Talk to anyone who works at Phoenix Mecano, and they’ll tell you there’s a culture of collaboration and innovation: one that values taking personal initiative, trying new ways of doing things, and bouncing your ideas off others. This makes Phoenix Mecano, for the right kind of person, a place to thrive. Peter Kelly is the right kind of person.
“I’ve been an accountant here for six months, handling accounts and payroll, fairly standard accounting stuff. In any new job, sometimes you find yourself with extra time on your hands, as you learn about the company and your place in it. I have an interest in emerging technologies and finding ways to utilize them. My boss and the CEO were encouraging everyone to try to improve processes, as well as ways to utilize AI in general, so I taught myself how to use it. I began automating a lot of the repetitive tasks that are part and parcel of accounting, particularly the ones that are prone to human error. Some of those automations have turned tasks that used to take hours into tasks that take minutes.”
Peter’s interest in emerging technologies makes sense, given his background. He worked as a sound engineer and composer for the Philadelphia Eagles, making hype videos that aired in the lead-up to games. Peter was good enough at this kind of work to earn three Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmys for it, but he also saw the writing on the wall regarding AI coming for jobs in the creative industry. His dual degree from Mt. Saint Mary’s University in music and business paid off, however, allowing him to make the career switch to accounting.
But as fun and even glamorous as the work for the Philadelphia Eagles was, it was also isolating: the opposite of what Peter is experiencing at Phoenix Mecano. Peter: “This is really my first time working alongside a team. Working in composition and sound design meant I was always kind of off on an island, by myself; it’s solo work. I was limited in my ability to collaborate or bounce ideas off people. One of the things I’ve been able to do here is take my ideas for AI and automations to others, not just in my department but also in other departments and get honest opinions on what I’m trying to do. And the reception I receive is always a positive one: the philosophy being, just because we’ve been doing something a certain way for a long time, doesn’t mean we can’t rethink how we do it.”
Born in Virginia, raised in San Diego, California, and now living and working in Frederick, Maryland (via the City of Brotherly Love), Peter is perhaps used to the idea of change: a mental paradigm that is so far serving him well. “My father was a Navy contractor, so we moved around a lot. Change is inevitable. It’s why I’m no longer in the creative field. It’s why I’m here. Thankfully, the culture at Phoenix Mecano means I’m still able to flex my creative muscles to a significant degree, just in slightly different ways than I used to.”
