I am a fifth generation Californian with many of my family still rooted in the central part of the state.  I have a large family (four siblings) and we are distributed now throughout the US.  I met my husband (Don) in college, have been married 25 years this November. We both graduated from Cal State Long Beach. My degree is Industrial Organizational Psychology, emphasizing in Human Resources.

We moved to Colorado in 1999 to raise our family.  We have two daughters: Morgan (23) is finishing up a Nursing degree in Colorado Springs, and Cameron (19) is two years into a Physical Therapy program at Colorado State University. Cameron is already looking at an Army Medical program through Baylor for her doctorate program. As they have both left the house, my hubby and I are now enjoying empty nester life and planning how to travel the US and world!

As a family we love to camp – tent and RV’ing. We enjoy paddle boards, kayaks, fishing, and just being outside.  I personally LOVE snow and the winter season!  I am the reason we get snow in Denver, as I wish for it all year round! I am an avid volunteer – with my children, within the community I live, and within the companies I have worked – hoping to do the same at SSP – bringing our company into the community through volunteering! My newest hobby is watercolor painting. I have a goal to paint all my own art in our new home – wish me luck!

Why SSP?

I was with a great company for the last seven years, managing an organization of 120+ team members, in a company of 30k+ employees. After much internal reflection, I decided to look for new opportunity to get back to a smaller company so I can be a ‘person’ again vs. a ‘number’.   SSP was exactly what I was looking for personally to allow me to contribute individually but also within a team! I was also intrigued with the services focus in the Utility industry – I grew up with both parents working at So Cal Gas (both @ 35 years+) – it’s been fun to have something in common with my parents from a professional perspective. (As a Civil Engineer my father is totally geeking out that his daughter can ‘sorta’ talk/understand about what he did his whole career 😊).

How can I impact SSP?

Though my background is not specifically GIS, I do have a very strong project management background rooted in software development and implementation.  I have focused for the last years in process and methodology, building out multiple PMO organizations and teams to support the success of the organization through intentional and value-added processes.  I believe I will be able to impact SSP through my project management, organizational skills and help build out SSP’s PMO.

My first few months have been busy.  I started with a comprehensive onboarding program followed quickly with a project launch – which is great, I like to jump in with both feet!  Being at SSP now since end of May, I am leading the Detroit Energy Phase 2 project, MIMS enhancements, it’s going well. We are on schedule and plan to go live end of September with enhancements to provide further value to their end users.  My future is Louisville Gas and Electric. I am in ramp up phase currently with the plan to lead starting January 2020 – a multi-year project with their Electric and Gas Distribution Operations.  I am looking forward to this project, both the SSP and LKE team members have been very welcoming and hyper focused on quality!

Thank you to everyone who has been so welcoming as I start this new venture.