HOBI’s next employee spotlight shines on the developer of HOBI’s data erasure tool, HOBI Shield. One half of a HOBI team duo, Rick Vernam shares his wife’s love of staying busy, enjoys trying new things, and harbors a deep loathing of printers.
Originally from Naperville, Illinois, Rick didn’t travel far to join the HOBI team. After starting a family young and pouring all of their energy into raising kids, he and his wife, Leslie, now live in Chicago, enjoying life with adult children.
Rick joined the workforce at fourteen, working at a local grocery store until he left for college. He then moved on to Best Buy, where he began fostering his repair skills. His career at HOBI was born from a circled newspaper listing and his father’s desire for him to work additional hours during the summer. Starting at HOBI in AVT, he’d been working on a triage load when he came across a few label printers and decided to use them to print out the load labels rather than the outdated technique of handwritten stickers. This began his 25 years on the HOBI team—and a lifelong aversion to printers— where he now serves as HOBI’s Director of Engineering at our Batavia location.
As the original developer of all of HOBI’s software, apart from one, there is never a shortage of work to be done. Rick maintains and advances the development of all IT systems and solutions, including network equipment, HOBI Shield, Prism, IR2, and more. HOBI Shield makes HOBI uniquely qualified for data erasure measures, as the only company in the industry to develop its own data erasure tool.
The original idea for HOBI Shield stemmed purely from academic interest after writing an operating system for a college course, and escalated into one of HOBI’s most unique service offerings. Maintaining and evolving the erasure software is integral to HOBI’s data security services, making Rick an essential part of the HOBI team.
Ensuring adequate testing and accurate representation of equipment to clients is crucial for ITAD enterprises, and Rick’s days are filled with perfecting every flaw and ensuring efficiency in a competitive industry. Whatever we need fixed, he’s our guy—printers excluded.
Rick isn’t just Mr. Fix-It at work; he’s also fairly handy at home. Since childhood, he’s had an innate talent for fixing just about anything, which he puts to good use whether around the house, at work, or for a stranger. Unlike many, Rick never shies away from fixing something when it’s broken (except printers, of course), and though he prefers when things work properly, idle hands breed a restless mind in his case. Whether it’s a house project, an old car, or anything not made of plastic in need of improvement, he prefers to stay busy.
When it comes to things outside the realm of engineering, Rick is a lover of trying new things. From braving a new cuisine or trying out a new activity to exploring a new city, he embraces every minute and relishes every new experience. When the weather is nice, he enjoys outdoor activities and even participates in an outdoor workout group, which often requires him to rise before the sun.
Amid HOBI projects and keeping busy at home, Rick occasionally likes to wind down, even if it still keeps his mind stimulated. Days used to consist of Legos and throwing a ball around, but now that his kids are grown, a few hours of yard work or engrossed in an occasional puzzle is more than enough to keep his spare time full and his mind engaged.
When not at HOBI, Rick is in constant motion and hard to spot, but can often be summoned with broken parts, a particularly difficult puzzle, or the promise of a new adventure. If you’re quiet, you can hear him quietly cursing at a printer.