SoCurious Spotlight: Tyler Hess, Commercial Training Manager

As Socure aims to be the world’s leader in real-time identity verification, leadership is a core personal value among Socureans. For Tyler Hess, Socure’s Manager of Commercial Training, his natural inclination to leadership, combined with his military background, has equipped him well to guide and cultivate new leaders and talent through Socure’s educational programs. 

A Passion For Service & Problem Solving

Tyler is no stranger to the urgency of Socure’s mission to eliminate identity fraud. Prior to joining Socure, Tyler worked in the tech industry and volunteered in the National Guard for 7 years. Tyler extended his enlistment so he could deploy with the U.S. Army to Afghanistan. 

During Tyler’s deployment, a major U.S. credit bureau experienced one of the biggest data breaches in history. Tyler immediately worried for friends and family back home, as well as what the breach would mean for the U.S. economy. Passionate about service and deeply concerned for his country’s security, Tyler knew that the breach could negatively impact his friends’ and family’s financial security as well. “How can a 21st century economy function in a world without trust?” he wondered. 

This experience planted the seed for Tyler’s journey to Socure. Introduced to Socure through a colleague in 2018, Tyler initially joined and worked as a sales development representative for 2 years, where he opened the door to over $30 million worth of business and some of Socure’s biggest customers. Tyler attributes his success in Sales to his willingness to help people— “It’s really fun to move people from a cold or tepid state, help them identify a problem, and at the conclusion, when you have a happy buyer, then there’s really no greater feeling than that.” 

Tyler later migrated from the Sales team into Education, invited by VP of Education Jeff Scheidel when he saw Tyler’s patience and willingness to help others learn. 

Having already successfully opened an enormous amount of business for Socure, Tyler realized the perfect opportunity to help the business scale further and help new Socureans learn the ropes. As Socure continues to evolve at a tremendous pace, Tyler acknowledges, “It’s never been more important to help our customers get identity right on the first try. This requires institutional expertise among Socureans.”

Building the Next Generation of Leaders

Especially under pressure and tight timelines, Tyler’s work requires immense levels of self discipline and openness to constructive criticism, both of which were honed by his seasons in the Army and National Guard. When asked what makes an outstanding team, Tyler says, “You’re hard on yourself, and you’re seeking the best out of other people; it’s a really helpful formula for success.” 

On a daily basis, Tyler and the Education team thrive on the challenge to “create new material and then try to commit that to the learning management system at the same time.” It’s all in the name of non-stop learning—even when mistakes are made, what’s most important is that everyone “steps up, becomes more comfortable speaking in front of other people, and having their ideas subject to scrutiny.”

The results are certainly worth it, as Tyler and the Education team are building the next generation of Socure’s leaders. In this sense, Tyler intently focuses on the principle of “impact more than effort.” He tells new Socureans in training, “As long as you keep working and keep focused, picking up one tidbit at a time and just managing, you may not recognize the change, but a year from now, new people will join and look to you as a leader. You’ll be responsible for passing the torch.”