Driven To Succeed

VT HR professional Vong Keovongsa describes his path to the VT industry as he prepares to debut EW column, “Leadership Insights.”

Born in Vientiane, the capital of Laos (between Thailand and Vietnam), Vong Keovongsa adapted quickly to life in the U.S. after his family was sponsored by a Kentucky farmer and he emigrated to the country permanently when he was 5 years old. Growing up in the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida, area (where he still makes his home in Riverview), Keovongsa remembers Ponch and Jon from the TV show CHiPs inspiring him to become a police officer. He even dressed as a policeman for school career day. As he got older, however, the thought of possibly getting shot lost its appeal, so he abandoned that dream. 

Keovongsa went on to earn an MS in human resources (HR) management from Villanova University in Pennsylvania as well as an MBA from Tampa College in Florida. Today, with Susie Madden, Keovongsa runs Elevator Services Group (ESG) (Touting Their USP), a firm that focuses on helping elevator companies succeed. The partners work remotely: Keovongsa from Florida and Madden from Kentucky, as ESG closes in on its second year and continues to grow and evolve. Offering safety, recruitment and HR support to vertical-transportation (VT) companies, ESG has been adding clients. It recently partnered with Paycor, a provider of digital HR and recruitment platforms. The partnership, Keovongsa says, will enable ESG to assist clients “just as if we were seated in-house at their businesses.” He says he and Madden are thrilled to be able to offer their clients such “cutting-edge technology.” 

Beyond offering innovative technology, ESG’s team of recruiters specializes in recruiting for difficult-to-fill positions in the VT industry across the U.S. ESG focuses on offering partnership programs for its clients, which Keovongsa says enables them to “leverage ESG’s industry expertise to enhance their safety, recruitment and HR practices.”

Keovongsa has been involved in HR since college graduation, holding roles at both Spherion Staffing Services and defense contractor DSE, Inc. — both in the Tampa-St. Pete area — before becoming part of the VT industry in 2009. He started with what was then ThyssenKrupp Elevator as regional HR director based in Tampa, a position he held for nearly five years. In 2014, he founded Vertical Recruiting Group, specializing in recruiting for professionals in the elevator, defense, B2B, HR and manufacturing industries, including executive management. He ran that company for three years, then took a position as vice president of HR at Oracle Elevator Co. in Tampa. 

Keovongsa got to know Susie Madden when he became sales manager at Madden Elevator for approximately one-and-a-half years. He and Susie Madden launched ESG in July 2021. Keovongsa is a familiar face at VT trade shows, and plans to attend the National Association of Elevator Contractors 73rd Annual Convention and Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky, next month. “We believe the best way to grow ESG is through networking and meeting one-on-one with business owners to help them solve the challenges they are facing,” Keovongsa says. The bigger the challenge, he says, the more excited he is about tackling it. 

Keovongsa describes himself as “naturally driven,” and credits mentors including his college professor and tennis coach, Rick Stephens, defense industry engineer Ken Shin and Greg Bottom, former TK Elevator vice president of service, with instilling in him the right values to succeed. “They all challenged me to ‘think outside the box’,” he says. “That is now my standard default for how I approach problem-solving.” 

In his spare time, Keovongsa plays on a United States Tennis Association league team and enjoys doing anything outdoors, especially boating and fishing. 

At ESG, he says the biggest challenge is a lack of urgency on clients’ parts to themselves ‘think outside the box’ and embrace change. “Change is scary, and we want to be as supportive as we can to help our clients experience new and rewarding opportunities for their businesses.” In debuting his new EW column, “Leadership Insights,” Keovongsa aims to double down on his knowledge-sharing to help VT industry members succeed.