When it comes to setting up Paladin stores,

Stuart has been there, done that

Any stores that work with Stuart Shaw to get their Paladin systems up and running should probably thank their lucky stars. Because when it comes to setting up new stores, Stuart has literally been there and done that.

A veteran of nearly 10 years with Paladin, Stuart has worked at just about every level of customer service. He started out in customer support when those representatives handled any challenge thrown at them. Since then, he’s specialized in hardware and software support in the Bend, Oregon office, and spent four years on the road setting up in-store systems and training store owners and staff.

Stuart has visited nearly every state in the Continental U.S. Many of those visits were to set up Paladin systems and he has visited several states multiple times.

“I have two states left to knock off my personal bucket list. I’ve visited over 40 for Paladin – been to South Dakota six times,” he says, recalling one particularly frigid trip to Bemidji, Minnesota. “I remember one trip where it was 30-below and running outside, scraping ice off a car window for two minutes, going back inside to warm up, then going back out and scraping ice off another window.”

Stuart with David Billman, right, and the crew from Clinton Hardware in Clinton, Maryland.

Life on the road wasn’t all long flights, layovers and frozen windows, though, Stuart says. He got to visit the French Quarter in New Orleans and sample beignets and coffee at Café Du Monde. He also visited the National Mall in Washington D.C. on another trip after setting up a Paladin client in Clinton, Maryland.

During his stretch on the road, Stuart set up 94 stores with Paladin and trained hundreds of store staff. He certainly qualified for frequent flier miles. Over one 110-day stretch, he was home for just 24 days. Oh yeah, he also represented Paladin many times over the years at hardware dealer markets.

“I miss some of that,” he says wistfully. “Being on-site you’re kind of the face of the company. You meet people and develop relationships. You also get to see how stores work with Paladin in their environment. Training people in person has helped me in my new position.”

Nowadays, Stuart is one of our talented in-house account managers who sets up stores with their new Paladin systems. Ironically, he returned from his remote work when most of the world shifted to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, he is responsible for getting 135 stores up and running with Paladin. Add them up and he’s personally gotten over 229 stores going. So he knows his stuff.

In addition to all that, because of his extensive experience, he often provides escalation support when challenges arise that are difficult to pinpoint. He also provides in-house software training and occasionally conducts Paladin University webinars.

Stuart was born and raised in Central Oregon. He graduated from Redmond High School, earned an associate degree at Central Oregon Community College, and a bachelor’s degree from Oregon State University-Cascades.

Outside of work, Stuart recently bought a home and on the weekends does what any good Eagle Scout would do. He hikes, camps, fishes and kayaks, often with his twin brother Daniel, half-brother Jared, and father, Chris. He’s whitewater rafted the Spokane and Wenatchee rivers.

Stuart and his massive Lego creation of the Millennium Falcon.

A man of many talents, he started playing the clarinet in middle school and still often jams with Daniel, who plays trumpet. He started an Ultimate Frisbee team with his church congregation just by tossing the discs around with friends on the weekends. He’s also intensely involved with about a half dozen coworkers in the Destiny 2 video game. He also loves Lego – he won Best in Star Wars at the Bricks Cascade convention in Portland – and was thrilled to meet renowned fiction writer Timothy Zahn at the Portland Comic Con.

“Traveling, I got to see the country and develop a lot of good relationships with our stores,” he says. “Now, if I set up a new store for them, I know exactly who they are and what they need and I can put a face with the voice on the phone.”