What is your role in the Service Center of Excellence?
My responsibilities within the Service Center include overseeing system access requests and workflow changes, providing business process support and documentation, and serving as the primary liaison with the ITS Enterprise Application group to establish system improvement priorities and timelines. Additionally, I will work with campus users for the Customer Billing Management system (CBM) to standardize, where possible, how they use CBM. This will include organizing quarterly user group meetings where users can exchange best practices, and we can communicate any system changes and improvement priorities.
What did you do before you came to the SCE?
I was hired into the Service Center in July 2016. Prior to that, I spent a year as an accountant in the Capital Business Office and in the Business Finance System department within Facilities Services.
Prior to joining UNC-Chapel Hill, I spent seven years working as a Software Implementation Manager for a Raleigh-based company that developed software for hospitals and major medical centers. Before that, I spent seven years developing and managing a CPA firm in Durham, N.C. From 1988 through 2001, I worked for two technology-based companies as a financial controller, financial manager and in other accounting-related positions.
Why are you excited about joining the SCE?
I am new to the university, and I don’t have the old vs. new perspective, so all of this is relatively new for me. I know that a lot of things are changing: new office location, new interactions or closer interactions with co-workers, new job responsibilities and processes, etc. This time of change is an incredible opportunity to assess the current state, keep what is working and improve on the things that are not. Additionally, my understanding is that the Service Center will provide future opportunities for staff members to cross-train and gain experience in other areas. That translates into personal growth, and that is always exciting.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
My number one favorite pastime is touching base with my two adult children to find out how they are doing, to offer them support and encouragement when needed, or to celebrate the accomplishment of their most recent goals. I also enjoy spending time with my friends and other loved ones. I love to cook, sew and read, and I am an avid action movie buff.
What is something people probably wouldn’t know about you?
Most people know that I was born in Tanzania, East Africa, but I have lived in the United States since 1972. I have a fairly eclectic background. As a teenager, I spent three years living in an Amish Mennonite community and attended grades 9-11 living away from my parents’ home in Washington, D.C. I then transferred to another Mennonite High School in Lancaster, Pa., and then to a Mennonite college in Harrisonburg, Va. In case you’re wondering about the Mennonite theme, these choices were made by my father, who was the son of a Mennonite Pastor and he, too, became a Mennonite pastor after retiring and moving back to Tanzania.