Peter Tierney
At small companies in particular, every individual counts. That’s what drew Peter Tierney from a 17-year career with computer giant IBM to a string of successful leadership roles at smaller but equally impressive companies like Oracle, software vendors MarketFirst and Inference Corporation, Sawyer Media Group, and now financial management firm Finaplex, Inc., where he serves as president and CEO. “The biggest difference [between working for a large company and a small one],” explains Tierney, “is that you see how individuals directly impact the challenges that a small company faces. In a small business, every employee is directly related to the success of the business.”
But he’s quick to credit the experience he got at IBM—the result of a co-op position while at Northeastern—for preparing him to face the challenges of running small companies. As a co-op student, he operated the computers at IBM data centers in the Boston and Waltham offices. Later, as a full-time employee, he says that the cocoon-like environment IBM created for its employees proved particularly valuable. “It took me from being a college kid to a business professional,” he says. “Having gotten that experience made me want to do more.”
Tierney also credits his success to the passion he has for what he does. He’s eager to qualify that thought, though. It can’t be passion for running a company, he explains. “It has to be for the product or service the company provides. If you don’t have that, it’s too hard.”
