Sound and Communications - February 2008 Issue

troubleshooting. “Another of my
team’s responsibilities,” he explained,
“involves meeting with the
clients when there is a request for
upgrades or renovations. And then
we act as advocates for them when
it’s time to meet the vendors. So, we
have a well-developed needs-analysis
in place before we even get to the
design phase.” Having AV experts
interface with vendors has ensured
that the firm’s facilities have excellent
quality to suit all requirements.
Neto and his onsite team work
diligently to improve the quality and
reliability of the conference facilities
they manage. He constantly is
developing new and creative ways to
deliver the best services possible to
his colleagues on site so their
meeting experience is as good as it
can be. Given his passion and
dedication to his team’s mission, one
can expect continued excellence from
Neto and the AV group in the future.
• Andrew Turchick describes
himself as a people person, and that
trait has guided his career in the
audiovisual field. An alumnus of
Penn State, where he earned a
Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications,
Turchick tried out a series of
roles following graduation, securing
positions as field technician, lead
field technician, hybrid roles combining
installation and management,
and project manager. He found the
final role to be the best fit, and it is
the one in which his career is
currently flourishing.
“Being project manager, for me, is
about dealing with every aspect of a
job,” he explained. “It’s not the same
thing over and over again, and
‘They may be my coworkers but, for all intents
and purposes, my job is to serve them.’
—Christopher Neto
variety is important to me.”
Turchick works for Kenilworth NJbased
Diversified Systems, where he
has been given the privilege of
managing projects ranging from the
fun to the emotionally rewarding.
It often seems as if project management
is amorphous and illdefined
for people outside the
profession. Turchick explained that
his responsibilities include everything
from ensuring that wires are
made and components are ordered,
to adhering to budgets and schedules,
to coordinating onsite issues
with other contractors and the
‘There is no reason for me to stop
moving up the ladder.’
—Andrew Turchick
client. Although he has the greatest
respect for the more technical side
of the business, Turchick thrives as
a PM due to the role’s unpredictability:
dealing with new people and
entirely different venues, ranging
from hospitals and schools to
corporate facilities and stadiums, on
a daily basis.
The very venues on which
Turchick has worked might be key
to understanding why he feels so
satisfied in his career. “I’ve done
jobs with Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, where we’ve worked
on radiation treatment rooms. Those
kinds of jobs make me feel as
though I’m contributing to society,”
he said. “To help somebody to get
better from cancer—to provide
something for that—means a lot to
me.” He emphasized that he gets
particular satisfaction when he helps
actualize schools’ and hospitals’
technological vision.
Not as emotionally fulfilling, of
course, but nevertheless fun and
stimulating, the Diversified team
also has worked on Howard Stern’s
Sirius studio and SportsNet New
York’s studio for Mets coverage.
Another of Turchick’s major clients
is MTV. “It’s cool to walk into the
building and see 10 rooms, all of
which are completely different, that
I helped install there, that these
guys use on a daily basis,” he
commented. “Each room is a different
challenge.” He describes himself
as someone who thrives under
pressure, which must be a requisite
quality of anybody delving into the
project management profession.
We asked Turchick about his
ambitions for the future and, clearly,
he is reaching for the brass ring. In
five years, he envisages himself as a
senior project manager, perhaps
running the department of which he
is part. In 10 years, he would like to
transition into an operations role.
Two decades from now, he imagines
he might run the company. “There
is no reason for me to stop moving
up the ladder,” he declared.
It seems that, no matter how far
Turchick projects into the future,
Diversified is part of the equation.
There is a tinge of irony in that,
even though his most recent run
with the company commenced in
January 2004, Turchick had a
relationship with Diversified during
his college years and worked there
immediately afterward. “Anybody
you talk to in AV will tell you that, in
most places, it’s a revolving door,”
he said. “But, honestly, I think I’ve
found the place for me. In a sense,
I’ve come home—back to where I
started.”
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32 Sound & Communications
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