When Joyce Pingel went looking for experts who could help the Holt family of companies integrate their technology, she found an opportunity.
Pingel, Holt’s chief information officer and head of digital innovation, found many companies offering systems integration — the creation and management of processes that integrate the various technologies companies use to run their businesses. But Pingel found a clear lack of those who also had deep expertise in the industrial sector.
She took her “a-ha moment” to Holt leadership, and was encouraged to pursue what has become Epiphany Industrial Technologies, which launched in January 2022. Holt companies include Holt Cat, one of the largest Caterpillar dealer networks in the country; Holt Manufacturing; Holt Renewables; and others. The Holt family is also the majority owner of the San Antonio Spurs.
On Tuesday, Epiphany held an open house at its newly renovated headquarters on Southeast Military Drive, next door to the future home of the San Antonio Arboretum and less than three miles from Holt’s $24 million corporate headquarters, completed in 2017.
The 13,000-square-foot building was once the University of the Incarnate Word’s professional golf management facility. Today, the putting green out back has been replaced by pickleball courts and an outdoor kitchen. Inside, a spacious kitchen, gym and bright collaborative workspaces will welcome new employees and future clients.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg gave Holt CEO Peter J. Holt; Corinna Holt Richter, president and chief administrative officer of Holt; Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran (D3); and her sister Rebecca Viagran, a former council member who is now president and CEO of the South Texas Business Partnership (formerly the South San Antonio Chamber of Commerce), for the open house.
In her comments, Pingel described system integrators as akin to general contractors; Epifany, she said, will eventually serve industrial customers in the construction, oil and gas, renewable energy and manufacturing industries.
The Holt family of businesses was Epiphany’s first customer, she later said, and helped her iron out the startup’s processes. Later this year, she said, Epiphany will begin targeting outside customers, including other Caterpillar dealers.
Pingel initially led a team of three—herself, Vice President of Solution Engineering Dinu Mathai and Vice President of Solution Delivery David Kash—in forming the company. Today it has 15 employees, she said, and expects to double that number by the end of 2023.
“We’re bringing high-skill, high-tech jobs to the South Side,” she said to applause from the crowd of business leaders, elected officials and South Side boosters.
The company is hiring for positions such as solution architect, data integration engineer and senior Salesforce developer, according to its website. Mathai said while it fills out its senior ranks, Epiphany also hopes to expand opportunities for more recent graduates and interns “to fill the pipeline.”
He acknowledged that it has been a struggle to hire locally, and expanding their search across the state helped round out the company’s leadership team. A partially remote and hybrid workforce is the reality, Mathai said, but he hopes the new headquarters’ amenities will help attract workers to San Antonio.
But “we want to hire local,” Kash said, “and the tables turn, things pick up.”
Access to a qualified workforce and the ability to attract and retain talent is a top priority for the South Texas Business Partnership, Rebecca Viagran said. The former Southside chamber, which merged with the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce in 2020, now considers not only the Southside, but all of South Texas as its service region.
San Antonio’s economic center “keeps shifting south,” Nirenberg said. “The facilities that come to the South side should not be too high.”
Peter Holt said his company is “thrilled to be a part” of the South Side’s growth, praising Pingel’s vision.
“When new ideas come up,” he said, “let’s walk through the door together.”
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