Meet John McKenzie, Director of Business Development

Where are you from and where do you live now?

I’m originally from the Boston area but now live in Tampa, Florida. I’ve moved around a bit and previously lived in Olympia, Washington, and St. Petersburg, Florida.

What do you do at FLO?

Good question! As director of business development, I do a lot of strategic planning, devising FLO’s approach to developing new service areas, and growing our business. I also serve as FLO’s lead Tableau developer and create dashboards and tools to help analyze and communicate data for our clients.

Recently, I led FLO’s effort to offer electoral redistricting services to local governments, special districts, and school districts.

What’s rewarding about your job?

I love it when a client comes back to us for work in a different service area. We recently provided redistricting services for many of the cities, towns, and school districts that already work with us in other areas.

Why is what you do important?

I appreciate knowing that my work helps ensure the job security of my colleagues. FLO is a great company to work for, and by growing our business, more people get to experience working for a company that truly cares about its employees and the communities we serve.

What skills do you bring to your work?

I think I do a good job of seeing and understanding the big picture, which helps me convey to potential clients the value they will get out of our work. It also helps me figure out ways to enter new service areas. I’m also a data nerd at heart, so I’m pretty skilled at working with spreadsheets, databases, data visualization software, and map making.

What’s the best advice you’ve received from a work colleague?

Take some time off! Seriously, it’s easy to get caught up in things when you’re busy, and you really can’t do your best work when you’re overly stressed. Taking time off definitely makes a more productive employee.

If you were not a director of business development, what would you be?

A ski bum. Of course, that also assumes I would not be a married father of three small children. If none of those things were true, I’d definitely be a ski bum.

What’s on your bucket list?

A number of travel destinations including: the Seychelles, Newfoundland, the Azores, and Dominica.

What was your favorite childhood movie/TV show?

I’m not really sure what my favorite movie or TV show was, but when I was younger, I would watch every Red Sox game of the season. I almost never missed a game. Now, I find baseball incredibly boring to watch, unless it’s the playoffs.