Innovate! Inc.
The Salesforce consulting firm that taught Glen Bradford how to be on a team.
The Story
Glen Bradford came to Innovate! Inc. as a former hedge fund manager who'd spent years making every decision by himself. He knew how to analyze, how to research, how to write — but he didn't know how to be on a team. Innovate taught him.
Innovate is a Salesforce consulting firm that specializes in government implementations — particularly for the EPA. It's the kind of company that doesn't make headlines but does make things work. When a federal program office needs a Salesforce platform that can handle chemical safety tracking, environmental compliance, or program management at scale, Innovate is who they call.
But what made Innovate special wasn't just the work. It was the people. Larry Spackman mentoring without you realizing you were being mentored. Matt Brumberger keeping you employed when you probably deserved to be fired. Chris Masters running Friday weeklies that secretly taught discipline. Catherine Nolan organizing the meetings that drove everything forward. Josh Long being the technical backbone of every project. The whole crew — each person making the team stronger than the sum of its parts.
That's what Innovate is. Not just a consulting firm. The place where Glen learned what teamwork actually means.
Timeline
Founded
Innovate! Inc. Established
A Salesforce consulting firm built from the ground up to serve government agencies. Not the flashiest niche in tech, but one of the most important. When federal programs need a platform that works, Innovate is the team that builds it.
EPA Partnership
Government Salesforce Implementations Begin
Innovate becomes a go-to partner for EPA Salesforce projects. OPPT, EAD, HSRRO, BMC, OMS — acronyms that represent real programs serving real people. The kind of work where getting it wrong isn't an option.
Glen's Tenure
Glen Bradford Joins the Team
Glen arrives as a Salesforce developer and learns what it means to be part of a team. Larry Spackman mentors him. Matt Brumberger keeps him employed. Chris Masters teaches him discipline through Friday weeklies. The Innovate crew turns a solo operator into a team player.
Growth Era
EPA Programs Scale Up
The team expands across multiple EPA program offices. Catherine Nolan drives the OPPT Program Plan. Josh Long architects the integrations. Jordon Schulman bridges law and tech. The crew grows, but the culture stays the same: ship it, support it, make it right.
Higher Education
University Implementations
Innovate expands beyond government into higher education — Georgia State University, UCI Ascend, and more. The same discipline that worked for federal agencies turns out to work everywhere else too.
Present
Chris Masters at the Helm
Chris Masters runs Innovate today. The Friday weeklies continue. The EPA work continues. The culture of discipline, mentorship, and teamwork that defined the company from the start is still alive and well.
The Crew
What Glen Learned
How to Be on a Team
Glen came in as a solo operator — a hedge fund guy who'd spent years making every decision himself. Innovate taught him that the best work happens when you trust the people around you. That's not something you learn from a book. You learn it by shipping projects with people who are better than you.
Discipline Through Structure
Chris Masters' Friday weeklies. Catherine's sprint cadence. Larry's quiet expectations. The structure wasn't bureaucracy — it was the scaffolding that let the team build bigger things than any individual could. Glen hated meetings before Innovate. He still hates most meetings. But he respects the ones that matter.
Mentorship Changes Everything
Larry Spackman made Glen better without Glen realizing it. Matt Brumberger kept him from self-destructing. That's what real mentorship looks like — not lectures, not feedback forms, but someone who quietly steers you away from the cliff until you learn to steer yourself.
Government Work Is Real Work
Building Salesforce for the EPA isn't glamorous. Nobody's writing TechCrunch articles about it. But when your code powers the systems that track chemical safety or manage environmental programs, the stakes are real. Innovate taught Glen that the most important work is often the least visible.
Why It Matters
Before Innovate, Glen was a solo operator. After Innovate, he was someone who understood what it means to rely on other people — and to have other people rely on you. That transformation doesn't happen at every job. Most jobs teach you skills. Innovate taught Glen how to be a professional.
The crew at Innovate didn't just work together. They made each other better. Larry's mentorship, Matt's protection, Chris's structure, Catherine's organization, Josh's technical depth, Jordon's gratitude, Phil's steadiness, Laura's excellence, Rob's presence, David's serendipity — every one of them left a mark. And the company, under Chris Masters' leadership today, continues to do the kind of government Salesforce work that actually matters.
Innovate! Inc. is where Glen Bradford learned how to be on a team. Everything he's built since then has that foundation underneath it.
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Larry Spackman
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