Page 37 - Tropic Magazine Issue 19

TROPIC • COVER STORY

FOCUSED

VISIONARY

Doug Stephens is clearly a man on a mission. It’s the kind
of drive which - by his own admission - includes just a
hint of arrogance. “In business, unless you have a certain
level of tenacity and determination, you’ll find people
want to stand on you,” he said. “You have to be tenacious,
take risks, ask for what you want.” Watching him work,
though, it’s clear any arrogance he embodies cannot be
confused with pompousness. He sits alongside his staff
in an open plan office and makes it clear he’s not above
doing any task that needs completing. “Everybody does
everything here,” Mr Stephens said. “I won’t ask anyone to Doug Stephens
do anything that I’m not capable of or that I wouldn’t do
myself.” design and marketing firm, before becoming a project
That includes rolling up his sleeves and getting on the manager and eventually Director of IT and Corporate
tools, something he’s been doing since he was a child, Services. “After a couple of years, I was running the show,
growing up on the family farm just west of Cairns. By which was very exciting,” he said. Back in Australia he
the time he was a teenager, Mr Stephens could strip an worked as Chief Information Officer at Torres Strait
engine and put it back together and install plumbing Island Regional Council and designed networks for
and electrical wiring. With dreams of becoming a pilot, Telstra before going out on his own.
he only began working in information technology as a An unrivalled commitment to quality and customer
means to make money for flying lessons. Once he had his service has quickly earned him a well-deserved
pilot’s licence, though, he realised IT had become his real reputation. “If something’s not going right then I’m
passion. pretty vocal about it but that translates to a greater
From there, it was a quick succession of becoming customer experience,” he said. “When the data link that
accredited in every facet of the industry and rising carries all of your business data and is the determining
through the ranks. That included a stint in the US, where factor as to whether your doors are open or closed, are
Mr Stephens first landed a job as a salesman at a web you going to cut a corner on that?”

37 • tropicnow.com.au