Grit, Determination, and a Fairy Princess Crown: How Jennifer Honig Built One of Pittsburgh’s Top Tech Consultancies

On December 30, 2024, Techstra Solutions Founder and CEO, Jennifer Honig, was interviewed by Jonathan Kersting for Pittsburgh Technology Council’s TechVibe Radio. The transcript follows.

Jonathan Kersting, Host of Pittsburgh Technology Council’s TechVibe Radio: How can modernizing your technology, and embracing data, transform your business for the future? As industries face increasing pressure to innovate, I welcome Jennifer Honig, founder of Techstra [Solutions]. She shares her insights on driving digital transformation through mainframe modernization, data governance and automation. Learn how these changes are reshaping how companies operate in healthcare, finance and beyond.

Keep on listening so you can discover strategies for transitioning from outdated systems to cutting edge tech; learn the importance of clean governed data in leveraging AI effectively; and gain actionable tips for aligning technology with strategic business goals. Hear Jennifer’s expert advice on preparing your business for a tech-driven future.

Jennifer – it’s been too long since we’ve last hung out! I mean, rumor has it, you’ve been pretty darn busy because, as I’ve been trying to schedule this, you’re like, last minute, like I have a client, I gotta reschedule. I’m like, by all means, clients come first. And I get excited when people have to cancel on me because it means they’re making money and they’re doing stuff. So, I finally got you in the studio here. It’s great to hang out with you. You always bring an awesome blast of energy to our conversations. And yes, what’s been going on? What’s got you so ragged?

Jennifer Honig, founder and CEO of Techstra Solutions: (laughs) So ragged! Oh, please tell me I don’t look ragged.

JK: You don’t look ragged, I’m just saying, I feel like you’re living a ragged life.

JH: I am living a ragged life. And you know what? When you’re an entrepreneur, I think you dream of this time, right? Because crazy is good, it means we’re building the business and doing awesome stuff for our clients. And it’s okay if it means I’m traveling, or I’m out and about, but it’s been a fabulous 2024.

JK: I love hearing that! Before we jump into what’s been making 2024 so awesome, and how I think it’s gonna be driving into 2025, and beyond… [give me] the general pitch for what Techstra is all about…

JH: Techstra Solutions helps large corporations realize the business value of digital transformation, and we do it in four core areas. One is cloud, so that includes everything from application migration all the way through operationalization, and that includes things like FinOps. The next area, which is actually one of our core growth areas, is data. And in data, we do everything from data architecture and strategy all the way through building out big data platforms, data governance and data as a product. The next one, true enough, is also a big growth area, and that’s in our digital space, which is where app dev happens. And there we’re doing a lot in application modernization and mainframe modernization, and that’s also where DevOps and pipelines sit. And the last one is automation, which for us, we define as RPA (Robotic Process Automation), and its cognitive sister, Intelligent Automation. And I am a proud adjunct at Carnegie Mellon, teaching both at a master’s level, and then to CIOs and Chief Digital Officers.

JK: How do you have time to do that as well? You’re driving me crazy here, because I’m like, my God! First off, the core tenets of what Techstra is about are some of the things that are driving growth in the economy now, with every company [thinking] about automating. And of course, rumor has it you have a new middle name called “mainframe” because of [it] driving some of the growth. But you’re doing all this, and you’re also an adjunct at Carnegie Mellon, which to me, is like almost a full-time job in itself. So, God bless you for finding an extra couple of hours in the day that the rest of us do not have.

JH: Well, CMU and working with students – I say always teach. [Teaching] keeps me young because it teaches me what the latest thinking is, how to really think about the world and all the changes that are coming. We were just talking about ChatGPT – how do you bring that into a classroom and how should companies really be thinking about it and using it to their advantage. So, it’s truly a lot of fun.

JK: Completely! I can tell you’re having a good time, and this is what you’ve been built to do. I mean, you’ve been doing this for your entire career, which I think is just so cool. When you tell me that 2024 has been amazing … you’ve been doing a lot of work around mainframe. You told me before we [began recording] and I was like, “Whoa, cool man.” I don’t hear that word very often, but lots of companies are still on it, and they need to get off of it, right?

JH: They need to get off of it.

