This post is from Dallas Marks, an ASUG Volunteer with the Kentucky Chapter. Darren Hites appears, far left, with his fellow chapter members.
It is with great sadness that I share the passing of my colleague and good friend, Darren Hites. He passed away on January 12, 2019 after a brief illness.
Darren, an experienced IT sales executive, was best known to those of us in the ASUG community as a volunteer with the Kentucky Chapter. That’s how I got to know him. He always greeted everyone with a smile and had a great memory about the last time he talked to you.
A rarity in a world of high-pressure sales tactics, he always had soft-spoken words of encouragement—attentive to a new haircut or recent weight loss. His empathetic people skills were honed working as a mental health professional in the early days of his career and served him well in IT sales. If you weren’t talking “shop,” you were likely to hear a story about his wife or two grown sons, whom he loved dearly.
He served for many years as the ASUG Kentucky Chapter’s communication chair. He had to step away briefly during his employment with an organization that was not an ASUG Member. We welcomed him back without hesitation when he joined Hitachi Consulting last year.
The depth of his influence spread way beyond his LinkedIn connections. I enjoyed being around Darren and always came away inspired to be more like him. I’ll miss him a lot. I know our ASUG Chapter will miss him, too.