Trailblazer, World Explorer and Customer Champion Looking to Make a Difference
Lumary’s very own Salesforce Trailblazer and Double Star Ranger, Jack McGrady discusses his love of software, travel and making a difference in the lives of others through tech.
Born and raised in Liverpool (UK), it’s safe to say Jack McGrady has fielded plenty of The Beatles questions in his lifetime—“though the first street I lived on was named after Paul McCartney and I did for a short time paint the same life drawing model that John Lennon used to in art college, so it’s not completely unjustified,” Jack laughs.
After 6 months of studying at art college, Jack realized it wasn’t for him. While he had a creative streak, he realized his technical and analytical mind was drawing him towards software development—one of his other passions at high school.
Passionate about people, Jack knew he could impact more lives by pivoting to tech. With that, Jack enrolled in a 6 month IT program that would land him a job at the tender age of 17 while completing his Bachelor of IT on the side.
Starting out as a System Analyst within Unifrax’s Infrastructure team, Jack quickly progressed through the ranks to become their Global IT Projects Manager. In this role, he would manage simultaneous business systems projects across Europe, India and Brazil. It was also where he was first exposed to Salesforce and has been hooked ever since, loving the power of that platform to launch solutions like Lumary.
“I loved the travel. It gave me the opportunity to support a range of clients on their implementation and connect with new people all over the world,” Jack said.
However, after nine years with Unifrax, Jack felt something was missing and knew it was time for a new challenge. It was at this time that Jack and his partner thought about a move to Australia. They took the plunge with the intention that it would be a short 12 month stay (or so he told his mum).
Finding friends abroad
When Lumary implementations were brought in-house in 2020, Josh Pix (Lumary’s Director of Delivery) and Rick Russo (Chief Strategy Officer) were looking to hire a Delivery Manager who was transparent in their approach and committed for the long term.
As one of the two leads for the Delivery team, this person needed to be focused on giving the same level of care to our customers and their implementation journey as our customers did their own clients.
For Jack, the opportunity to continue on his Salesforce journey while joining a company with such rapid growth and a people-first approach was exactly what he was looking for. After meeting Josh and Rick, he knew it was the role for him.
“It was the people-first mentality that attracted me straight away. Whether it’s employees, customers or anyone else in our community, it was clear Lumary had a big focus on connection, diversity and collaboration,” Jack said.
“I was also drawn to Lumary’s focus on learning and growth” he continued. As a PRINCE2 Certified Practitioner, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and 3x Salesforce Certified Trailblazer with over 200 badges, Jack’s penchant for learning certainly fits in with Lumary’s ‘Always Growing’ value.
Journey from Salesforce whizz to Customer Champion
As a Delivery Manager, Jack combined his passions for people and Salesforce, leading his team of Project Managers, Consultants and Developers to support disability and aged care organizations through their Lumary implementation journey to achieve success.
“Having come from the manufacturing industry, working with disability and aged care providers was a big change of pace,” Jack said. “You’re working with people that aren’t doing it for the money, they’re doing it because they care. It’s a great feeling to be directly contributing to their success.”
As someone who lives and breathes Lumary’s ‘No Limits’ value, he was quickly promoted to Director of Product to oversee the continued development of our Australian disability and aged care solutions, as well as the launch of a new US behavioral health solution (Lumary ABA).
However, he had promised his mum that he would return to the UK—and a promise is a promise after all. Returning home in mid-2022, he transitioned to his current role as the Director of US Customer Experience, enabling him to focus solely on Lumary ABA.
In this new multi-faceted role, he is responsible for the Delivery, Customer Support and Account Management departments across the US to ultimately provide a holistic and outstanding customer experience.
“My role is really about understanding the customer to translate that into practical solutions. I meet with providers, map the employee and client journey, work out how our solutions can support their needs, and then jump into technical solutioning with the product development team.”
Putting people at the center of care
When asked ‘What do you love most about your job?’ Jack responded, “I love that I get to communicate directly with our customers about what’s important to them and clearly see the impact of the functionality we’re building.”
“I build these great relationships with our customers because we’re constantly in dialogue to get to the root of their challenges. As a result, we work collaboratively to provide the best outcomes for our customers who in turn want the best outcomes for their staff and clients.”
“The first feedback I often receive is how user-friendly our solution is compared to others, which is really what we’re aiming for”, he continues. “We aim for the employee experience to be as intuitive and as seamless as possible. Every minute providers save on admin, is time they can spend delivering quality care. That’s what makes it all worthwhile.”
What’s next?
In line with our Lumary value, ‘No Limits’, Jack envisions scaling Lumary in the US to enable even more ABA providers to deliver quality care and positively impact individuals with ASD and their families.
“It’s vital that we maintain our close relationship with providers to ensure a constant communication and feedback loop so that we can continue to innovate and improve on our solutions to support ABA providers to deliver better outcomes and greater efficiency.”
Connect with Jack and discover how he’s supporting ABA providers to optimize their organizations to deliver outcome-based care for their clients.