Ron Schmidt

President

I am the owner & president of The Schmidt Group, a.k.a. I am the head cook and bottle washer. If it needs to be done, I am where the buck stops. I have had a fortunate career because I believe that every experience has something to be gained from it & lessons are learned in the most unlikely places. l am originally from Graford, a small town in Texas. A born Entrepreneur, I started my first business, a lawn care service at the age of 10. Using guerrilla marketing tactics, I went door to door & secured clients for $10.00 to mow lawns. I quickly learned the lesson of ROI discovering that in the country, your average lawn is 1-2 acres big & that $10 per lawn was a poor return on my time & labor investment. I learned from an early age, that the more one has to do, the more one does. In high school, I played Varsity football, was in band, choir & FFA (Future Farmers of America) all while maintaining an above average GPA & a full time job. Never a wallflower, I was appointed to President of FFA in my sophomore year and & president for the entire state of Texas by my senior year as well as the national extemporaneous speech champion. Thanks to my FFA scholarship, I graduated from Tarleton State University before earning my MBA from the University of Texas.

Prior to The Schmidt Group, I was the VP of Interactive Services, responsible for all aspects of the company's sales and marketing execution, building the growth of the company by more 300% in the last two years. I am proud to have built one of Miami's leading interactive agencies.

I have been on the foreground of internet based technologies since 1996, successfully helping businesses and individuals achieve their goals with measurable results. Prior to relocating to South Florida, I started my career in Dallas at GTE, tasked with the job of branding and promoting a then, new entity called "Superpages.com". Superpages.com, now a division of Verizon was the first online yellow pages portal on the web. I directed marketing & sales for the project making it a leader in the industry.

When I left GTE to become the Associate Publisher of Telecom Business Magazine I successfully escalated the business by 200% and stewarded the publications sale to Primedia Group. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work with amazing and very prestigious fortune 500 brands including Barnes & Noble, CitiFinancial, General Motors, HP, Jet Blue, Korean Airlines, Netflix, Brinks Home Security, and many more.

A few other things you should know is I really have a pet peeve about lazy people. Lazy people drive me crazy. I was taught that no matter what you do - do your best. Living the life I have had has given me many ups and many downs and if you stay true to yourself you will find that good always prevails over evil. Positive energy is everything I strive to bring that to the office every day as it is essential to obtaining the results our business and our clients demand. I structured a company founded on my belief that everyone is equal and should work as if they are not above anything. Working hard & working as a team is essential to our success and our clients.

Things You Should Know...

3 Must-Haves of the Moment
1. More Sleep
2. New Clothes
3. More Gadgets

What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Diet Coke and a Smoke

First Thing that crossed you mind this morning?
How great it was to go to work!

Favorite Sports Team?
N/A

Last thing you read?
Yahoo Homepage

Name of the last great restaurant you went to?
The Forge

Most inspiring place you've ever been?
St. Thomas

Best advice you've ever been given?
Stay true to who you are

Best TV show?
Boston Legal

Favorite candy?
Hate Candy

Addiction du Jour?
Gadgets

Most embarrassing nickname?
Little Ronnie. Because I am a Junior

Three things your typically do on the weekend?
1. Sit by the pool
2. Catch up on some TV
3. Work on Clients Programs :)

Cocktail of choice?
Cosmo

What's the best part about working for The Schmidt Group?
The clients and the team. The thing that is so encouraging at The Schmidt Group is the people and the clients that keep this company going. I promise you will never find a better group of people who work so well with clients and each other. It is really a team environment and everyone is one big happy family give or take a few bad days from Charlotte Castro :)