Every veteran who works at Suffolk has a unique story. Hear in Rory’s words how he got to where he is today.

While walking into my high school classroom on Sept. 11, I saw on TV that the first tower was already down, and I watched the second plane crashing into it live. Those events were my inspiration to serve in the military. I needed a college education to advance in life, but I also wanted to give back, so I applied to West Point and spent four challenging years there. It’s there I learned “discipline equals freedom.”

After graduating from West Point in 2008, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and branched into the Signal Corps. A few months into officer training, I felt like I wasn’t making as much of a difference as I wanted. So, I went to Ranger School in Fort Benning, Ga. There, you’re starved and deprived of sleep to simulate the duress of combat without bullets flying past you. I lost 30 pounds, but gained humility. I jumped out of perfectly good planes and needed to obtain a top-secret clearance. It’s the mental toughness and grit that gets you through.

After Ranger School, I spent a year in Korea and the rest of my five years in the 75th Ranger Regiment, where I deployed to Afghanistan under Joint Special Operations Command, where I reached the rank of Captain. Deployments were difficult, and so was being away from my family, so I decided to leave the Army in 2013.

Thanks to the Service Academy Career Conference (SACC), I had the chance to meet leaders from multiple Fortune 500 companies and was able to position myself as a leader in IT and data analytics. From that, a mentor and the former CIO of Boston Scientific called me, prompting me to want to work for the medical device company.

I found an incredible position and opportunity at Suffolk in 2020, where I could lead a technical team to improve business operations across different functions. My time in special operations required a “team first” mentality, where we pulled together different experts and listened to their perspectives to execute the mission. I’m doing that at Suffolk too. We always want to have that mentality and understand the pain points for the boots on the ground.

Suffolk is a place where we can pivot and move quickly. And, because of the patriotism, pace and camaraderie here, it’s also a place that resonates with people who said yes during a time of war. That’s profound.

Veterans are essential, valued members of the Suffolk family. If you’re interested in learning more and joining our team, click here.

Rory Abbazio is a Senior Director of Data and Financial Systems at Suffolk.