Crosstalk with Select Telecom (Summer 2013)
Every issue, “Get to Know Select” will feature a different employee sharing their experience at Select Telecom, along with updates about what’s going on at the company. Have a favorite employee you’d like to hear from? Email us to let us know!
Since June 2005, Senior Account Manager Peter Serri has been helping Select Telecom clients find the right technology solutions to reduce their costs and move their communications systems into the 21st century.
For Peter, the clients are the best part of the day. “I love meeting people,” he says. “Select Telecom is known for service, and that’s why I came here. I love presenting clients with a solution.”
In fact, meeting people is what got Peter into the telecommunications business to begin with. Peter spent the early part of his career in a variety of fields – paying his way through college as a NYC yellow cab driver, spending 15 years with the NYPD (in Communications, the Youth Gang Squad, and Property Clerk’s Office), and finally a stint being self-employed – before he found his way to the phone business. And what a story it is!
“The woman I was dating at the time went on an interview at US Sprint, and I decided to accompany her upstate for the interview,” Peter recalls. “I got bored in the waiting room, so I started talking to the receptionist and decided to apply too. Well, turns out I got the job and my girlfriend didn’t! Needless to say, that relationship didn’t last…” Sprint hired Peter as a Major Account Manager where he worked in customer care before transitioning later to a sales role. Eventually he found his way to TIE Communications, where he met Paul Durante, then shortly after Paul joined his brother Mike at Select Telecom, he invited Peter to join the team. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Outside of work, Peter enjoys spending time with his wife, son, and two step children, and pursuing his passion of cooking, predominantly Italian food – “I make a mean Zuppa de Pesce!” he reports. However, Peter’s favorite pastime is watching sports, particularly baseball. “Even though I spent much of my childhood in the Bronx, I’m a diehard Red Sox fan,” he admits – a brave gesture in a company steeped in Yankees culture. Indeed, Peter laughs, “I get quite a bit of grief from everyone here.”