With a handshake after a conversation in a parking lot, Trevor Akervik tucked his future into a pocket for a later date and finished his Sales and Marketing degree at St. Cloud Technical College.
As student body president at the time, he was working alongside leadership to negotiate an agreement with the YMCA for student use. On the Y’s volunteer board was Jeff Gao, president of Marco, and he was so impressed by Akervik’s presence and abilities, that he told him that Marco could be a future for him.
It was tempting in the moment, but Akervik wanted to finish his time at college with the people and experiences.
“[SCTCC] is a place for individuals anywhere in their life to be able to come and gain some additional learning and confidence. That’s the underpinning of anybody who’s participated in the atmosphere at the college,” he noted of his time at SCTCC.
There were plenty of opportunities to take part in the college atmosphere while he was in the Sales and Marketing program. However, it took him a semester of computer programming classes to realize that he needed something a little more outgoing. Finding out what he wasn’t interested in helped him home in on what he was really supposed to study.
The second Akervik walked into the Sales and Marketing classroom, he knew he was in the right spot. Being around people and working with others to brainstorm ideas and solutions was the foundation he needed for his career, and the instructors at the college never stopped challenging him to do better.
“I never felt like I was going through the motions there, and I was always challenged by the instructors to do a little bit more than what my comfort level would suggest I do,” Akervik explained. “It was where I learned how important people that push you out of your comfort zone are.”
With the right tools in the classroom, opportunities from instructors, and his willingness to make the most of them both, Akervik excelled. He joined DECA, which he credits for his personal confidence. Then one of the instructors mentioned the history of Sales and Marketing students on student council and as student body president, so he tackled those as well.
And that’s where he left Gao with a handshake in the parking lot.
After Akervik graduated from SCTCC, he took a job at McDowell selling maintenance agreements—it was a valuable experience to learn how to sell an intangible product, but after a couple years, he needed a challenge.
Recalling the parking lot conversation, Akervik called up Gao.
“He didn’t give me a job. He gave me an opportunity to interview for a job.” Twenty-five years ago, he became a copier salesperson at Marco.
It was an opportune time for Marco, which started out as a local company with its farthest reaches in Willmar based on end-dated projects. Today they cover almost every state in the US, providing technology services and solutions for businesses small and large.
But in the late 00s, there was an effort to offer consistent and repeatable services to customers. Akervik was asked to lead and grow the initiative in 2009.
“It allowed us to continue investing in the technology and talent our customers were seeking. All of this has fueled automation and ease of use,” Akervik shared.
As Marco continued to grow, he became the chief operating officer, until 2024, when Marco split into two business units. Akervik is now the President of Print Division. (The other business unit is IT Division.)
While circumstances can be connected back to many points—meeting Gao, confidence building in Sales and Marketing, even to the one semester of computer programming classes with an IT focus—Avernik doesn’t doubt the role SCTCC played.
“Other people deserve the outcome I had. It took a village for me, so I need to be a part of someone else’s village,” he shared.
As such, he’s made sure to give back when and how he can. He’s judged and mentored DECA students. He joined the Foundation Board. Then he was a member of the Sales and Marketing advisory board. All the while, he created relationships with instructors, leadership, and students at the college.
Today, time may not be as plentiful, but he gives in other ways and uses connections at the college and beyond to provide opportunities for current and future students who are in SCTCC programs that could lead to a career at Marco.
“You can come to this college, be supported with people who care about your outcome, and meet other like-minded individuals who will give you the confidence to finish your education. [This will] put you in a position to explore relationships the college has with businesses for an opportunity.”
Avernik’s SCTCC experience isn’t uncommon, and the foundational skills that graduates take with them after they finish—applicable experience, confidence, a network of support, textbook learning—all lead to a future that holds possibilities. He wants that to continue for the foreseeable future.
“The college should keep a keen eye on that foundational element of giving people an opportunity to be better than they think they are,” Avernik asserted. “That starts with the personal aspect of what a smaller institution can provide, especially to those that may be coming back to an education situation.”
The future, whether it’s stepping into a classroom that feels right or giving a handshake in a parking lot, is in your pocket. Find the right moment to take it out.