What is your professional background?
Vault was not my first job, per se, but I basically worked all throughout college. I started my professional career at Vault when the business units were a part of Veris Consulting.
I worked in the research business unit at Veris for about 11 years–up until Vault’s formation. Then, they asked me if I wanted to take over marketing because prior to that I had already been fulfilling the role of marketing for the research service line at Veris.
So, I took over and ran with it. Even after going into the Director of Marketing role full time, I have kept some of my research clients.
What is one outlandish, quirky, or fun thing that you do or that occurs outside of Vault?
I would say, people know me as being extremely clumsy. About ten years ago, I was sharing an office with another colleague, and I ran into a plant right outside of our office. My first instinct was to say, ‘excuse me.’ Of course, my colleague heard me and asked if I had just said “excuse me,” to a plant. She’s never let me live it down. I may be clumsy, but I’m very polite!
I have been practicing yoga regularly for many years, and that has helped with my balance and given me a little bit of grace.
Describe your role. Do you work for the research or accounting side of Vault Consulting?
My participation on the research side entails managing my teams. I am not in the weeds as much as I used to be, but I am managing some projects. One of my projects is NACAS. They’re doing a benchmarking survey that is going to be an interactive dashboard once we finally get the results in. My role is the high-level aspect of making sure the train keeps moving and people meet their deadlines, along with making sure that we’re providing a quality project.
My role as Director of Marketing is all over the place. I do things like make sure we’re staying relevant for our clients and work with our branding agency to make sure our website is up-to-date and that content is aligned to our needs. I make sure we have a digital footprint. I manage speaking engagements, our CRM system, and business engagements for the company.
In general, our digital footprint is most important right now since we cannot go to in-person networking events.
How long have you been with Vault Consulting?
I’ve been with Vault since its inception, and we’re almost five years old. But prior to Vault, we were a part of Veris Consulting. So, in total, it’s been almost 16 years.
What is one memorable moment about your interview process or about your first week/day at Vault Consulting?
It’s been about 16 years now. I don’t remember a lot my first week, but I do remember our first official week as Vault. We had so many milestones happening in such a quick time. Jamie really blew it out of the park getting us up and running. We did a champagne toast at some point.
We had to test the website and make sure we had business cards. It was a sprint to the end. I did not take any time off during the holidays that year. I may have even worked on Christmas. We were around the clock. We technically launched January first. The website was raw, but within a couple of days it was more polished.
What do you enjoy most about the Vaulters’ culture?
What I love the most is how we have fun ways of staying engaged—from our annual retreat to happy hours and holiday parties. It feels like an extended family. I’ve been at the company a long time, so I’ve gotten to know everyone pretty well. I’ve developed some friendships over the years that I know will last regardless of where life takes us.
What has been the most surprising/challenging thing about working at Vault?
This goes back to when we were working toward Vault’s launch. That was the most challenging time because I was going through something very personal at that time, and I was able to learn a lot about myself back then. Even when I was going through something horrible, I learned I could compartmentalize those feelings. Often people can’t function when they’re going through a tough time. I was able to just get through work. That surprised me; I didn’t realize how well I would handle it, but I did.
Where do you see your Vault career taking you?
I have grown up at Vault and–prior to that–Veris. My growth and career at Vault has changed so much throughout the years. I do not know exactly where that is taking me, but I know it will continue to evolve.
If there was one thing you could say to future or current Vaulters, what would it be?
Embrace change because that’s where your personal and professional growth will happen.
