40 Under 40 Alumni Spotlight: Greg Tigges, 1999

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Then and now: Co-owner, Document Solutions of Springfield Inc.

Greg Tigges found his career calling early, and he’s stuck with it.

Tigges, who owns Document Solutions of Springfield with wife Lisa, says he first worked at Xerox in 1982 out of college after being “blown away” at a presentation the company delivered at University of Missouri-St. Louis.

“I was really lucky to hook on and get this right out of college,” Tigges, 65, says.

After working with Xerox for over a decade, Tigges was invited by the company to open his own sales agency in Springfield. Document Solutions was born in 1994, and it continues to sell and support Xerox products from its Plaza Towers office.

“I tell people we’re in the same location as 1994, the same company, we sell the same products,” Tigges says. “I get people that ask, ‘Why are you still working? Why don’t you retire?’ I love what I do. I love our customers. I love to support people that support us.”

Advice to young professionals? I look at work like marriage. If you want to succeed in it, you have to work at it. I’ve always worked hard. If I promise a customer something, I’m going to do it.