Blugold technology grads succeed at Minnesota firm

Recent computer science graduates Kaia Hansen and Drew Morehouse are two such lucky students-turned-co-workers, both software developers at Solutia Consulting in St. Paul, Minnesota. Both say they chose Solutia because of the Blugold connections in the business, including the recruitment team they first met at a campus career fair. 

“I hired the first few Blugolds in our company in 2014,” says Rick Kuula, CEO and founder of Solutia Consulting, a technology firm with a staff of 40 full-time employees and 25 subcontractors, most of them software developers.

“We now have 15 Blugold software consultants on staff, and one of our recruiters is a human resources management graduate of UWEC. Our most recent addition, Jeff Hinke in sales, is a Blugold.  In June we’re happy to be adding two current computer science seniors to our team as well,”   Kuula says.

"These new employees will take part in our Developer Launch Program for the first two months and be mentored by other more senior team members. The relationship we’ve built with the UWEC computer science and information systems departments has been extremely advantageous,” says the 1982 management information systems alumnus. 

Mutually beneficial connections

Two of the most recent Blugold hires at Solutia are Hansen, a 2023 software engineering graduate, and Morehouse, a 2024 computer science graduate.

Both Hansen and Morehouse say that the job offers from Kuula and his leadership team were all the more appealing because of the fellow Blugolds they met in the interview process.

“When we saw how many Blugolds were there, the key roles they play and the impressive length of time they’d all stayed with the company, the choice was clear,” Hansen says.

“We know the strength of our CS grads, and if this many have found success with Solutia, that made the choice easy for me.”

For Morehouse, his positive experience with the Solutia team at a campus career fair was encouraging, though he admits that he had some initial concern about the small size of the firm.

“That can be a mixed bag in this business,” Morehouse says. “But clearly, the boutique size of Solutia has proven to work well for staff and clients. Kaia had been my teaching assistant in the CS department at UWEC, so I knew her well. Her two years with the company and all the great things she had to say were all the endorsement I needed.”

Both Hansen and Morehouse say that they felt well-prepared for their jobs in terms of technical and other skills. Kuula agrees with them that the soft skills Blugolds bring to the job offered a bonus in the hiring process and in the client relations needed to become successful in consulting.

“In our business model at Solutia, we arrange interviews between consultants and prospective clients, based on matching needs and skills,” Kuula says. “I learned over a decade ago that students coming out of UWEC had the technical, communication and organizational skills to both sell themselves in those interviews and establish successful working relationships with a variety of client types.”

Blugolds seeking Blugolds

One of the people who helps align those prospective clients with the right Solutia consultants is Jamie Siseman, a 2021 human resources management graduate of UW-Eau Claire who has been a technology recruiter for Solutia since early 2022. Siseman, who frequently attends the campus career fair with Kuula, says it’s a joy to be able to attract fellow Blugolds to careers with Solutia.

“We’ve hired 30 Blugolds over the last decade, many of whom are still with the company, several in top leadership roles,” Siseman says.

“All of our developers are what we call ‘full-stack’ developers, working on the front and back ends of the technology — they write the code to build websites, desktop applications and more. Their work with clients requires strong technical project management skills to sustain what can become long-term client relationships, and Blugolds have always proven to be a great fit.”

Kuula says he’s grateful for the ongoing relationship his company sustains with UW-Eau Claire’s Career Services and the academic departments he says have brought Solutia a steady stream of successful hires from his alma mater.

“I have such affection for UW-Eau Claire,” Kuula says. “I met my wife there and my kids are both Blugold graduates. Running a good business is what we want to do. I’ve never laid off a single employee in 28 years; people feel at home with our company. I’m proud to say that so many Blugolds have found a home with us.”