Meet Our New Head of Services!
As we prepare for the Independence Day here in the States, we are also preparing for our own revolution at Metaverse with an arsenal of changes and growth plans. Along with our expansion in Northern Ireland, we are ecstatic to officially announce the newest member to our executive team, Lucien Parsons.
As the head of services, Lucien is taking charge of all client services, from making sure questions are answered and reports are submitted on a timely basis, to building a roadmap of the technology and processes we will need to serve current and future clients in new and more efficient ways. We know that your communications online are increasingly important, and we’re proud to have Lucien come aboard to help us grow and change with you.
Lucien has been living in Washington, DC, for 15 years with his wife, their two children, and their English black lab, Shadow.
As a good friend of Metaverse for about six years, Lucien has led online community teams for his companies, and acted as an industry consultant on user experience and gamification. Like others who have joined Metaverse in the last few years, we’re proud to say that Lucien was a client long before we secured him onboard!
Recently, we took a moment to grill Lucien (kidding!) to find out more about what makes this diligent, resourceful man tick.
Tell us a bit about your role here at Metaverse.
My position has been created to ensure that our clients not only get the great service from our Mods that they expect and deserve, but that we continue to innovate and delight them with unexpectedly great service going forward.
Tell us a bit about your past work lives.
In some ways, this is my third professional incarnation. After nearly a decade each in both the financial services software and the video game industries, ranging from three-person startups to Fortune 50 companies, I’ve had a lot of experience in building services and products for all size companies. But ultimately, this position combines both my experience as a consultant discovering and evangelizing new ideas and as an operations officer actually building the teams and delivering the service to the customer.
What do you think is the most important aspect of what Metaverse does for projects and clients?
What distinguishes Metaverse from the other guys is our dedication to creating a fun and flexible working environment for our Mods and our ability to manage this amazing, diverse, and virtual workforce for the clients so they can be worried about their results, not how to get there. Ultimately, we collectively aim to be a “trusted employee” for our clients, someone who is smart and “gets things done” (to quote Joel Spolsky). That way, they can hand their community off and not worry about it.
What are your hobbies / passions?
Games, education, and technology — especially in the ways that they can work together. I believe in the power of experiential learning and #EdTech to transform the way we teach both our children and our workforce. But I also love games just for their own sake, from board games to simulations to mobile. I’ve worked in games, but I have also just loved playing games since I was a kid.
Speaking of when you were a kid… what did you want to be when you grew up?
Professional video game maker — did it! Turns out that it’s way easier to play them than to make them! I loved being part of that process and am super excited that we have so many great game companies we work with. Ultimately, I love figuring out hard problems and working with organizational structures and norms every bit as much as I like making games. And I hope to bring some elements of gaming into the workforce here. I think there’s enormous potential for that in almost every industry.
Welcome to the team, Lucien. We’re so happy to have you (and you too, Shadow, Lucien’s “office” companion):