-camp,” Dave notes.
“Being able to build systems that capture and manage business data, combined with the mathematical background to make meaningful use of that data, is a compelling combination for the Chenmark team.”
Commissioned as an Army officer for eight years following his time at West Point, Dave led several organizations throughout his military career. Upon completion of his service, he transitioned back to the world of technology. In his first role, he joined the technical staff at a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After leaving that role to complete graduate school, he’d go on to hold other positions in technology-centric organizations, including data scientist and chief technology officer.
He originally met two of the Chenmark partners after he transitioned from the Army while his wife, Julie, was in business school. They stayed in touch as their paths crossed throughout the years that followed. “I remember subscribing to Chenmark’s Weekly Thoughts after they told us about Chenmark pretty early on. It sounded like such an interesting idea right from the beginning.”
Several years later, believing technology could help improve their growing team of businesses, they approached Dave about joining. “We saw things the same way from day one. There is such an untapped opportunity to bring the benefits of technology to our growing team of small businesses.” In 2017, Dave and his family moved to Maine and he joined the Chenmark team.
The job has been extremely rewarding for him, both personally and professionally. “Rarely in business do you get an opportunity to have such an impact with each and every project,” Dave observes, “There really is no shortage of challenging problems to dig into. One of the great things about this job is to get feedback on how helpful a project was or how something we were able to help with wouldn’t have been possible without Chenmark.”
With his prior leadership experience combined with his technical expertise, Dave is looking forward to the future of technology at Chenmark. As the company continues to grow, so will the opportunities to leverage technology and make a substantial difference. “We’re building a strong team to address the challenges our businesses see day in and day out. It’s something different than just writing code or configuring networks.