Entrepreneurship gives tech executive Tina Chang the freedom to contribute to the community

Most entrepreneurs start their own business because they want a greater degree of freedom and control. Tina ChangChairman, CEO and owner of Brookfield-based IT company SysLogicFounding her companies gave her the freedom and control to pursue a deeper passion: catalyzing change in her community. Now nearly three decades into her career, Chang has led the spin-off of three startups, SysSpark LLC, Cyberspect LLC And SubscribeMost recently, in 2023, she co-founded Madison-based cybersecurity consulting firm Ghost Scale. WillBridge, a nonprofit company, is the union of Chang's passions for technology and nonprofit work. Founded in 2022, the company aims to help organizations use data to drive greater social impact. It provides a secure platform for nonprofits, health systems, educational institutions and government entities to securely share data about the populations they serve and then leverage that cross-section of shared data to work toward better outcomes. WillBridge's DataCommunity platform is currently being piloted with a member of the StriveTogether network in Muscatine, Iowa. “My goal as an entrepreneur was not only to build a company with value, but also for that company or portfolio of companies to be great stewards of the community,” Chang said.

Impact-oriented

Chang sees herself as part of an old-school generation of entrepreneurs—those who built their companies from the ground up without outside funding or support. She left her corporate career at Anderson Consulting, now Accenture, in her early 20s because she lacked experience working with emerging technologies. “I wasn't necessarily able to achieve my goals of using technology to change the modern world for the better,” she said. Guided by the belief that she could have a larger, lasting impact on her community through entrepreneurship, Chang co-founded SysLogic in 1995. At just 24 years old, she thought she could easily return to corporate work if her own company didn't succeed. That notion was quickly dispelled when she realized how closely her employees' livelihoods were tied to SysLogic's success. The challenges the company has faced over the years have shifted as SysLogic has grown from a small startup to a well-established company. Whereas Chang's biggest problem used to be acquiring enough clients to survive with a little-known company name, one of Chang's biggest challenges today is selling multimillion-dollar deals that have a bigger impact for both SysLogic and prospective clients — all while gaining the trust of the client's executive team. “It's easy to be young and ask for help. If you're 52, like I am, you're now that age and have a company profile to compete with,” Chang said. “You have to be careful because you're actually a threat to the competition.” When she needs business advice, Chang relies on a portfolio of mentors rather than relying on a single person. “If you want to lead with your own strengths, by being your own authentic self, you have to find a portfolio of people on the horizon that round out your profile,” she said.

Leading with vision and balance

Chang says she hasn't changed her leadership style all that much in her 28 years as a leader and entrepreneur, but has worked to improve her own execution. Maintaining her leadership style has been key to maintaining the company culture, she said. “I grew up exerting influence by painting a picture of possibilities,” Chang said. “Now I exert influence through vision. If I had tried to be a visionary at 24, maybe some great, experienced person would have looked at me and said, 'You're crazy. What do you know?'” One thing she's perfected throughout her career is constantly balancing her work with her personal obligations. As the amount of time she needs at work—both for her own companies and the nonprofits she serves—reaches highs and lows, she schedules her personal time to fill the remaining time. She protects her eight hours of sleep at all costs. When it comes to her nonprofit work, Chang chooses the organizations she devotes parts of her time to based on which ones will have the greatest fundamental impact on the issues she wants to address. She currently serves on the boards of Children's Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation, the YMCA of Metro Milwaukee and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, among others. Being a successful business leader also means promoting work-life balance among employees, Chang said. She has made several changes to her work habits — such as scheduling emails for early morning the next day instead of sending them late at night — to ensure she doesn't alter an employee's schedule of work time. “In today's digital world, where we're always online and need to be available all the time, a good leader, if we truly believe in work-life balance, is someone who knows how to not only maintain it for themselves but also promote it in others,” she said. Another of Chang's deeply held business philosophies is continuous succession planning, no matter what stage of an executive's career they are in. She is comfortable having a strong leadership team around her, but has no intention of ever retiring. “The thought of me ever retiring is out of the question for me,” Chang said. “Maybe I'll take on a different role in my company. Maybe I'll be a great salesperson and find a new CEO. I'm humble enough to recognize that I may not be the right person to lead my company as we get bigger.”