When employees get to grow together, they tend to stay together, too.
According to a LinkedIn study, 94 percent of employees agree that they would stay longer at a company if that organization invested in their career. They believe that professional development opportunities reflect how an organization values its people, which motivates them to succeed while helping the company itself do the same.
This determination to drive both personal and professional success has defined Henry Mei’s experience at GoodRx, where he was promoted to senior director of data science about a year ago. He shared that, since being promoted, he has been able to expand his skill set and support his peers more fully, empowering them to deliver better outcomes.
Meanwhile, at First Entertainment Credit Union, Cloud and Network Engineer Sam Ignacio has had ample opportunities to evolve. Throughout the 10 years he has spent at the company, he said, he has been able to learn a wide range of new skills and hold a variety of roles. Now, in his current position, Ignacio can approach network architecture and cloud deployments with greater strategic thinking.
At both of these companies, a culture of internal mobility and upskilling empowers employees to achieve their professional goals, which is exactly what Jesus Castellanos has encountered at ChowNow. He explained that, upon being recently promoted to account executive, he was offered the opportunity to leverage his existing skills while obtaining new ones, such as understanding how to develop customized solutions for clients’ business challenges. For Castellanos, his recent promotion is simply one example of how he has seen the company value its people — and help them thrive.
Below, Mei, Ignacio and Castellanos share more about their recent promotions, how their new roles have helped them build out their skill sets, and what this says about each company’s focus on employee development.
GoodRx’s platform connects consumers with prescription discounts and telehealth services.
Tell us about your recent promotion or role change.
About a year ago, I was promoted to senior director of data science, marking a firmer shift toward strategic leadership. This transition required me to refine how I align data science initiatives with business objectives, drive cross-functional collaboration, and mentor teams for greater impact. As a manager of managers in a small-cap public company, being successful requires that I fluently navigate the complexities of both individual contributor work and interpersonal relationships among stakeholders. Those soft skills, combined with time management, are the biggest attributes that leveled up with my transition.
“This transition required me to refine how I align data science initiatives with business objectives, drive cross-functional collaboration, and mentor teams for greater impact.”
What will this new role let you do?
In many ways, my new role and developing new skills came hand in hand. One allowed for the other and vice versa. Making bigger decisions and advocating for my teams in a high-performing environment requires continuous learning and a hands-on understanding of data science, machine learning and related fields. Modern data products are not built in a vacuum, and the end-to-end delivery often involves intersections with data engineering and analytics. While nobody can be an expert at everything, having fluency and familiarity ensures thoughtful partnership that leads to better outcomes and a more humane experience for the teams that have to roll up their sleeves and do the work.
How would you describe GoodRx’s approach to internal mobility or upskilling?
GoodRx supports internal mobility and upskilling. We often promote from within and invest in our employees in many ways. I would not have imagined myself in the leadership role I’m in now when I started as a tech lead six years ago. I have supported a multitude of projects, from marketing to personalization to pricing, as both an individual contributor and manager. Through GoodRx, I’ve also been able to complete another graduate degree at my alma mater, Georgia Tech, to firm up my foundational understanding of theory. As modern machine learning algorithms are increasingly used to create many of the consumer-facing products and services that we use today, keeping my hands-on skills sharp gives me confidence.
Of course, I am grateful for the opportunity to bring together an amazing group of diverse, compassionate and talented colleagues. I believe that curating culture and talent from early career and onward creates sustainability, even in the face of challenging business conditions and current events. Together, we work to help Americans access the healthcare they need at an affordable price while reducing friction in obtaining their medications.
First Entertainment Credit Union offers financial services to individuals and organizations in the entertainment industry.
Tell us about your recent promotion or role change.
Over the 10 plus years that I’ve worked at First Entertainment, I have had the opportunity to grow my career and gained a variety of technical skills along the way. After being promoted to a systems administrator role in 2021, I began to work alongside our network team, and through that partnership, I gained the experience and credentials needed to work fully on our network infrastructure. My new role is responsible for maintaining the reliability and security of our network infrastructure, which is critical to our members.
I believe my ability to manage challenging cloud and networking tasks while supporting the organization’s strategic IT goals has been acknowledged by my promotion. First Entertainment recognizes and supports continuous learning, and I have obtained certifications in Okta identity management and Microsoft Azure Cloud solutions. Resources like access to specialized training platforms and reimbursement for certification exams were made available as well. These skills have improved my proficiency in managing safe, effective networks and creating scalable cloud solutions.
What will this new role let you do?
I can approach network architecture and cloud deployments with greater strategic thinking, thanks to this new role. As a cloud and network engineer, I can create and execute cloud-based solutions that ensure smooth data migration, boost system efficiency and correspond with our business goals. Also, my new role will contribute to the scalability and resilience of the infrastructure and troubleshooting more complicated networking problems.
“As a cloud and network engineer, I can create and execute cloud-based solutions that ensure smooth data migration, boost system efficiency and correspond with our business goals.”
How would you describe First Entertainment Credit Union’s approach to internal mobility or upskilling?
First Entertainment Credit Union prioritizes internal mobility and upskilling to cultivate a culture of growth and development. They sponsor certifications in different fields and classes and have a dedicated learning and development team that frequently hosts workshops as well. After completing training programs, I have witnessed colleagues move from general IT roles to specialized engineering positions. Using myself as an example, I started from a tech support representative and was able to grow into an engineer position. This culture is demonstrated by my own experience, where my manager encouraged me to take certification courses after I indicated an interest in learning more about cloud computing, which led to my promotion.
ChowNow’s platform enables independent restaurants to offer commission-free ordering, build branded mobile applications, simplify their takeout operations and create marketing campaigns.
Tell us about your recent promotion or role change.
I’m pleased to share that I was recently promoted from sales development representative to account executive. In my SDR role, I consistently exceeded my prospecting quotas and built a strong pipeline of qualified opportunities.
What will this new role let you do?
This promotion recognizes my ability to nurture client relationships through the full sales cycle and deliver results. As an account executive, I’m now responsible for managing key accounts, developing customized solutions for clients’ business challenges and closing deals that deliver value to both our customers and company.
“As an account executive, I’m now responsible for managing key accounts, developing customized solutions for clients’ business challenges and closing deals that deliver value to both our customers and company.”
How would you describe ChowNow’s approach to internal mobility or upskilling?
Our company has built a strong culture of internal mobility that rewards performance and dedication. My recent promotion from SDR to AE is just one example of how the organization values and develops talent from within. In the past year alone, I’ve witnessed seven other fellow SDRs advance their careers through merit-based promotions. This merit-based approach creates a motivating environment where high performers know their contributions will be recognized and rewarded with meaningful career advancement opportunities.
