A Kind-Hearted Swashbuckler
A good friend, Chuck Hooper, passed away on August 11, 2026. Chuck was 81 years old. Born February 9, 1945, he was a product of 1950s America. Confident, independent, and unafraid.
I met Chuck in 2008, during the first Tableau Conference in Seattle. A year later, I quit my job to start a business intelligence practice at InterWorks.
In 2009, Chuck and I had dinner in Houston with Tableau Enterprise Rep, Deepak Ghodke. Discussing ways we could work together, I got to know both of them well over the years that followed. They were instrumental to InterWorks' success, and my own.
Chuck was a gruff, old-school, tell-it-like-it-is fellow. He tempered his brash personality with a generous spirit and kind heart. His influence in the data community is widespread. In my my case, deep. He was a wonderful friend who applied himself 100% to whoever or whatever he engaged. The best way I can describe Chuck is to tell a story about a time he helped me.
In the summer of 2010 the business was starting to build. Tableau was in the awkward stage of early mass adoption. Chuck knew Tableau needed to develop a capable partner network to help clients. He realized InterWorks had the right mix of knowledge and skill to be a good partner.
A few months later, a Tableau customer in Atlanta engaged me to provide services. They needed database design help, and wanted a series of dashboards created. During my initial meeting with the client, I asked about design restrictions (space, load speed, etc.). He had clear ideas about speed but was unaware of size restrictions. I asked whether the 640 x 480 screen size on the old laptop they provisioned for me was a safe size limit.
He confirmed it was.
Five days later, I presented my work (4 dashboards) to the client project manager. He loved them and asked me to demo the dashboards for their global leadership team the next morning. After finishing the demo, the client manager and I thought the feedback was positive. I had one day remaining on my contract to get my designs approved by the client’s quality control team. Plenty of time to spare!
The next morning, Sarah (Bedwell) Henzelmen called me. Sarah was the Tableau account manager responsible for sales. She asked:
“Dan, what did you do with the client this week?
I asked her why she wanted to know.
“One of their international businesses placed an order for more than $200,000 of software! Keep doing whatever you’re doing!”
After my call with Sarah, I jaunted to my meeting with their QC team, but my mood changed minutes into that meeting.
“These dashboards won’t work. They are too big. Our reporting portal size limit is 550 x 600 pixels. Bring them back after you redesign them.”
This would not be a small task. I told the project manager that I’d need another week to redesign the dashboards. The pixel limits he gave me were wrong. None of my dashboard designs complied with quality control's limits, and the dashboards everyone loved would be a challenge to fit in the smaller space. I wasn’t doing the rework for free because I had asked him about size limitations and he authorized 640 x 480 pixels.
The client was angry with me but realized he had agreed to those limits—then tried to pressure me into doing the work for free. I didn’t budge. After extending my contract another week, he told me he would complain to Tableau Software about me and my fees. I was sorry he was unhappy, but I wasn’t going to do the work for free.
This timing was bad. I had a meeting in Seattle with Tableau Software’s leadership Christian Chabot (CEO) and Kelly Wright (VP Sales) in two weeks. The meeting was to discuss how we could create a more formal partnership. The client was going to complain to Tableau. I needed a trusted Tableau employee to vouch for me.
When I got home that night, I called Chuck, explained the situation, and asked for help. I wanted him to come to Atlanta and spend a day with me at the client’s location while I redesigned the dashboards. I wanted Chuck to get a sense for the customer. Review my work. Get a firsthand understanding of the situation.
Chuck told me he couldn’t do it. Chuck lived in California, and he was going to be in Pebble Beach playing golf on Tuesday. On someone else’s dime. He wasn’t available till after Tuesday, and it would take him till Thursday to get to the client’s office. After a few minutes of discussion, Chuck agreed to come when I requested, Tuesday.
Giving up a free round of golf at Pebble Beach was a big ask. He realized I was in a tough spot and he didn’t want to see this issue derail the partnership. I thanked him and promised InterWorks would not forget his sacrifice.
Chuck then told me he was planning to be in Seattle the week of our meeting with Christian and Kelly. If I thought it would help, he suggested I ask Kelly to have him join the meeting at the right moment. This was a huge relief.
I delivered the redesigned dashboards. The quality control team was happy with the work, and the client complained to Sarah about having to pay for another 40 hours of my services.
The meeting in Seattle with Christian and Kelly started as planned. The CEO/Founder of InterWork, Behfar Jahanshahi was with me. They both had good feelings about InterWorks. Sarah had told Kelly about the $200,000, and about the complaints about my bill. Christian asked us the obvious question:
“Why is this customer complaining about your bill after placing a $200,000 order?”
I asked Kelly to get Chuck. Rather than taking my word about what happened, they could ask him. Kelly summoned Chuck. Christian then asked Chuck for his observations about the quality of my work and the client.
Chuck uncorked an aggressive narrative that I won’t repeat. It was pure Chuck bombast. He offered a defense of my work and InterWorks in general, then stormed out of the room. Christian, Kelly, Behfar, and I let Chuck’s comments hang in the air for a few moments.
Then, Christian said,
“InterWorks is going to be a Tableau partner. Congratulations, we are both going to make a lot of money!”
On our way out, we stopped and spoke with Chuck and thanked him for his support. Later, Behfar purchased a round of golf for Chuck at Pebble Beach.
I have dozens of similar personal stories about things Chuck did for me and others. Chuck was an honest broker. If he thought you were full of shit, he’d tell you why. If you needed help, he was always available. Chuck was a one-of-a-kind talent and a wonderful, caring friend. For the next 16 years, Chuck and I met after the last day of the Tableau Conference to have dinner and share war stories.
I will never forget Chuck Hooper.