Branch Served:
- Marines (6 1/2 years)
About Ed Schwind
Ed Schwind is a husband and father of six who has been a business owner since 2013.
Q: What was deployment like?
A: My only overseas service was for a joint NATO exercise in Greece where the entire 2nd Marine Division set up operations in a large-scale deployment. Our mission in the band was a combination of public affairs and internal security. By day, we played concerts in the surrounding community, and by night, we walked our posts inside the camp with weapons and live rounds.
Q: What was your first job after service and what was that experience like?
A: After completion of my second contract, I came to NDSU to study electrical engineering. The transition was interesting. Starting as a freshman at age 25 certainly set me apart from others in my classes.
Q: Did you have any struggles after returning to civilian life?
A: My biggest challenge in adjusting to civilian life was to change my expectations of others who didn’t have the training or discipline that I had. I also had to calm down and not be so aggressive in my speech and mannerisms. People thought I was threatening even when I thought I was toning it down.
Q: Can you tell me about your company?
A: Signum, LLC is an engineering services, Internet of Things, and electronics manufacturing company. We specialize in designing connected devices, and providing cellular data connectivity and cloud services to solve our customers’ problems. We also manufacture the devices we design in our ISO-certified manufacturing facility.
Q: Did you plan to start your company before enlisting in the service?
A: Being a business owner wasn’t on my radar until well after my military service, completion of college, and working in the industry for a few years.
Q: What does a normal day on the job look like for you?
A: My day-to-day activities include making decisions about which people are best suited to working on our projects, meeting with customers to ensure their needs are understood, deciding which customers to pursue, tracking our budget, sending invoices, and just about anything else that needs to be done.
