Firm gives nod to San Angelo tech

-San Angelo Standard Times by Erin Quinn

San Angelo, TX, September 13, 2004 — Data Management, Inc. is hard to find.

Located along with a fitness center, a church and a quilt store in the busy College Park shopping center, the software sales and development business doesn't even have a sign over its door. In a dark corner blocked by a brick pillar is a glass door with the company's name plainly displayed.

Inside, a 10,000 square-foot workplace is filled with cubicles and 55 busy employees.

So busy that the team was named No. 29 among the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Texas by Deloitte & Touche, a firm that provides audit, tax and financial advisory services.

DMI was the only West Texas company in the top 50. Most of the others on the list are in Dallas, Houston and Austin -- and not in offices hidden by brick pillars.

"We built the right team on the inside of the building and worked outwardly from there," Sales Manager Sean Goodnight said.

The concept has worked for the company at 3322 W Loop 306. DMI has seen a revenue growth rate of 750 percent over five years and has 55,000 customers worldwide, said the 15-year-old company's founder and president, Jorge Ellis.

The business is best known for developing TimeClock Plus, a device that tracks and reports employee hours. The system was developed by David Bray, an Angelo State University graduate and DMI's senior VP.

Ellis recently opened a second location in Dallas, but remains committed to San Angelo.

"I don't limit myself because I'm in San Angelo," Ellis said. "We choose to be here because we love it here."

Ellis earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Louisiana State University, but switched his field of study and earned his master's degree in business from Angelo State University.

Ellis, who started DMI when he was 30, said he had ideas for products and found a fit in the market. "There's a big difference between dreaming about something and having goals to do it," he said. "And, you have to be flexible enough to adjust it as time goes by. You pray a lot."

Christian values are a huge part of the team at DMI, Ellis said. "We all know our blessings come from God," he said. "We openly pray at work and have a big lunch once a month to thank God." He said one of the secrets to his business' success is caring for the people who work for him. "We're a family -- we really are," he said. "We care about the people first and the business second."