Well, I started at the O. C. Tanner company probably. Well, just over 20 years ago on working in the member of I'm going to school. And then I worked my way, kind of threw operations. Um, so it was a really built Ah, first, probably real career outside of like, your normal kind of entry level jobs was was training and starting to build, Ah, service center call center for O. C. Tanner That's worked on building that worked on it was kind of received a series of promotions for operations. Um, Atanas, managing a regional team, was the director. I don't see Tanner and Ah and then started toe truly engaged and working with our product development group there on process improvements and system improvements and on those type of things. And then that gravitated me, Really toe that's have a project, work some of that technology work. And so an opportunity came up in where they asked me. Teoh were struggling with some international language problems with our database without data than some different things. And so they asked me to head up a ah, really a database conversion project. So I really made a switch. The I t not that time Teoh to be a project manager and I moved over that I did that for about a year, year and a half really fell in love with this product tech work. And then from there I moved over to, um Teoh product development as, ah, product manager. I worked in that force of she's probably 55 to 7 years and then support Toe Director and Lado C. Tanner's enterprise. That product. And then, uh, I had some friends over Mount in America who recruited me over here for Jesus probably, uh, four years ago, going on four years ago, where we've really worked through a digital transformation process here. When I started here, it was private. 678 people here in our digital private development group and about 60 people. Some engineers, Q B toe UX design, which we didn't have it so really building, building some some technology. So I don't think I set out like right when I graduated college and to move on toe be this, uh, the software product development. Ah, kind of kind of product management. UX design. God, Um, but ah, kind of kind of just navigated as his career and interest grew and opportunities arose. And but it Z, I feel very lucky, and unfortunately it's a great great because a great career, it's been awesome.

she's probably day today. It's it seems to be a tends to be a lot of meetings in this role, right? Where you making strategic decision decisions? I think over the last go. If I looked passed on the last couple of weeks, it's been it's really one. Helping teams remove roadblocks, right? So was I have team members and manage the report to me and then their their team members. It's being engaged probably in some of the data data removed. I'm roadblocks for them asses. Maybe items are things get stuck or decisions need. Risky, kind, evaluating risk. Um, for decisions that would be made right now, it tends to be a lot as we look through 2021. It's a lot of budgeting right now. Strategic planning. So we're looking out over the The next year is the last week was pretty roadmaps together. But being a strategic plan together, presenting that to our your executive team aboard on working to get approval for our our budgets. Ah, next year, right and and it's really hard. Ah, probably this year as we try to conserve, be conservative going into next year with spend and figuring out whether the most important projects. So that probably seems to be probably biggest. The biggest challenge is picking what to do right, and that requires a lot of user research, a lot of market reserves, competitive research, technology research, partner research. Um, coming up with trying to get this is close to you, can't have budgets and timelines and on things that are, which is nearly impossible right when you're looking at probably six months to a year. But those air those are pretty much the primary primary things. And then a lot of a lot of coaching and one on ones. I spent a lot of one on ones with my managers during during the week, uh, talking through a current Michigan, its current project statuses, um, reporting those to our to our executive team and then, ah, get working through through some of those But but it's ah, apparently we're meeting with stakeholders, have a lot of means of various stakeholders. Other VPs and executives throughout the department see their needs. What thirties are as far as technology when we can deliver for them. Um, I, uh, some travel includes, um, quite prior to covet travel, probably once a month made me vote for pubs months to see either partners or get out to our branch network. Can talkto members and employees and other leaders of those this place to be developed tools to see how they're working and interacting discover where the problems may live. So I can I could bring that back to the team. Um, and then, ah, visiting a lot of we use a lot of, ah, various technology partners for our platforms. So getting out visiting, I'm seeing what we could do to improve um Teoh respond better to our members. Toe definitely issues. There's a lot of, ah, under a partner management in my current role. I didn't have that. I don't see channel we built. You could build 90% of our stuff there within our pride. 15 16 scrub teams that we were building. I'm technology with hair. We I have just half of that and that we leverage quite a bit of partners toe do some of that work. So a lot of it has maybe and growing and again building and kind of reducing nativism that dependency on the partners. But, uh, looking Teoh own a lot more of our destiny. So I need that transformation is is a lot of time spent a swell, you know, hiring our people, mentoring the existing people on, uh, getting that going.

challenges and giant. The challenge is this is I think the biggest challenge is picking. You got a list of 1000 items, right and product and oh, good ideas, right? And it's picking the 20% that you can do right and be effective with and get done. There's there's always more work, and then you have Resource is our many people are even financial resource is toe accomplish. And so I think that the toughest part is doing the doing the research, um, and then really, really picking the project that needs to be done and then being disciplined around What you what you pick? Because every day there's constantly new things, new ideas, urgent things coming in. I really have being able to to achieve the roadmap that you set off Teoh hit with the different features or products. I'm being a protective of that. So I think that's probably probably one of the biggest challenges of doing that. Um and then hitting. I think another challenge and proactive l. A. Mentors are software. Digital development is heading. You set out Friday, sent plans, and yet you said these targets I mean, it's hitting those. I think There's always unknowns that come out from. We work in to experience here with, uh, really kind of this Mac. You find a job process, but we it's sometimes tough toe hit. Those Rather's always, um, knows production issues that come up. There's a stakeholder that need something done. So trying to protect that sprint and that disrupt that is really important. So we put different processes and different different things in Teoh. Try as best practices to try to prevent that right. And, you know, with the various development, it's nothing should disrupt the Sprint. But sometimes that's not That's not reality, right? This is where comes in and, uh, pops up, but tryingto protect really that that you're trying to protect the team in the engineers and the most people that are working from from the distraction of kind of day today so they can be effective. The great got some some good things, but those are those were probably some of the pride of the biggest challenges. Is, is estimating is always difficult, right as you're looking out, and then we start writing the right in the code of started integrating platforms are a prize of products it's it always. There's always unknowns. So then it's managing the unknowns. Uh, it's communication that's over communicating right with but none of the leadership of stakeholders as delays and challenges come up so that they're not surprised me. The end of the project, they're kept in the loop. Uh uh from the beginning to the end because a big thing there communication and solve. Ah, a lot of those challenges, right? And especially if they feel they're part of the team versus if you just disappear and develop something and then show back up and you there later. It's not what they they wanted, right? A, I think, making sure demos air done toe to stakeholders frequently so that they can see what's being developed and delivered. Um, we do a lot of of user testing, so we've to make sure we deliver what's expected. So we'll start with the accounts after idea. Well, you can do some paper prototypes, right? So these low fidelity type of things get out in front of and users, um, find, find mistakes or find problem areas and fix those test again to fix those tests again and then do do some prototype being grand test. Those that's all this work is really done prior to even even riding the CO. To ensure that we can get that name when we always debate a pilot and then, uh, launched to try to avoid some of those missing the mark, right? Issa's as we develop so