Over the past decade, Leland Mankin has held a myriad of positions in the technology industry ranging from an entry level Customer Support Technician to now being named Vice President of Operations at LightEdge Solutions. He worked his way through the ranks and has become one of the most influential leaders in the company by identifying problems, finding solutions, and taking ownership of opportunities for improvement. Mankin has invested the past ten years into building, what we believe to be, the best-in-class customer experience for those migrating to the cloud.
Mankin has had many influences in life such as serving over 400 hours in his community as an Eagle Scout and participating on swim team, but perhaps his greatest influence in getting him into the technology space was his father running an ISP out of his childhood home. Leland described technology as “being in his veins”.
During his tenure, he has seen and experienced it all but there are five key qualities he’s utilized throughout his career to be the successful leader he is today.
- Empathy: Since Leland has been in his team’s position, he can understand and share their feelings. More importantly, he fully understands the daily challenges they face and works to improve operational fluidity across departments.
- Respect: Mankin believes in treating everyone equally and fairly. When you respect others, you receive respect in return.
- Integrity: Doing the right thing is one of LightEdge’s core values and a quality he has utilized throughout his career. Putting the customer first is a top priority of not only the company but also our operations team, which is led now by Mankin. He takes pride in solving problems for clients from start to finish – without shortcuts or false promises.
- Active Listening: This quality helps Leland to build trust and relationships among colleagues. He is an attentive and mindful listener to all angles of a problem to reach a solution. Mankin leans on his experts to help make decisions.
- Problem Solving: His greatest strength as a leader, at all levels, has been his problem-solving skills. Leland’s able to breakdown walls and influence groups, without having the authority to do so, to reach a common goal.
Mankin’s passion for building processes and procedures where standardization is necessary has led him to his current position of Vice President of Operations. Ensuring that business operations are running efficiently is his top priority. He considers his biggest strength to be “connecting groups of people together from different departments to increase effectiveness”.
Originally from Tracy, California, Mankin now presides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Jewel, and their two boys. In his free time, Leland enjoys raising his dairy goats, beekeeping, and sailing. He spends his summers devoted to coaching a non-profit swim team, which he founded in 2020.
Learn more about Leland here.
