Lee Kirby, Salute Co-Founder, and retired Army colonel interviewed Greg Edwards, US Navy Veteran and Vice President of System Integration at Enchanted Rock.
What is the Salute Military Community?
The Salute Military Community is a unique cohort of veterans and the military community who serve as examples of the value their experiences bring to our industry. The Military Community supports Salute’s mission and strives to achieve our shared vision of providing veterans and military spouses career opportunities in the data center industry. We are proud of the military community for giving back to other members seeking to start careers in this industry.
Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
My Dad was a US Navy Aviation Electronics Tech, so we moved around a bit. We settled down in the Dallas Forth Worth area and after finishing high school I attended UT Arlington for two years, pursuing a BS EE degree. I also delivered pizzas full-time, so naturally, I burnt out after some time. Not to mention that the Differential Equations Course had me reeling. So, I went to the Navy recruiter and signed up for the Naval Nuclear Pipeline.
And what are you doing today?
I’m with the Enchanted Rock family now. We’re in power resiliency as a service business. Basically, if a company requires backup power, prime power, or Peaker plant power, we’re here to help. Our customers vary across hospitals, grocery stores, water resources plants, data centers, and even residential communities.
Can you tell us a bit about your military background?
When I enlisted, I was assigned to a submarine as an electrician. After three years onboard USS NEVADA, I was accepted into a commissioning program. Following this, I finished my BS EE and went back to the Submarine Force. As an Officer, I served on USS RHODE ISLAND, USS ALBANY, and USS DELAWARE. Towards the end of my career, I was Deputy Commodore of CSS-21 out of Bahrain, and Director of submarine inspections at the Board of Inspections and Surveys.
Can you share the most interesting story that you experienced during your military career? What
“take away” did you learn from that story?
2019 to 2020 was fairly interesting. I managed four submarines in the Central Command region. There was lots of excitement, including drone strikes and other terrorist tracking operations in that timeframe. Then COVID hit, and we had to figure out how to resupply submarines while underway via warship transfers. I also flew from Bahrain, to Virginia, to Japan and then back to Bahrain within a four-day period!
Do you think your experience in the military helped prepare you for business or leadership? Can you explain?
Definitely. Mainly, it helped me with how to persevere in challenging circumstances and very importantly, how to ensure the team steps up to the task. No one can do it alone.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I’ve been helped and coached by many fellow veterans, it takes a village! We all have a part to play. To be honest, I can’t point to only one person that shared the most with me…it was truly a team effort.
You are a part of Salute Veterans Community that shares a common passion of helping veterans get into this industry. This community is “Veterans helping veterans”. Why is this important to you?
This is so very important because no one person can do it alone, and no one person can coach a transitioning vet from start to finish. We truly need to embrace the ‘help as you can’ mentality and encourage soon-to-separate vets to be their own advocate, reaching out to as many folks as possible. Most professionals have 20 minutes available on their calendar; and the more diverse perspectives you hear out, the more likely you’ll be successful.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
To view people through the lens of grace. We all need charity from time to time, and no one is perfect. With that, we can build a habit of approaching folks as people versus hurdles, tasks, and deadlines. Therein, I believe a more sincere form of communication can be fostered.
How can our readers follow you online?
I have a LinkedIn page!
