I recently caught up with Larry Fasching—a consultant I’ve enjoyed getting to know during my time with Traust. For someone who’s spent decades leading teams and delivering complex projects, Larry isn’t one to seek the spotlight. But I’ve found his work speaks volumes—about what it means to build trust, lead with integrity, and follow through on what you say you’re going to do.
Larry’s path into IT project management wasn’t exactly planned. After earning a law degree from the University of Minnesota, he spent several years practicing before pivoting to the business side of publishing at West Publishing (now Thomson Reuters). That led to leadership roles in customer service and product development, and eventually into technology during the early days of e-commerce.
“I didn’t know a server from a switch,” he says, thinking back to his role leading a team of Unix sys admins at Fingerhut in 1998. “But I knew how to lead a team—and I’d worked in internet publishing. That was enough to get started.”
Since then, Larry has built a career at the intersection of business and IT. He’s led application development teams at Sleep Number, overseen enterprise programs at Starkey, and helped drive operational improvements across departments and industries. His career has spanned everything from web development to enterprise planning systems—but the unifying theme is always the same: bringing structure to chaos and delivering results through strong, pragmatic leadership.
The Daikin Opportunity
In 2022, Larry took on a new challenge through Traust, joining the digital organization at Daikin Applied as the leader of their infrastructure project management function. “The way it was pitched to me,” he says, “was that the project management function was in the ditch. My job was to pull it out.”
“They needed someone who could rebuild trust and deliver results,” said Mark Peterson, CEO of Traust. “Larry’s one of the first people I think of in that kind of situation. He brings calm, clarity, and a commitment to follow-through that teams immediately respond to.”
Larry started by leading four contract PMs—quickly identifying a strong existing methodology that had fallen out of use. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Larry focused on ensuring alignment, accountability, and consistency—building strong relationships with project sponsors along the way.
With a clear focus on compliance, team development, and stakeholder alignment, Larry helped grow the team from four to six project managers, including two full-time hires. He implemented a consistent structure for expectations, training, and delivery—and built a reputation for dependability across the organization.
Leading by Doing
Larry has always preferred the practical side of problem-solving over theoretical planning. He told me he’s more comfortable driving execution than debating long-term strategy—and project management has proven to be a perfect fit.
That orientation toward action makes Larry a strong team leader, particularly in environments where prioritization is difficult and dedicated resources are scarce. His team currently manages more than two dozen projects, often without dedicated resources. That means coordinating across business units, juggling competing priorities, and getting things done through influence and trust rather than authority. It’s not easy work, but it’s a space where Larry excels.
That clarity, he says, is often what separates successful projects from stalled ones. And it’s part of why he’s embraced a structured approach called commitment-based management—a framework he was introduced to during his time at Starkey.
The Commitment-Based Mindset
Commitment-based management, as Larry describes it, is simple in theory: say what you’re going to do, then do it. But in practice, it involves a whole system of nested commitments, renegotiation strategies, and cultural norms that support accountability.
“If I commit something to a stakeholder, that means I’ve already gone out and secured commitments from everyone I depend on,” he says. “That’s what makes it work.”
It’s also what helps eliminate ambiguity and waste. For example, Larry notes that meeting notes will too often just list vague next steps without clearly assigning responsibility or timelines. Without names and due dates, he says, those actions are more like suggestions than real commitments.
Larry’s approach: get clarity, get buy-in, and follow through. If something changes, renegotiate early and transparently. And make sure your commitments are realistic, especially when working across cross-functional teams.
A Relationship Built on Trust
Larry’s relationship with Traust—and CEO Mark Peterson in particular—goes back nearly 20 years, to a Hyperion implementation at Sleep Number in the mid-2000s, when Larry was Traust’s client. Over the years, that relationship has evolved from client to collaborator to colleague. It’s a clear example of the kind of long-term trust Traust aims to build through its IT staff augmentation work.
“Take the ‘a’ out of Traust and you’ve got trust,” Larry says. “That’s how it’s always felt. If I needed a resource, Mark found one. If I asked him to keep something confidential, he did. And when I was in between roles, he called with a perfect fit.”
That personal trust has extended to the broader team. “Every consultant I’ve worked with from Traust has been professional, proficient, and reliable,” he says. “That’s not always true of other firms. But it’s always been true here.”
That respect is mutual. “Larry has been a trusted partner for almost two decades,” said Mark. “Whether he’s leading a team or mentoring younger professionals, he’s always been the kind of person you want in your corner.”
Built to Deliver
As Larry continues to support the team at Daikin, his impact is seen not in a single project, but in the systems and standards he’s helped put in place.
“Project management isn’t about knowing everything,” Larry says. “It’s about making commitments—and then doing whatever it takes to deliver.”
And that, in the end, is exactly what Larry has built his career on.
