Employee Profile: Mike Carne

How the Lighthouse General Manager and Aussie rules football aficionado is helping TEAM define what’s next.

When Mike and the three other Lighthouse founders started a company in 2015, it was based off a gap they identified in the market. Through meetings with one of the largest facilities management groups in Melbourne, Australia, they discovered that companies with distributed workforces faced an inability to see where their employees were at any given time. They knew there had to be a better solution to help these companies improve efficiency and visibility and thus, the Lighthouse workforce management solution with location tracking capabilities was born.

In May 2019, Mike and the Lighthouse crew became part of the TEAM Software family and are excited for what’s in store for the future of the product and TEAM as a whole. Mike is now the Lighthouse General Manager and oversees operations for the product in Australia and North America.

“We wanted to join TEAM for several reasons: we’re dedicated to customers in the same way, we served the same industries, and we brought different features and functionality to the table that benefit both joint and new customers,” said Mike. “When you build a product from infancy, keeping customers first is bred into your DNA. And now we get to continue to do that, just on a bigger scale.”

Mike got to witness TEAM’s commitment to our customers first-hand when he attended TEAM Client Conference in 2019. He was impressed by how many customers gather together for the annual event to learn, network and improve their processes.

“The sheer scale of it was unique,” said Mike. “Having a large representation of your customers together in the same place talking about the software was really memorable, especially since some of the customers have been using the products for 10, 15 or even 20 years.”

Prior to starting Lighthouse, Mike pursued his education in mechanical engineering and law before moving into consulting for software companies, helping them through various phases of product development and launch. Since joining TEAM, Mike has maintained his focus on bringing more value to customers through continuous innovation while keeping a particular focus on the needs of guards and cleaners in the field.

“We’re committed to creating solutions that ensure employees in the field are safe and have the tools they need to do their jobs,” explained Mike. “When we focus on the best ways to support the end users, we’re benefiting everyone in the back office as well.”

When Mike isn’t busy working at TEAM’s Oakland, California, office, he enjoys cycling, hiking in Northern California and hanging out with his toddler. He’s committed to passing on his love of Aussie Rules Football — and an Australian accent — to his son, despite no longer living in Australia.

“My wife doesn’t think it’s possible to pass on the accent, but I think if we watch enough Aussie Rules and go to enough coffee shops in Australia for babycinos, it could happen,” joked Mike.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2020 and beyond, Mike is excited for what’s in store for TEAM and our customers, and his enthusiasm is contagious.

“Things are just going to keep getting better,” said Mike. “We’re going to deliver more value than ever before with more capabilities, in more regions and for more customers.”