Daxko Dave Out...

Friday, October 15, 2021 marked the end of my official role with Daxko.?

For nearly 19 years, I had the great pleasure of working alongside a fantastic team, as well as serving phenomenal customers and a truly mission-oriented market.?

Although I’ve been out of my daily role for awhile now, rarely a day goes by where I don’t share a story from my time at Daxko or have the pleasure of running into one of my former teammates. My experience there had a huge impact on my professional and personal life, and it continues to. ?

Together we accomplished some relatively big things and experienced meaningful milestones, but my fondest memories are the day-to-day rhythms and cadence that defined our culture.

Weekly Family Lunches, Impact Days, Achievers Club trips, annual Kickoffs, Reach (customer conference), Daxko-Wides, Lab Days, Communication Lunches, Star Wars movies, Friday Fun Runs, Bell Ringings, Helmet Stickers, Halloween costume contests, Friday morning Open Q&As, daily leadership team checkins, and accidental collisions at the coffee machine.

From the mundane to the monumental, it all added up to an exceptional experience for me that I'll always treasure.?

Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops. We faced real challenges, and I made plenty of mistakes. But surviving those times brought us closer together and made us a better team.?

Also, Daxko wasn’t just my job. It blended into almost everything in my life. For example, our three kids grew up along with the company. Daxko was the only company they had ever seen me work for. In fact, their friends even referred to me not as Mr. Gray, but as Daxko Dave.

And my wife, Susan, was always there to support me throughout. When I would beat myself up or doubt myself, she’d be there to reassure me and cheer me on.

Additionally, I will always have a special place in my heart for my 3 “Air Traffic Controllers” (Barb, Whitney, and Ellen), who each had a huge impact on our company and culture, as well as being trusted partners to me. I’m proud to call them all friends.

Daxko's "WHY"...powering health and wellness throughout the world...is noble, meaningful, and significant. I wish Team Daxko many more years of continued success and impact!?

Even though I am officially done with my time as part of Daxko, you may occasionally hear me utter the words "we" or "us." You'll have to excuse me. I'm proud to say Daxko will always be part of who I am.

Finally, as I reflect back on the blessing of playing a part in the Daxko story, the overwhelming feeling I have is one of gratitude.

I’m grateful for what we built and who built it. I’m grateful to the hundreds (and eventually thousands) of customers who trusted us to be their partners. I’m grateful to our Leadership Teams who had to put up with me. I’m grateful to Tom Patterson who put in the first money to let our seedling grow roots. I'm grateful for the wise counsel of our outside board members. I’m grateful to the “cheerleaders” who pulled for us along the way. I'm grateful for the several alumni-turned-entrepreneurs who we have the privilege of saying "we knew them when." I’m grateful for the scar tissue I acquired through the challenges and mistakes.

But most importantly, I’m grateful for the kindness, humor, friendship, commitment, and perseverance of the greatest team I’ve ever worked with.?

With love and gratitude to my teammates, our cheerleaders, and our customers.?

~ Dave Gray (formerly Daxko Dave)

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PS: more photo memories...