We Are IT | Meet David Letourneau

David Letourneau started working in ITS 16 years ago and has held various customer service positions throughout the years. As a Salesforce analyst with the Community Engagement Technologies team, David currently spends his time managing the myFSU Service Center case management system and meeting with campus departments and agents to understand their customer relationship management needs and help find solutions. Off the clock, David winds down by gaming, reading comics or sci-fi and fantasy novels, and spending time with his girlfriend and their three cats.

Where are you from?

I am from Hialeah, Florida, outside of Miami.

Where did you attend school?

I attended FSU. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a focus in creative writing and a minor in film.

Why did you choose to work in technology?

I started in customer service for the Office of Telecommunications where I took a lot of calls from students, faculty and staff. As the Office of Telecommunications evolved into Information Technology Services and I became part of the ITS Service Desk staff, it allowed me to expand my knowledge.

I went in for the customer support aspect, and being part of that department, was able to learn more and more of the technology that FSU offers.

How long have you been at FSU?

I have been with FSU since July of 2006. I started here a year out of college. First, I worked at the ITS Service Desk, then I worked with the Service Management team, and now I work in Community Engagement Technologies.

What is your role at FSU?

I wear a few different hats.

I am one of the team’s business analysts, which means that when a department expresses interest in a ticketing solution or custom CRM application, I meet with them to understand their business processes and requirements. Then I determine how best to leverage and administer the engagement technologies we offer.

I am also the service offering manager for the myFSU Service Center case management system. I receive feedback and suggestions from agents, offer guidance with the system, prepare agent training articles and write the monthly agent newsletter. I also work with developers to review and test changes and enhancements to the myFSU Service Center before they are moved into the live environment.

I am also a brand administrator for Qualtrics, which entails assisting users with questions if they have problems, such as creating accounts or transferring survey ownership.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I actually enjoy supporting others the most. I like being able to help people find better ways of working and ways to improve their experience. I like writing support articles. I like writing the agent newsletter. The way I see it is all aspects of my job have customer support as the foundation. Even when I don’t have all the answers right away, I like being there for others and being a resource of help.

What is the most rewarding project you have worked on at FSU?

Hands down the myFSU Service Center case management system. I used to help support the previous case management system, and it was always frustrating to not have a say or any feedback on how it worked or how it could be better. Getting to be part of the team that developed and stood up our current case management system was a really rewarding experience. I got to meet with people across campus to find out what their needs were, then I got to help review and implement the requirements and train people on how to use the new system. It has been great not only getting to be there at ground level, but also continuing to improve the system. I am really proud of what we put together and how we are continuing to improve it.

Other than your cellphone, what is your go-to, can't-live-without piece of tech?

My computer. Obviously, I can’t live without my work computer, but I do a lot of gaming on my personal PC. It is one of my main avenues of relaxation and entertainment. I wouldn’t want to not have that, especially considering all I’ve invested in it.

If you were to invent one piece of technology, what would it be?

The idea is not original, but if I could somehow invent a way to make it work … I would love to invent personal teleportation technology for at-home use. I have a lot of friends and family across the country. I love seeing them, but I hate traveling to see them. I don’t like flying. I don’t like long car trips. I would really like the ability to go wherever I want to in a split-second. Then, be back in the comfort of my home in a blip whenever I’m ready.

What is a fun fact about you?

I have two middle names that I never go by. When I was born, my parents wanted to name me after one of two uncles, Paul or Brian. They couldn't decide when it came time to sign the birth certificate, so they gave me both names. The funny thing is, in some government documents, my middle names are separate and in other documents they are squished together. So to this day, I don’t know if I have two middle names—Paul Brian—or one—PaulBrian. I just go by the initial of the first one—David P. Letourneau. The only person who even calls me by my full name is my mom.

Talk a little bit about your family.

I have a large immediate and extended family. I am one of six children—four brothers and one sister—and my father is one of eight. So I have a lot of family all around, but most of my immediate family lives in central to south Florida. Personally, I live with my girlfriend and am stepfather to three cats named Phineas, Daisy and Mellie.

What do you do in your free time?

Well, I’m a huge geek, and a lot of my free time is spent gaming. I play video games mostly, but I’m also really big into games like Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, which I try to get together with friends to play once a week. I am also into all kinds of movies and TV series—Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, the MCU, to name a few—and sci-fi and fantasy novels, comics and things like that. My favorite author is Sir Terry Pratchett, a British satirist and comical fantasy writer. I’ve read about 40 of his books, mostly in his Discworld series, and plan to collect and read all of them.