Yaruba Tate and Mark Hart accepted the “Patriotic Employer” Award by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) on behalf of Convergint Memphis. The Patriot Award reflects the efforts made to support citizen warriors through a wide-range of measures including, flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for families, and granting leaves of absence if needed.
Convergint Technologies is deeply committed to supporting and hiring veterans and reservists to promote a cooperative culture of employer support for the National Guard and Reserve. Convergint will continually recognize and support Service members of the United States and their families- in peace, in crisis, and in war.
The Patriotic Employer award was presented by Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, to Yaruba and Mark for their support of employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve Force.
Lieutenant Colonel Joe Baldelli, has been a Convergint colleague since 2019. Joe was hired to be Convergint’s first Project Manager in the newly established Memphis CTC. Six months into his Project Management role, he was called upon for active duty. During the 18 month timeframe he was active, Convergint continued to support Joe and his family by means of communication, benefits, and periodic care packages. Joe nominated Convergint Technologies for this award to personally thank the Memphis team for their continuous support.
“Convergint went above and beyond by truly supporting my absence, providing me with 20 days of pay while I was on military duty as well as providing me with an end of year bonus. None of that is required but it shows what a tremendous company Convergint is. I couldn’t be prouder to be affiliated with such a supportive and Patriotic company! So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!“
– Joe Baldelli, Project Manager and Lieutenant Colonel
Award Accepted By
YARUBA TATE
VICE PRESIDENT, INCLUSION & DIVERSITY
Yaruba Tate has over 20 years of experience in the industry, joining Pinkerton Systems Integration in 1999 after serving in the U.S. Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller. Yaruba joined Convergint in 2003 and has held several key leadership roles over the span of his career, with experience in sales, finance, operations, recruiting, and team development. Yaruba now serves as Vice President of Inclusion & Diversity. In this position, he provides education and training, improves communication between leadership and colleagues, and creates programs to promote inclusion and diversity—creating safe spaces at Convergint for underrepresented groups of colleagues across the globe.
MARK HART
GENERAL MANAGER
Mark Hart has over 15 years of experience in the services industry as a senior level executive, leading high performance teams across diverse business channels and geographic territories. Mark joined Convergint in 2020 and is responsible and accountable for all Convergint Technologies business activity within Memphis and West Tennessee territory. In his position, he leads sales and operations teams to support customer growth and ongoing support services with the goal of being customers best service provider.
About ESGR
ESGR, a Department of Defense program, was established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve Component Service members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment. ESGR is supported by a network of more than 3,750 volunteers in 54 committees located across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam-CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
