Rick Zelinsky is Vice President of Product Strategy and is constantly innovating the diverse array of application features that Tango customers utilize every day around the globe to plan, create and implement their projects.
Let’s get to know Rick and discover what makes him one of #TeamTango’s best and brightest.
Can you share a bit about what do you do here at Tango?
I’m the VP of Product Strategy which means I’m part of the team that sets the plan for what features our applications should perform. More recently, my job was expanded to oversee Product Management as well – which includes more of the execution side of things – creation of designs, prioritizing of features, listening to our customers’ needs and working with the sales team to stay ahead of our competition from a product capability standpoint all drive my day-to-day responsibilities.
After a long day, do you have a favorite go-to book or movie?
I’m not much of a fiction reader but really enjoy two of Malcolm Gladwell’s books: The Tipping Point and Outliers. Malcolm writes about business, science and human behavior in a really interesting way. From a movie standpoint, my favorite movie hands-down is The Shawshank Redemption. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are both brilliant and the general plot of the movie keeps you engaged. Fun fact: one thing about this film that many people do not know is that it is based on a Stephen King novel.
Speaking of fun facts, what is a fun fact about you?
I’ve run five marathons. I was at a business dinner around twelve years ago and everyone was going around the table talking about personal goals. I blurted out that I wanted to run a marathon (I never ran besides gym class more than 20 years prior) and I just held myself accountable to it! While my marathon days are now over, mountain biking or snow skiing are two other activities I really enjoy.
You have done a lot here at Tango. Can you share a recent achievement that you are proud of?
I’ve been working in real estate technology for 25 years. When I joined Tango just about 5 years ago, my focus was to help build out our lease administration and accounting application. While I’m biased, I fully believe Tango has the best tenant-based lease administration system on the market. It’s been a great group effort from the Development, QA, Services, Support and Sales departments to get where we have in such a short time. World domination of IWMS and Store Lifecycle Management is where we’re headed!
What would you say is the most rewarding part of your career at Tango?
Helping Tango customers, empowering Tango employees and being a product evangelist on a daily basis. I’ve done hundreds of implementations in my career and have learned, often the hard way, what not to do, how not to do it, and how we can continue to improve both our product and delivery.
We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Rick, one of #TeamTango’s world-class professionals. For more Tango content, check out our blog, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook pages.