E-Roll | Tim Merath

A Ninja On Ice

Meet EPIC Chief Operating Officer Tim Merath. He has some unique hobbies: He has done ninja warrior training for many years, and took up ice hockey this year for the first time in his early 40s. Both activities are really extensions of the energy, dedication, and creativity that he brings to his work here at EPIC.

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Transcript

My daughter was doing Ninja and my wife was like, “You should join too, because you love jumping on things and over things and hanging on stuff like a kid.” I just started playing around while she was in class and I was hooked …like that was it.

Tim Merath, partner and chief operating officer. I’ve been at EPIC for just over 22 years.

When I teach Ninja kids I tell them, “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.” And I think that’s in what we do at EPIC as well. Failure is part of it. We should be trying things that are uncomfortable or we don’t know how to do yet as well as we could, because you can’t get there unless you put in the time—and have learned and failed and fallen.

I don’t think about work as working ever. I mean, I’m all about being creative and creativity is just problem-solving.

My favorite thing by far is anything balanced. So they call me Circus Bear because of my balance and slacklining. It’s kind of fun that we use Slack for internal communications, which makes me think about doing this pretty much all day.

I’ve always loved hockey. My parents never let me play, so I joined a beginner hockey league. I’ve been playing in that since this fall, and that was the first time I’d ever been on the ice with a stick and puck and learned to play hockey.

If I had to give one word to describe how EPIC is like Ninja, the gym, and hockey? It’d be dedication. Like when I get into something I do it. So I put in as much time and effort as I can and work hard at it and get time on ice. And at the gym, I put in as much time here as I can and push myself and dedicate myself to getting better and feeling better and helping out at the gym and doing things and coaching. And then at EPIC, it’s being dedicated to the clients and the work and—above all—the people.

And it’s the reason I’ve been at EPIC for 22 years: it’s working with the people. The type of work we do, what we do, the disciplines … everything else is the same, essentially, everywhere else. So I can do this somewhere else, but I don’t want to. I want to do it at EPIC because of the people.