Matt Sheehan is a passionate guy. As the President and CEO of Primo Water—North America’s leading single source provider of water dispensers, multi-gallon purified bottled water, and self-service refill water—he brings an undeniable sense of mission to his company culture, the retailers he works with, and thirsty customers. “I don’t care about being right, I care about getting it right,” he says, adding: “It doesn’t matter where the ideas come from.” That passion electrified his recent Resonance Test conversation with Kenji Ross, Senior Design Strategist at EPAM Continuum. Sheehan has strong opinions on many topics, among them: corporate values, Primo’s culture, (“If you have a big ego, Primo’s not a great place for you because we aren’t shy to tear apart some ideas,”) being a public company, and the hiring process (“We’re pretty picky about the people who get to carry our flag,”). Sheehan gets particularly jazzed about getting out and talking with customers—“Let’s really go to talk to Nancy Jones at the Walmart on 2 Main Street”—to find out what really motivates them. The insight from this customer experience work, he says, “has been a thousand light bulbs for us.”
Host: Kenji Ross
Editor: Kyp Pilalas
Producer: Ken Gordon
About the Author
Kenji RossSENIOR STRATEGISTKenji is a digital-focused strategist with some 15 years of successful software projects under his belt. He specializes in digital technology and communications, having worked as a user experience designer, creative director, and developer at various points in his career.
Kenji joined EPAM Continuum from Cambridge, MA, health and wellness startup Quanttus, where he worked to simplify blood pressure monitoring and inspire behavior change among high-risk individuals. Prior to that, he spent a decade in the ad industry with Mullen and The Barbarian Group, producing award-winning creative work for dozens of clients, including National Geographic, GE, Samsung, PBS, and Burger King.
He has a degree in computer systems engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Ken GordonChief Communications SpecialistKen makes EPAM Continuum’s work visible to the necessary people. He creates superlative content, works with colleagues to do the same, and employs social networks to share it widely.
A card-carrying humanist, Ken co-founded QuickMuse, the improvisational writing website, and JEDLAB, the Jewish education community. He has written for TheAtlantic.com, the New York Times, and many other pubs.
Ken has an English degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MA in English from the State University of New York at Albany. He framed both diplomas long ago, but can’t seem to find them now—a fact he considers all-too-human.
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