COMBINING SALES FORCES

Like most 19-year olds, Jonathan Warrey had no idea what he wanted to do when he grew up. While first starting out at the University of North Dakota (UND), Warrey was an accounting major. It wasn’t until he met Dr. Dennis Elbert that his collegiate trajectory changed to marketing.

“Dr. Elbert, who was the chair of the marketing department at the time, convinced me to major in marketing instead of accounting,” says Warrey, “and I said, ‘if I do that, will you help me land a job?’ And he goes, ‘yes, I will.’”

Little did Warrey know, Dr. Elbert was a man of his word.

Homecoming of Warrey’s senior year, Dr. Elbert introduced Warrey to the founder of Marco, a then 18-million-dollar company that specialized in business IT services and copier/ printer solutions. And what a life-changing introduction it was.

“I got my job at Marco upon graduation (1996) and I’ve been there ever since,” says Warrey.

Warrey started out at Marco in St. Cloud, Minn. as a sales representative and worked his way up through the sales ranks. Twenty-three years later, he serves as COO of the now 400-million-dollar Fargo-based company.

“Favorite part of my job? Hitting goals. Satisfying customers. Staying relevant to them as their business tech provider. Watching people get better at their jobs. Even myself, I was so green when I started, and I got a ton of help from people. I’ll