Jumping fences, running from dogs, and driving in reverse for over half a mile is just the start of this employee owner’s exciting career highlights. Read on to learn more about Telecommunications Project Supervisor, and dedicated family man, Matt Cherek’s adventures as he helps connect communities through his role at ISG.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Being a part of the ISG team with great co-workers.
Who has had a significant influence on your career path and in what way?
The Boss Man, Dan Nelson. I spent almost 20 years in sales, and after my last endeavor, I took some time to think about what I wanted to do when I grew up. Dan had an opportunity at our previous employer and took a chance bringing me along to ISG. I’ve been loving everything about ISG since I started.
What is your favorite part about working at ISG?
The atmosphere. Everyone is extremely helpful and friendly. I have worked for a handful of companies, and ISG has been amazing from the onboarding, to happy hours, to impact days. I also have to give a shout-out to our IT department, because I’ve worked for Kraft, Nestle, and CoStar, and their IT departments can’t hold a candle to ISG.
What do you see changing or growing in Telecommunications?
Things are constantly changing. Two years ago, a rush started to expand 5G. Right now, there is a huge push to get high speed internet to rural communities, which is very important having seen first-hand the problems internet speed can create when everybody is home due to the pandemic.
Describe a challenge of working in Telecommunications
The survey work isn’t always the easiest. Some poles are difficult to access due to terrain or locations in back lots, where you are jumping fences and avoiding dogs just to get to the utility poles.
What kind of project would you love to work on in the future?
A couple of years ago, we helped a customer layout a fiber network in several communities to provide more reliable internet access, as well as competition. I would love to do another project like that again as it was stressful but very rewarding.
Have you received any awards? If so, for what?
The one I am most proud of is my “Most Creative Driving Award.” It wasn’t an actual award at the time, but my manager thought I needed some acknowledgement. I was helping out another district in 2003, and proceeded to take a 24’ refrigerated truck down a bike path on the UW-Eau Claire campus. Keep in mind that this was pre-smartphone era, so I needed to rely on maps.
Unfortunately, the campus maps weren’t that great, and what started out as a “road” turned out to be a bike path. I ended up needing to back the truck up about half a mile, as it wouldn’t fit through a corrugated tunnel.
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