Chris Lema is a public speaker, a daily blogger, and a product strategist well-versed in the world of WordPress. He’s spent twenty years working in B2B vertical markets leading engineers that develop software products. He’s also founded three startups of his own, selling his first company before the age of 30.

At Prestige Conference Las Vegas, we’ll be turning the tables a bit. Chris will still be up on stage with a microphone, but instead of giving a traditional presentation, he’ll be answering questions curated by none other than Jake Goldman of 10up.

In 3 sentences or less, please describe what you do for a living:

I lead and manage software engineers, and have done that for twenty years. We work in the enterprise space, building solutions that leverage WordPress. Finally, I’m the CTO & Chief Strategist for a WordPress agency called Crowd Favorite.

Why this career and not something else?

I managed people (large groups of people) at one of the largest YMCAs in the country. Then I managed software people. The work was roughly the same. The pay was 5 times better. So I took the road more travelled.

Honestly, I love managing and leading teams of people to do things they didn’t think they could do. The fact that I get paid well to do it is still incredible to me.

When did you figure out what you wanted to be when you grew up?

I read a book - in 1996 - that highlighted how difficult it was to hire people who could navigate between the business and technology worlds. I decided right then that that’s what I wanted to do.

Once you figured out what you wanted to do with your career, how did you start making things happen?

I was leading a team of web developers, so it wasn’t a big stretch for me to shift our work to progressively more business-oriented work with greater complexity. As I did so, in the context of a large enterprise, I began learning the things I didn’t know about the business side of things.

Who were your most valuable mentors and how did you connect with them?

I had one mentor at Berkeley Lab that really gave me room to run and room to try things. I can’t explain enough how important it is to let people have a safe place to test and fail as a way to learn. He kept me away from the cliffs, which meant I didn’t have to worry as I ran full steam into my learning.

What’s coming up next for you?

I’ve just recently stepped into a new role. So most of what’s next is me figuring out how to add value in that new role.

Any industry predictions for 2015?

Jake Goldman will publish more articles than in 2014. Just watch!

What book(s) are you reading right now?

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives. It’s a great book.

Favorite “guilty pleasure” song or band that you can’t help but rock out to?

Uptown Funk

Name one thing you’re looking forward to for Prestige Conference Las Vegas:

I love hanging out with friends and meeting new people.