JK: It’s not as functional and it’s pretty inefficient. Tell me more about this, I am excited that this is driving growth for you.

JH: Funny enough, I actually think I told the team that 2024 was going to be the year of the mainframe and hence it was for us. For a lot of companies…their mainframe developers, engineers, and teams are on the cusp of retirement…within three years, the workforce will be dramatically depleted. When you think about the number of healthcare companies and financial services companies and other regulated industries that still utilize mainframes to process the core transactions of their business, there has to be a breaking point. What we’re seeing is a lot of mainframe modernization where we’re going to come off the mainframe and truly transform the business, or lift and shift so we’re not dependent on the mainframe, or they’re looking at how do we invest in a new generation of talent so we can feed the machine with younger folks.

JK: This is heavy duty stuff! This is the life of the company, for crying out loud, and it’s on a bit of a timeline. So, it’s like, wow, “no pressure” as far as that goes! Now, are you working with companies in the Pittsburgh area that are experiencing this? How is that playing out?

JH: We have a solid core base here in Pittsburgh [but] a lot of our companies that we work with are outside of here. We work with some of the biggest financial services, energy, healthcare companies in the world, and so a lot of work outside of Pittsburgh. And hence the travel schedule.

JK: Hence the [email] saying, “I can’t make it to the podcast”.

JH: (laughs) “I can’t make it, I’m so sorry, so busy.”

JK: I’m like “Geez” okay, no that’s fantastic. So, I mean, how do you manage this influx of work? I mean, how big is your team? Can they make more of you to go around? How’s this…work?

JH: This is where I [give a] huge shout out to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh talent. Our management team is primarily here in Pittsburgh. They’ve worked for some of the greatest companies here…[it] means a lot to me that they would leave big corporate environments and come to more of a boutique company that’s very specialized. It’s through continuing to build out our management team and adding leaders of the caliber that can really take us to the next level. That’s been exciting to me, because I continue to learn from them and grow from them but also work with them to shape what the future is going to look like for us.

JK: It sounds like you’re having a good time. I mean…how cool is this? I mean, your career. Have you ever been this busy? Is this something that is “extra frothy” for you, right now?

JH: Well, it’s funny, because … anybody who’s been a management consultant or even started their own company – you expect the long hours, [but] I would say we’re in turbo drive now, you know. It’s always important to end the year strong, but also set up 2025, so I’ve spent the last few months really, really securing 2025 so we hit the ground running.

JK: That’s amazing. A lot of this is, of course, driven by this mainframe work that you’re doing for these companies.

JH: Mainframe and data governance, or anything, to be honest, anything related to data is critical to any company. Crazy enough, company’s data is really dirty and not governed, and then all of a sudden you want to feed it to your AI models. 

JK: You can’t do that. Dirty in, dirty out man, simple as that! Well, that’s really interesting to me, because … it seems like maybe in the past 10 years, people realize the data is everything right? We’re always producing it. The idea of governing it, obviously, is really tough to do. [If] you don’t govern it, then you get weird stuff, or you don’t know where it is, and all these types of problems. So, you can come in there, and help them straighten that out, and then get it off their mainframe so it can be accessed by everybody. There’s a lot of lifts going on here at the same time. I mean, you’re organizing, you’re cleaning, and you’re getting it off an old crunchy mainframe and putting it into the cloud so people can actually then make that data actionable.

JH: Yes.

JK: Man, that’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of responsibility.

JH: A lot of responsibility!

JK: Yikes, man, how do you make sure this works?

JH: One of the things that differentiates us as a company is that our leaders and managers  roll up their sleeves and work side-by-side with our clients to co-create solutions. I’m a big believer that consultants shouldn’t do something to their clients, that we should do it together in a manner that [makes it] sustainable once we leave. It’s through that process of not forcing a solution onto our clients where we can really work together and determine how is the best way – based on their culture, based on their current processes – to make this successful.

JK: Interesting. I like it. It sounds like that’s the solid way to go about it, but man, it just seems like – you’re making me stressed out right now, thinking about it at all. I think about when you look at people’s databases, you look at what these companies are doing [in] health care, financial industries, I mean people’s lives and livelihoods are based upon the stuff being correct and being right. And they know they have got to trust in someone and they’re trusting in Techstra. So that’s pretty cool. How long ago did you found Techstra?

