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Right off the bat, Ralph Hall is one of those people who can read more than one book at a time. That probably tells you all you need to know about his intellect and is curiosity and his zeal for learning. But when you couple that with his passion for helping, it creates one of the truly special people here in the ARM industry. Also, being a Russian and European studies major, you just knew he was destined to work in collections. Read on to learn more about Ralph, why he doesn’t feel guilty about his guilty pleasure, and why he never takes himself too seriously.
Name: Ralph Hall
Job Title: VP of Product, Innovation, and Application Systems; also, Founder and Principal Consultant.
Company: BCA Financial Services; also, GVH Consulting
Length of time at current company: At BCA since January 9, 2025; officially started GVH on November 7, 2024
Length of time in industry: 20+ years
How did you get your start in the industry?
It all began at Columbia Ultimate as a software trainer/implementation consultant.
What is your career highlight so far?
It’s mostly all been a lot of fun and highlights. Besides ARMTech presentations, I would say the work we did at Professional Credit in organizing the data management team and improving that space so dramatically in the company. I’m very proud of that team and what we accomplished.
When or how are you most productive?
This can change based on the task, but generally any time I’m thinking through or building something that will help solve a problem or improve a process. I have a very pronounced helper gene.
Which industry professional do you admire most?
There are far, far too many to list one or even 20. I’d leave out too many that I admire. We have a remarkable group of people in the industry.
What is one thing you do better than everyone else?
My goodness, there are lots of superlatives in this questionnaire. One thing I think I do well is helping connect the business to the developers. Way back at Columbia Ultimate, I remember a training session where a VP from one of our clients was about to mentally check out of the Recall training. I spent a few minutes with her connecting a few dots over break, and was super happy to see her keep up and learn the material. It’s probably a toss up between that and organizing technical functions within an organization.
What do you like most about this industry?
The people are amazing. I am really grateful to know so many of you!
What is one thing you wish you could change about this industry?
Beyond the stigma (and on a related note, getting the bad actors out), if I could wave a magic wand and change something it might be the data quality and consistency from our clients. I’m sure there are ways for us to help them with it, if they are willing.
If you weren’t in this industry, what would you be doing?
If money were no object, probably teaching at a university or something in hospitality. My undergraduate was in Russian and European Studies, so I was on the faculty track for a while. I have taught a variety of topics for Portland State, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Pathways, and within the industry.
Describe a typical work day.
I’m in Pacific time zone, and work East Coast hours, so I start early. Right now, I have a lot of meetings to support my team, to learn how things work in this new company, to review current practices, and to talk through upcoming changes that we need to make. I also spend time working on solving for opportunities, and reviewing what tech is “out there” that we might ought to consider using. I also spend 1-3 hours per day on GVH.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Guilt isn’t a big part of how I roll, but I’ll go with Tillamook Rocky Road ice cream.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
I’ve been blessed to receive a lot of fantastic advice in my life. One of the most important is to keep a long-term perspective, and to not take myself or the current situations in my life or in the world too seriously. Right up there is that I don’t have be anyone else – the world already has that person. If I try to be someone else, I won’t be as valuable to the world as if I just be the best me I can muster.
What are you currently reading?
“Midnight in Moscow” by John J Sullivan. “Ownership Spirit” by Dennis Deaton. “Heart of the Matter” by Russell M Nelson. I’m not really a one-book-at-a-time reader usually.
What is one fact you’d like everyone in the industry to know about you?
Probably you should know that there is never just one thing with me. I love people and I love helping people learn and grow and be successful.
Who else would you like to see answer these questions?
Justin Murphy, Pam Kirchner, Gwen Turner, Kelsi Hamilton, Mindy Chumbley – some of the less sung heroes of our industry.
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