What’s your military background?

I began my military career by being accepted and attending The United States Naval Academy, where I was lucky enough to graduate in May of 2009 with a BS. You technically aren’t considered ACTIVE until you graduate so in June of 2009 I was sent to the Surface Navy Fleet out of San Diego, CA for my first tour as an Officer.

The Surface Navy is a rare organization that instead of creating Officers extremely good at one leadership/management position, (like the rest) they move you around as soon as you can stand on both feet in that job.  So, to answer your original question, over the course of my 6.5 years in the Surface Navy Pipeline I became very good at being well rounded at the bigger picture.

If I only focused on pigeonholing into the current position I was in, then I would be setting myself up for failure when I got the call to switch.  “Hey Haught, I know you are in topside navigation on a gas turbine platform so why don’t you go figure out how to build a main propulsion plant on a diesel.”

Basically, that was my military background and that is was gave me one of my strongest traits.  I learned to rely completely on the expertise of the employees around me.  They were the subject matter experts and the better I took care of them and fought for them in my position of leadership the better production we had.

Why did you choose Stratas?

It is the perfect place for me. Stratas mirrors my mindset and vision. I love to be in a place that isn’t just about the get rich small business but about building a place where we can take great, deserving employees with us.

The Stratas core corporate mission is to take care of those who take care of us… Who wouldn’t want to do something great with a bunch of great people? No brainer for me.

Additionally, Romeo creates that corporate company atmosphere where he allows me to run as far as I want with growth ideas and at the same time keeps that open-door leadership where he lets me bounce anything off of him at any time.

What’s your definition of growth?

Growth is staying fresh and never feeling like you made it. When you think you know everything someone has already laughed at you in the rearview mirror. I will never claim to know everything nor do I want to.  Attending The Academy makes you learn at a young age that you most certainly aren’t the smartest person out there.

I mean my roommate scored perfect on is SAT’s and got his masters in aerospace engineering in the time it took me to crawl across the undergrad finish line in oceanography.  A degree that really helps me in logistics and business.  But seriously! There are a bunch of guys out there like him who will just smoke you one-on-one so I grow by surrounding myself with great people and never putting down new ideas.  In turn, you will have growth in all aspects.

You’re a new father, how has that changed your perspective?

Completely changes it. I was raised to believe that it’s our job on earth is to make the next generation better than we are. Whether you have your own kids or not, we need to contribute to the next round in some positive way.  I couldn’t wait to have kids but up until this point I love to live like a kid myself. It was fun… you find out so much more about yourself and what makes you happy. Now I shift to a more long-term vision to take what I have learned, good and bad, and giving that knowledge to my daughter.

What are logistics?

It is the lifeblood, the hypothetical food that feeds business and maintains that food when it’s not needed. Customers rely on it sometimes without even knowing or worrying about it.  My passion is to keep them in that mindset because they have other things to worry about.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned over the years?

I absolutely cannot complete what I want to do in life on my own. I do not have or want that lone wolf mindset.  Friends, family, and people are my biggest resource and need. You treat people better when you learn that about yourself.

If your life was made into a movie, what would the title be, and who would you cast to play you?

I have no idea. I really don’t feel I have done anything yet to justify a movie.

Since Tyler doesn’t think his life is movie worthy, we’re going to pull out our production muscles and call his movie, “Hold my drink”, casting the great Danny McBride, for the win.

One weird thing about you that no one knows, but you’re going to tell us anyway.

I love eating frozen tater tots.  Probably more than cooked.  I was so impatient as a kid when my mom would cook them that I would just eat them out of the bag.  So good.

Photos by Julie Kahlbaugh