Meet Our People: Max Thielmeyer

When Max Thielmeyer graduated from Indiana University’s Master of Science in Information Systems program in May of 2020, he was worried. Many of his cohorts’ job offers—some that were agreed upon months before—were being rescinded because of the pandemic. So he called Josh Wakefield and asked if his start date was to be the same. “No, actually,” replied Wakefield. “Can you start sooner? We’re really busy.”

Thielmeyer’s undergraduate work was in informatics and computer science with a focus on software development. “After a couple of internships in software development,” he said, “I knew I didn’t want to do that. I liked developing, but not the isolated nature of the work. I missed talking with people.”

His graduate work focused on consulting and the human aspect of solutions to diverse problems: “Tech focused, with an emphasis on people.” Resultant had a presence at a career day on campus, and Thielmeyer was recruited.“It was everything about consulting that I wanted,” he said, “with none of the things I didn’t.”

Making a difference in the public sector

What really drew him in was Resultant’s public sector work, like bringing data to solutions for the opioid crisis and reducing infant mortality rates. It was fitting that one of the first projects he worked on after joining the Resultant team was the PEBT project with FSSA and the Indiana Department of Education, which helped ensure families received food benefits.

Thielmeyer did a lot of outreach, ensuring schools could successfully claim benefits for students in need. He built training materials, facilitated office hours, and worked closely with developers to document new updates and keep schools informed of those changes.

It was eye-opening and rewarding. It was an aspect of the pandemic I hadn’t personally experienced, that people receiving free or reduced-price lunches no longer had them because school wasn’t meeting in person. This project really made a difference.

– Max Thielmeyer, Senior Associate Consultant, Resultant

The FRST challenge

A current project Thielmeyer is excited about is being the project manager of the FRST challenge in conjunction with Indiana University, a competition to develop new technology to help first responders. “GPS has limitations being able to locate through things like concrete and smoke, and only gives x and y location,” he said. “With GPS alone, you can’t tell what floor someone is on in a multi-story building.”

His job entails logistics work like webinar coordination, setting up the judging process, developing schedules and timelines, and building the newsletter to ensure competitors and those in the industry are up to date on FRST Challenge activities. “I’ve also had a cool opportunity to build a tool that analyzes data submitted by competitors for accuracy and compliance,” he said.

The competition focuses on ways to perform 3D tracking including how high up in a building a first responder is and on building a robust system that can not only track through smoke and concrete but stand up to the heat and water first responders often must contend with. The prize money for each phase of the competition is significant and designed to serve as seed money to help develop companies and get the products to market.

Core values and downtime

Thielmeyer’s favorite Resultant core value is purposeful empathy, and it’s no surprise that his favorite part of being a team member here is the people he gets to work with: ”Everyone here is very smart. Sort of the opposite of those group projects you get forced into in school where not everyone pulls their weight. Here, everyone has an impressive background and is willing to share experiences and lend a hand.” He’s happiest at work when he has a good chunk of a problem to dig into and start coming up with the best solution.

Thielmeyer is an active soccer player on two teams, an experienced trumpet player, and enjoys leather working. “The thing about leather working is that it takes about 30 wallets to get one that’s really good, that you’d feel okay about selling to a complete stranger. So I give a lot as gifts,” Thielmeyer says. “Though I did make a pretty great Gladstone doctor’s bag for my sister in medical school.”

Should we meet? Check out our open positions

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