Leadership
Lisa Mitchell and Mark Michal founded Progressive in 1987 with the mission of providing the best customer service and technical expertise available. Under their leadership, Progressive has grown over the past 20 years to become one of the leading IT companies in the North Carolina area.
Prior to starting Progressive, Lisa Mitchell attended The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where she pursued a degree in Industrial Relations and worked for another network integrator. She has recently served as the Vice President of the International Business and Technology Group for the past 2 years and she has received awards such as One of the Top 25 Women in Business and the 40 Under 40 Leadership Award. Lisa manages the Sales & Marketing, HR, and Finance Divisions for Progressive. She is also actively involved in community service supporting organizations such as The N.C. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Families for SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army, and the local Smart Start Program.
Prior to starting Progressive, Mark Michal attended The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he pursued a degree in Computer Sciences and worked for several different network integrators heading up the technical divisions including the start-up and management of local branch offices. He oversees the technical division for Progressive including heading up our Security, Office Relocation, and high-end Strategic Planning Divisions. Mark maintains certifications from many of the major manufacturers in the industry such as Microsoft, Novell, HP, and Cisco and is actively involved in community service supporting such organizations as The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, The Salvation Army, and The Boy Scouts of America.
Our Team Statistics
- Progressive’s average employee retention rate is over 9 years
- Our senior networking engineers have been with the Company for over 13 years
- Our engineers average over 12 years of experience
- Our office staff averages over 15 years of experience
- All engineers maintain at least one or more industry certifications such as Microsoft MCSE, MCP, Cisco CCNA, Novell Master CNE, Novell CNE, A+, etc.
Corporate Culture
At Progressive, our goal is to provide a company culture that values its staff and takes the opportunity to celebrate our achievements along the way. We believe that is important for team-building to provide activities outside of work to have fun together. Several of our recent team-building activities include the following:
- Corporate luncheons or “pot-luck” celebrations
- Employee birthday celebrations
- Bowling or golfing events
- Employee Easter Egg Hunt
- End of the year holiday party
- Community Service Projects including families
- Billiard Night and Shuffleboard
- Foosball Tournaments
- Poker Nights
- Pool Parties or Lake Outings including families