Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/297333
16 florida.HIGH.TECH 2014 Faces of Technology Charles Engelke Info Tech Inc. | www.InfoTechFL.com Chief Technology Officer Education: B.S. in Mathematics, M.S. in Computer Science, M.S. in Mathematics and coursework toward Ph.D. in Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Florida Company: Info Tech Inc. is located in Gainesville and is a market leader in software for infrastructure construction management. Products serve consultants, contractors and agencies of all sizes, including hundreds of cities and more than 40 U.S. departments of transportation. The company also provides consulting and IT services. Working for one company for a quarter of a century could get old. Gainesville's Info Tech has been a place of innovation for Chief Technology Of- ficer Charles Engelke for more than 26 years. With key insight, he has learned how to guide innovation and create products that sell. Info Tech provides software and services for public agencies and other clients throughout the U.S. and Canada, including software products that detect price fixing and manage construction proj- ects. Nearly $111 billion in bids were processed through the company's bidding software in 2013. In order to foster ongoing in- novation in its products, Info Tech created an in-house incubator to research new technology. "The incubator sharpens our ability to best serve our clients," said Engelke. "We keep our eyes open for needs that are not being met or budding technology that may not be mainstream for a few years, but will eventually become integrated in our work." Engelke directs the incubator, as well as other technology projects. His days range from tinkering with available technology to solve a client problem to pushing projects at vari- ous stages of production forward. Among other information, he must navigate through what is new with mobile and popular technology, plus industry needs. Engelke found his way into the industry through a love for math. He studied mathematics in college, but a spark was ignited when he took a computer science class. "I got hooked hard on comput- ers," said Engelke. "The field is in- credibly dynamic and I really wanted to make things that people could use, not just something that would be talked about in a classroom." Creating useful products is Engelke's favorite part of the job. A close sec- ond is Info Tech's environment of learning that allows its employees to explore any technology that can build on new or existing products. To him, the job never gets old. In fact, he still feels like he did when he was hired after graduate school at the University of Florida. One thing that has changed is Engelke's insight after decades of build- ing computer systems. After trying to meet every need in one product, he has learned to keep things simple. Employees are used to him asking, "Does this product need to do this function?" Regardless of the answer, he couldn't imagine a better company to figure it out.