To Boldly Go…

It should come as no surprise to anyone that we throw around a lot of baseball terms and phrases at The Hodges Partnership. What you may not know is that a couple of us are closet Trekkies, so on occasion the random Star Trek reference is tossed about. When that happens in a meeting about three or four of us get the meaning. Sort of like our inside version of The Big Bang Theory.

The title of this post is a reference to taking the next step into uncharted territory (or The Undiscovered Country, sorry…I’ll stop).

So it is with great personal excitement that I introduce Mike Broggie as the COO of Hodges Digital Strategies and VP, Business Development of The Hodges Partnership. This is uncharted territory since this is the first time in the history of both companies that we are dedicating a person primarily to business development.

Mike has a long history of “biz dev” success, working for a number of technology and marketing companies on the west coast. In each case, Mike’s new business approach translated to substantial growth for those companies. Some of you in Richmond may already know Mike as he’s spent the last year or so networking in town as he plans to move his family from California to Richmond later in the year.

I’m never shy about bragging on our folks. They are world class. They get results for clients. On the THP side, we stand toe-to-toe with the national media relations shops. Ditto in our writing skills and without question on content creation and social media management. We owe it to them to take THP to the next step. Mike will help us expand our network and connections, not only in Virginia, but around the country and the world.

For HDS, our partner and CEO Sonali Shetty is a brilliant technology mind. She and Mike have already refocused Hodges Digital. Our new website reflects our focus on larger and more complex Web projects for institutional and corporate clients as well as mobile apps and mobilization projects. Again, we will rely on Mike and his network to expand HDS’s geographic reach while Sonali and her team perform their digital magic.

This doesn’t mean we will forsake our hometown. In fact, as we look at our history we’ve done our best work taking entrepreneurial clients like Snagajob, Ledbury, Reginald’s Homemade, Collared Greens and countless others and help put them on the national map. We will continue to look for the “next Snagajob” to help it craft its message and shoot for the stars. In coming weeks, we’ll be promoting a Work It, Richmond special section of entrepreneurs and we’ll begin working with 804RVA and Lighthouse Labs to help new companies take their first steps.

As with any new voyage, whether it’s to new worlds in space or into a new world of business, there is that “pit in the bottom of your stomach” feeling that I’m sure Kirk or Picard felt often.

But as we have done on many occasions in 11 years and the creation of two companies, we look forward with great excitement and great anticipation.

With a final nod to Star Trek (TNG to be specific), there’s only one word that seems appropriate as we shift into warp speed.

“Engage.”

(OK, I’m done now).