August 26, 2016 was the 76th anniversary of the first televised major league baseball game. It was the 25th birthday of the Linux operating system. It was a celebration of Chester Incorporated’s 35 years in the technology industry.
“35 years in business is a pretty major milestone for any company,” said the technology department’s manager, Chris Kotul. “It’s unheard of to have an IT team continue to innovate over that period of years. [Technology] refines itself over a year.”
Chester IT is a local business that develops, implements, and manages various aspects of technology. They offer information protection and storage on the cloud. Customer service is a high priority for them.
“Without our clients, we don’t exist: past, present, and future,” said Kotul.
It was fitting that their clientele, both current and potential, were included in the celebration.
“Chester is very about giving back,” said Rich Shields, Director of Marketing & Business Development for Chester Inc. “We have an entrepreneurial spirit even though we’ve been around so long. So we decided to put together something that was Valpo-oriented.”
They asked Pikk's Tavern to cater the event, and Duffy’s to supply some adult beverages. Jeff St. Aubin, the owner of Duffy's, is a family friend of Shields’ and was eager to help.
“This is our community,” St. Aubin said. “This is where we do business. If we can’t support where we do business, where’s the sense?”
The celebration also included a concert for the public starting at 6:30pm, after the Chester team had the chance to connect with clientele, with The Planetary Blues Band opening for The Crawpuppies.
“I love our clients,” said long time Chester employee, Rick Podell . Podell is an architect that has been with the company for 32 years.
“It’s a good place to work,” he said. “You have a lot of freedom to excel. It’s a good thing to celebrate.”
Chester takes pride in their employee retention, training, and certifications. It has been 35 years since they first introduced technology as one of the many branches of an already successful business, and it is still going strong.
As Shields said, “We’re here to celebrate IT excellence.”
For more information on Chester Inc's Information Technologies' products and services, click here.
