By Jennifer Erb
In
2016-09-192016-10-07https://wvuieleaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/[email protected]WVU IEhttps://wvuieleaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/[email protected]200px200px
Bryan West
Profile
Bryan West had no idea of what he wanted to do for a career when he came to WVU. He knew he wanted to be an engineer. He selected Industrial Engineering because of its business emphasis. It was his advisor that pointed him in the direction. “He introduced me to American Power Conversion (APC). I interviewed with them for a technical sales position and the sales and APC has been my career from that moment on. I never even interviewed with any other company.”
When Bryan was early into his career, one of the senior leaders in APC took notice of his success. He asked Bryan to work with one of their biggest accounts. Bryan was asked to hire his own team. He was 28 years old at the time. Many of those he hired were older than Bryan. He had to earn their trust.
Bryan’s success with the major account led to becoming the leader of a part of the business which focused on partner relationships. This in turn led to a leadership role in APC’s retail business accounts. Eventually Bryan was asked to take the lead for all channels of the business.
Today Bryan is the lead executive for the service side of APC’s business. (Note APC was acquired by Schneider Electric but kept its name). The services side of the business supports clients by keeping their data centers running. One of the growing services is making data centers more energy efficient. This involves a lot of innovative engineering.
A special moment in Bryan’s career was when he counseled another WVU alum with APC. When the alum described to Bryan his personal goals, they didn’t seem to match with his career goals. Years late the alum contacted Bryan and let him know that his goals had been met and thanked Bryan for his advice.
Bryan has extensive international experience in setting up the retail side of the business. He also has had experience in scouting out and acquiring new businesses and then integrating these businesses into APC.
Looking back it’s amazing how one short conversation while in college has become the catalyst for a great career.
Bio
