In early December, Paragon IT Professionals (Paragon) announced the promotion of four employees: Greg Lagan, vice president of sales; Jessica Grant, vice president of marketing; Nick Patraw, sales manager; and Amber Leffler, operations manager.
“It’s incredibly important to us that we have individuals we believe have the capacity to be great leaders and help this organization continue to grow,” said Craig Jackman, President & Co-Founder of Paragon IT Professionals. “
The promotions are spread across three departments and Paragon’s leadership team:
Lagan who was recently named as one of the Top Staffing Leaders to Watch in 2023 and a seven-year veteran of Paragon, has helped transform its recruiting practices and methodologies leading to improved close ratios across the organization ultimately boosting top and bottom-line revenue. He has spent the past three years as a member of Paragon’s leadership team, and will now have elevated responsibilities over the entire sales process, including new customer acquisition and growth.
Grant joined Paragon as their director of marketing in 2019 with nearly 15 years of experience working with senior leaders, business owners and boards of directors on strategies to propel growth and meet organizational goals. Over the past three years, she has helped elevate Paragon’s brand and reinvigorated its IT Leadership Forum leading to improved lead generation and market penetration across Minnesota, Nebraska and Arizona. As Paragon’s vice president of marketing, Grant will work closely with sales on strategies to help drive new business and meet revenue growth targets.
Since joining Paragon as an account executive in 2019, Patraw has helped triple revenue in the Minnesota market, and has an impressive track record of closing 1 in every 1.9 jobs, compared to the industry average of one in every eight. Patraw, who came from a hospitability background, understands the importance of providing exceptional service and building trusting relationships. In his new role as sales manager, Patraw will serve as a player-coach for new market development, and will work closely with Lagan and Grant on strategies to reach revenue goals.
Leffler has been with Paragon for four years and in that time has continued to grow within operations and human resources. Most recently serving as human resource administrator, Leffler helped implement and streamline new payroll processes and communication. In her new role as operations manager, she will continue to help refine processes and get more ingrained with all operational aspects of the company.
The timing around these promotions and elevated responsibilities are purposeful as Paragon has experienced double digit growth in five of the last seven years, and is four years into a 10-year plan to reach $100 million in revenue – an accomplishment that only 62 IT staffing firms in the country have reached.
“We have big plans over the next four, five, ten years,” said Joel Jackman, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Paragon. “Craig and I are confident in the direction we’re going and believe the future is very bright with the team we have in place today.”
Since 2021, Paragon has added more than nine new team members, and has expanded its reach to Arizona where they’ve implemented their IT Leadership Forum and have a growing customer base.