Mitchel Kinghorn | Lead Logistics Specialist | Joined Penumbra in 2019 | Salt Lake City
Q. What is your current role at Penumbra?
As Lead Logistics Specialist in Salt Lake City, I oversee employees who support the following areas: Returned Material Authorization and Travel Stock Returns, Inventory, and Stockroom. I help ensure that day-to-day operations run smoothly, making sure that material managed by my teams on behalf of various departments at the company is good to ship or to be used for special projects.
Q. What drew you to Penumbra?
After the first interview, I knew that the Penumbra VIBE WAS IT! I had little to no warehouse experience at the time. The leadership and fellow Penumbra employees who started the warehouse in Salt Lake City really challenged me in terms of the physical and professional demands of the job, something I had never experienced before. The job is challenging, but extremely rewarding.
Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most?
The people! I have made many connections and some friendships while working here that will last for the rest of my life. The people, especially management, have built me up to be the best I can be – not only for Penumbra, but also for myself!
Q. If you did not pursue your current career, what do you see yourself doing professionally?
I would probably be managing a call floor. I worked on a call floor – mostly inbound and outbound sales – for eight years before I came to Penumbra. When it came to the quality and quantity of calls, I excelled both as an individual salesperson and as a leader of the teams I oversaw.
Q. Describe yourself at age 10. What career aspirations did you have at that age?
I was a feisty, little red-headed meatball at age 10. When I was younger, I wanted to be an anesthesiologist because my uncle was one and I always looked up to him.
Q. What are the most important lessons you have learned in the last five years?
Always do the right thing and lead by example. Even when no one is looking, actively seeking to do the right thing has been the best course of action for me. This has been amplified and made more apparent since stepping into the position that I’m in today. As for leading by example, you need to be able to get into the mud with your people and show them the right path. The alternative is that things can get out of control very fast. I’m all for being the first one to jump in when a problem arises and will often spend countless hours trying to solve a problem before moving on.
