Meet Matt Rengo – Leadership Team

At Punch Through, we encourage everyone to proudly be themselves and want you to know the people behind the work that we’re so proud of. That’s why we launched our “Meet the Team” series, where we introduce you to one of our team members each month. 

Meet Matt, Executive Vice President at Punch Through, who focuses on ensuring the Punch Through team has a clear path to learning, growing, and creating while overseeing activities from client relationships to business development. When not at work, you can find Matt on trails around the country mountain biking, mixing it up with some ice hockey, and, of course, spending time at home with his family.

What were you doing before working at Punch Through?

After graduating from the U of M with a degree in computer engineering, I started working as an intern at Logic PD. We were doing somewhat similar projects to those at Punch Through, but more so focused on aerospace, defense, and industrial products. My work at Logic PD led directly to a position at a newly formed Punch Through, along with a couple other familiar faces on the team.

What is your favorite thing about Punch Through culture?

 So many elements come to mind, but probably my favorite thing about our culture is that we’re intentional with its development. It’s consistent and guides what we do, how we interact with one another, and how we approach our work. It serves as our North Star, so to speak. Anyone in our organization can contribute and has an equal voice in where we’re headed. Our culture and our intentional building of it serves as a testament to our success.

Tell me a story about your most memorable moment while working at Punch Through

There’s a whole pile of silly, fun moments, and I’d hate to single out just one. Maybe the most pivotal, however, would go back to our culture. A number of years back, we turned a corner and began intentionally building the company we have today. It happened at one of the earlier company offsites, and we began experimenting with how we retrospect as a group. Of course, we still discussed all the cool things we could celebrate, but we also started retrospecting some of the stuff that bothered us. Even the little things that people didn’t think to bring up were brought to the table — sort of in an effort to avoid “death by a thousand papercuts” that could eventually lead to discontent. We got everything on the board and brainstormed how we could improve and make everyone’s jobs better. It’s something we do twice a year, and it’s been massively beneficial. 

What cool or rewarding things do you get to do on a regular basis?

One of the more rewarding aspects is something that happened recently. Punch Through started partnering with a local organization, Northside STEM. It’s part of the Summit Academy, which does a lot of vocational schooling — science, technology, engineering, and so on. We now offer paid volunteer time to any of our team members who want to help with any of the STEM events that the organization is putting on. Actually, we support the “Beast,” which is this big double-decker bus that has a bunch of stations related to STEM learning for kids in kindergarten through 8^th grade. The goal is for these kids to get excited about technology and engineering and hopefully inspire future generations.

What is the most valuable part of your work to you on a personal level?

On a daily basis, the most valuable part of my job is just knowing that I have genuinely fulfilling work. I walk away at the end of the day with some level of certainty that I’ve provided people with the best possible atmosphere to learn, grow, and thrive. It makes it a lot easier to focus and work hard when necessary. With the work we do, everyone is part of creating a positive impact for clients and even the community at large. Much of our work is in medical devices, which could improve and save people’s lives.

What is different about Punch Through versus other places you have worked?

One big thing is our somewhat unique definition of success. Success to us isn’t based on arbitrary targets, like financial goals. Instead, we focus first and foremost on our vision and values. We want to provide an environment where all our team members are joyful, can learn and grow, and impact our clients in positive ways. Culture is big here, and we want to protect it. 

If we’re successful by our definition, then we will also be successful in all the other ways that make a business successful.