Richard Higley

My Foundever story started almost six years ago. I had recently got married and was coming from a job that was not giving me an opportunity to grow outside of the current role. I was becoming dissatisfied and frustrated and knew I needed to do something different. A friend of mine told me about Foundever and encouraged me to apply. I was a little reluctant, as I had been at my prior place of employment for seven years. I decided to take the jump and it ended up being one of the greatest decisions of my life. Foundever has given me the opportunity to grow professionally, make new friends and the stability to start a family.

I started as a coach on a new LOB that had just been launched. From the moment I got started, I knew I was in the right place. I learned all about Foundever and GOS. Really taking in the culture and learning from my new colleagues. At Foundever, I’ve always had amazing managers that have believed in me and pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I have been able to achieve several promotions during my time here and currently hold the position of senior operations manager. I would have never been able to accomplish this without the mentoring of some amazing Foundever employees.

Not only have I been able to grow professionally, but I have also been able to travel and make lifelong friends that feel like family. At Foundever, we have some awesome people who help support and lead accounts from Nicaragua and all over the world. Even though we are thousands of miles apart, it doesn’t feel like that. We communicate through voice, video and chat; it becomes just like any other colleague you have had in the same office. Every now and then, I am able actually to travel and see these guys in person and there is never any awkwardness because these guys have become great friends.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I decided to buy our first house. This was a major milestone as we had been living in our little condo since we got married. Having been at Foundever for several years and feeling good about how things were going with my career, we took the plunge. During this time, we also found out we were expecting our first child, well first non-cat child. We closed on our house and then we just had to wait for our little bundle of joy to arrive in just seven short months from then.

What we didn’t know at the time is our baby would be arriving early and actually 2 months early. It was the scariest moment of my life as both the baby and my wife were having complications. My co-workers were there to support me throughout the whole ordeal. Checking in seeing what we needed, making sure I didn’t have to worry about work assignments while I was out, they covered it and didn’t make me feel like a burden. I was able to be fully present for my wife and baby; she weighed 2lbs 9oz. She went to the NICU for a while, but was finally able to come home. Two years later, we have a healthy toddler that’s creating havoc everywhere she goes. This is really a time that if I didn’t have my Foundever family, I’m not sure I would have been able to get through it.

If you’re still reading this, you have probably figured out that Foundever is Family. I go to meetings and executives from Foundever will ask me how my daughter is doing. It feels great knowing that the people at the top of Foundever care about me and my life. There are days that this job can be difficult and challenging, but working alongside these amazing people help make those challenging days, not so challenging.