Last week, we celebrated three members of thedatabank team’s 10th anniversary with our company. We are proud and honored to say that we have employees who choose to stay with us for so long. Having three members of our team celebrate 10 years with us is an amazing milestone we were all excited to commemorate. We all got together at Freehouse, a great brewpub right in our Minneapolis neighborhood, and enjoyed food and drinks to celebrate the occasion.
Software Engineer Sean Gardner, Solution Strategist Bridget Kelly, and Administrative Manager Melissa Imboden have all been with thedatabank since 2006.
Bridget started at thedatabank back in March of 2006. She came on when the staff consisted of only seven people. Bridget was brought on to cover a maternity leave, and ended up staying on in the sales department.
Sean and Melissa both started on the same day in June of 2006. Sean was a full-time employee, and Melissa started as an intern.
Melissa spent her first eight years in the marketing department, and then transitioned to Administrative Manager to have a more flexible schedule. Last year, she and her family moved to Seattle, where she continues her role remotely for thedatabank. Thankfully, Melissa still visits Minnesota frequently, so we were able to celebrate the 10-year anniversaries with her in person.
Sean has been in our tech department his entire time at thedatabank, and he has seen a lot of change in the last ten years.
“It’s been challenging and fun to be a part of all this change,” Sean says. “Most of the people I was working with in the halcyon days of dialup, IE6, text email, and MySpace have moved on, but the feel of the place has remained the same. Chris and Mark have consciously created and nurtured a company that attracts people who are energetic, passionate, and socially conscientious – and fun to work with! I’m looking forward to the next 10 years!”
If you want to hear more about what it was like at thedatabank from the beginning, and get to hear more personal stories from staff, check out Sean’s blog post for a blast from thedatabank past! And stay tuned for Bridget and Melissa’s 10th anniversary stories next week.
It was a wonderful night of bonding with our colleagues for both new hires and longtime staff. In the last two months thedatabank has added five new team members and we’re all about building relationships, so it was great to relax and connect with each other while celebrating the longtime employees.
Thanks Sean, Bridget, and Melissa for your 10 years of amazing service!
thedatabank, gbc is technology for change, and we walk the talk. 
Congratulations to all three of you! It’s wonderful to see how you have each grown and contributed to nonprofits’ success over a decade of good work.