Daktronics thanks Richard Krautter for 15 years of dedicated service.

Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge. Those are the words Richard Krautter leads by. He has contributed a great amount to Daktronics in the past 15 years—most notably his servant leadership.  

Richard obtained his associate degree in electronics and a bachelor’s degree in technical management from DeVry University. Richard started with Daktronics in 2004 as a sales technician for the HSPR market. In this role he was responsible for sales in HSPR and service in all markets in the Dallas, Texas, area. His next role was in the Chicago, Illinois, area as a field service engineer. Through this position he worked on a variety of equipment from incandescent displays to current products. In 2010, Richard took on the role of field service lead. The responsibilities of this position included responding to service partner questions and tactical resource planning. This role evolved over time and grew into a full-time role of resource planning and developing current human resources.  

Currently Richard is a field service supervisor. His tasks are similar to the field service lead position with leadership, delegation, and supervisor responsibilities added. He reviews field service metrics and analyzes key business initiatives daily. He also proactively plans for installations, system checks, event supports, and reworks projects. In addition to these important tasks, Richard also puts an emphasis on supporting those he leads and works with. 

“I have always enjoyed assisting others so that they can be setup for success in their role,” said Richard. “The opportunity to serve others and ultimately our end customers is greatly appreciated.”   

Richard’s supervisor, Ted Puthoff, explained that Richard has a good understanding of his team’s skills and abilities. “This helps him put the right person in the right place for success on whatever that person is doing (service call, event support, or install),” said Ted. “It might mean that we need to pull a resource from further away to be successful in the work order, but taking care of the customer in the first trip aids in Daktronics overall success.” 

Richard is married with four boys whom he loves spending time with. He also enjoys exercising and fishkeeping. 

This article is by Jacqueline Wolles in Employee Communications