2023 Trusted Advisers Legacy Adviser: Thomas Douglas

Frustrated with an antiquated inventory management system while serving in the U.S. Navy, Thomas Douglas started tinkering. The work figuring out how to write a database and improve systems for inventory needed for deployment would launch a more than 25-year career in technology for the now-CEO of JMark Business Solutions Inc. 

“The computer that I was using couldn’t handle the database that I wrote,” Douglas says. “I needed to upgrade it and buy components and install them and learn how to do all those things. It got me hooked.”

After a decorated career in the Navy, Douglas joined the managed information technology services firm in 1997. He purchased the company four years later. Under his leadership, he’s taken the company from six employees producing under $1 million in annual revenue to over 120 employees that recorded $25.6 million in revenue last year.

“We wanted to be a market leader,” Douglas says, recalling his mindset at the time. “We wanted to be among the best if not the best at providing technology services. We just took a real honest and candid approach to how we were doing technology.”

One shift to that approach was in the client fee structure. Douglas says the previous managed IT business model was reactive, with customers paying hourly for repairs: “We were only incented to be successful when things broke.”

A shift to a recurring, flat-fee model meant JMark was proactive with maintenance and became a part of its clients’ teams.

“We just kind of went up, up and to the right,” Douglas says of revenue growth. “Because we care so much about what it means to treat people well within the organization so that they treat our clients right, that’s just kind of turned into that synergistic win and it’s given us the opportunity to grow. We’ve made a few acquisitions along the way, but the heart and soul of our growth is a people-first approach.”

Douglas says the company has appeared nine consecutive times on the Inc. 5000 fast-growth list, a feat he says is achieved by few and is a testament to the company’s motto of people first, technology second.

Last year, Douglas released a book outlining the principles he’s learned over his career. “Adapt or Die: How to Create Innovation, Solve People Puzzles, and Win in Business” is Douglas’ first book. 

“I had the chance to meet some incredible people; I describe them as wizards and ninjas of business,” he says. “I wanted to take the things that have been taught to me and what we learned the hard way and share it so maybe it would save people some troubles.

“The heart behind it is if we can help to build better leaders, they’ll build better companies that serve people more effectively, and that changes the world.”

Douglas refers to the principles outlined in the book as an algorithm of success, which focuses on leadership, products and strategy, the growth engine, people, operations, and process.

He says his leadership approach is all about doing the best for people, whether that’s employees, clients or community members. He says his biggest failures in his career have come from not having courageous conversations early with poor leaders or employees who didn’t fit within the company culture.

People also are at the heart of some of his biggest successes, he says.

“Some of my favorite stories are when (employees) are able to buy a home for the first time or they’re able to buy a new car or send a kid to college that they wouldn’t have the opportunity to do otherwise,” Douglas says. “Combine that with how we get to serve our clients and make a difference in their business and optimize them and protect them and help them to create a more scalable, efficient and safe business – those things in combination are just a lot of fun.”

He credits his parents, Kerry and Synda Douglas, for his servant-leader philosophy.

“My mom went way out of her way to create opportunities for folks. Her servant’s heart is kind of woven into my DNA,” Douglas says. “My dad is mostly retired now, but he approached law in mostly the same way that if he did a good job taking care of folks, his best opportunity to grow his book of business was through referrals. He had a heart to serve and exhibited that through the community by being on city council and being on the foundational board that started Citizens Memorial Hospital.”

That community-mindedness has continued with Douglas. He’s the vice chair of economic development for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a member of the Springfield Business Development Corp. Board, Ozark Regional Workforce Development Board and the Biz 417 Advisory Board. He also volunteers and supports nonprofits like Journey, which focuses on supporting veterans’ mental health, and CoxHealth’s Children’s Miracle Network.

At JMark, Douglas says he stays up to date with trends to best serve clients. He sees cybersecurity and artificial intelligence as the biggest threats and opportunities.

“The bad guys are using artificial intelligence to write the code in order to compromise networks. No longer do you have to be a ‘superhacker’ to hack a network; you just have to be really good at asking ChatGPT or one of these other tools the right questions,” he says. “We’re head-down focused on how to bring more tools to the table to deal with these threats, and yet concurrently we’re excited about the opportunity to be able to help our clients implement AI and machine learning into their business so that they can run more effectively and, really, they can help their people to be more effective as well.”

For Douglas, that hits at the core of his purpose as a trusted adviser: “While technology serves as the conduit, true success lies in recognizing its potential impact on growth, efficiency, culture, asset protection and client service.”