JH: Thirteen years ago.

JK: Wow!

JH: Yeah, I always say it’s now the “Taylor Swift Lucky 13” – thank you very much to her. But yeah, we’re almost 15, right? And I would say 10 was a turning point, but 13 was [the point at which Moore’s law kicked in] … maybe we’re just moving exponentially now. I think that’s probably Moore’s law, right?

JK: Exactly. Yeah, you reach this point where, all of a sudden, things are gonna be really compounding fast.

JH: Compounding fast, yes, change or die.

JK: I like that – that’s really cool. So obviously your outlook is really bright for 2025, I mean, obviously you’re so focused on this whole area. Are there any other things you’re seeing tech-wise that have you interested at this point in time?

JH: …I think companies are really looking at their strategic business drivers and trying to determine how technology can be used in new ways. Why that’s a little bit of a shift from kind of what we’ve been focused on the past is they know data is available. They know the technology cloud is available to them, but they are really taking the time to rethink and transform their business. [This] is, I would say, a newer focus, because there are such different competitive markets today. [If] you think of Amazon entering into healthcare, or other companies banding together to deliver prescription drugs and PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Management) services, and [as a result], all of a sudden, there is no status quo anymore. And so I think the game had originally been about: How do you modernize my tech stack? How do I think about these systems or make investments in them? Now, I think it’s, how do you prepare my company to take advantage of the tech and data that’s available to me to change my business model?

JK: That makes total sense. That’s the way you got to be looking at it…

So here’s something else I’m thinking about, this is changing gears just a little bit, but as we approach 2025, many of us are thinking about: this can be the year that I do something, right? And at the Tech Council, we want to see more women start companies, all kinds of companies, but tech companies, because we’re the Tech Council, right? What’s your advice to a woman out there who’s maybe thinking like, this is the year I’m going to actually start something. What’s that extra push you can kind of give them to say, go ahead, do it, you got to try it.

JH: Number one is, anybody can be an entrepreneur as long as you have grit, determination, and you believe in yourself and your purpose. I spent a year trying to figure out what it would mean to me to start a company, how I could be authentic to myself. Through that journey, I was able to really define Techstra in a manner that I could go out and sell it, because in the end, I have to be the best salesperson in the company. Over the years, the messaging and the positioning has evolved, just like technology has evolved, but it’s really been about being true to who we are as a company, what differentiates us. [Also] believing in myself, right, to be able to do this in a manner that enabled or allowed people to surround me and support me, because there’s just no “I” in the company. It’s really about “us” and “we”. I always say, it takes a village, and you need your village. The last thing I would say about this…is for years…I have [had] this picture [in my home office] that I bought at the Shady Side Arts Festival. It’s a picture of a girl with a princess crown and her magic wand, and it has the word “believe” on it. And to me, that sums it up. You have to believe in all of it: being the fairy princess, being the queen, [being] the maker of magic.

JK: I love it! I can’t think of a better way to kind of “land the jet” on this podcast … I want to end on [this] because that’s exactly it. I think that is the one thing that has to underpin everything, right? Without that, no matter what you know, no matter what you can do, it doesn’t matter unless you believe. And you remind yourself that every single day.

JH: Every single day.

JK: That’s some awesome advice!

Jennifer, you’re the best … I love hanging out with you … you’re building a kick-butt company here. You got too much work. You are on planes all the time. You can barely appear on my podcast, for crying out loud! Like it’s a good thing.

JH: It is a great thing!

JK: Yes, I’m so glad to see you guys doing well. But most importantly, I love the fact that you’re helping companies solve really tough problems.

JH: That’s what it’s all about. And, by the way, that’s the fun part.

JK: There you go. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. You are the best.

JH: Thanks, Jonathan, for having me. You’re the best!

Listen to Jennifer’s Interview on TechVibe Radio.

 

Techstra Founder and CEO Jennifer Honig being interviewed by PTC TechVibe Radio Host Jonathan Kersting.

Techstra Founder and CEO Jennifer Honig being interviewed by PTC TechVibe Radio Host Jonathan Kersting.