The Department of Human Resources would like to congratulate Ella Sagan and Evie Hoff on receiving this honor.
Ella Sagan, Accounting Associate for the Division of Professional Studies (DPS), has been named UMBC’s Nonexempt Employee of the Quarter effective July 1 to September 30, 2022. Ella began her career at UMBC in July 2016 in her current position.
Ella was nominated by Trisha Wells, Assistant Vice Provost, Administration and Finance for the Division of Professional Studies. Trisha says, “Ella has many outstanding traits, but the ones that stand out the most are that she is meticulous, reliable and helpful. The majority of her work is around making purchases for DPS employees and reconciling financial accounts. Although we like for requests to come via RT, many employees forget and provide the information by email, paper or an office drop by. Ella rolls with all of the above without hesitation because her focus is on making everything as easy as possible for the employees. Her record keeping is meticulous and I have never found a record that was less than comprehensive. She is always early to arrive and frequently adjusts her schedule to accommodate other staff who need to change telework plans.”
“Ella is the most open to change person I’ve ever worked with. COVID has made the business process systems of UMBC a moving target and Ella has met every challenge with a positive, can-do attitude. I can mention an offhand “wouldn’t it be better if we…” and she immediately examines and, if it is a good idea, implements it. For example, she created the systems to make all financial reconciliations paperless while making all the records easily accessible via a well-organized shared box folder.”
“The motivation to write this recommendation came from a situation this May in which Ella was an instrumental player. DPS has a software package called Enrole that we use for non-credit course registration (Summer Enrichment Academy and similar). Ella does a weekly reconciliation of payments into the system and she noted a discrepancy. She immediately raised the alarm as this is a major issue. The description and documentation she created about the problem was excellent. The next week another discrepancy happened which she again caught and communicated. The vendor has now fixed the bug that allowed this to happen. In communicating the solution, the vendor shared that it was Ella’s thorough documentation that gave them the information they needed in order to find the bug. Without Ella’s precise and comprehensive documentation, it could have taken weeks to find and resolve the problem. That would have inconvenienced countless customers as well as potentially causing underpayment of registration fees that were not noticed. Ella’s quick and competent actions saved us considerable reputational and financial problems.”
Ella was presented her award on July 20, 2022. She was surprised and thrilled to share her celebration with colleagues from the business office and Division of Professional Studies.
Evie Hoff, Senior Marketing Coordinator, for the Division of Professional Studies, has been selected as the Exempt Employee of the Quarter for July-September 2022. Evie began her career at UMBC in March 2019 as a Project Manager for the Office of Institutional Advancement. She recently transferred to her current position in Professional Studies in June 2022.
Evie was nominated by Meredith Purvis, Director of Undergraduate Marketing for the Office of Institutional Advancement. Meredith says, “Picture the most organized, efficient person you know. Now, double that, and you’ve got Evie Hoff, who worked as a project manager within the Office of Institutional Advancement’s Marketing and Creative Studio team. Evie was an amazing member of our team and a true utility player who, in her project management role, helped ensure that our campus partners are able to get the marketing materials they need created on time, on budget, and on-brand. This work takes a high level of tact and confidence — she has both in spades.”
“Another key to her success is that, for Evie, good enough is the bare minimum. She holds herself to an incredibly high standard of accountability for her work, and often goes above and beyond the bounds of her job description to chip in and make sure projects move forward, and in this challenging year, that’s been critically important to ensuring that all our priorities were met. There are certain projects that would not have happened had it not been for her leadership in pushing them forward.”
“She’s also grown as a leader within our team, not just helping to execute work, but acting as a consultant and partner to our campus clients, providing valuable guidance and insight that helps shape the scope and content of their projects. As one of our campus partners put it ‘I would basically sing her praises. She is the epitome of a project manager and is always on top of her game.’”
“In the last year alone (and in the midst of a global pandemic), Evie’s carried 225+ projects across her portfolio of 15+ divisions and departments across campus, in addition to playing a key role in driving forward our work on institutional surveys that are a critical component of our institutional reputation and rankings.”
“Evie also stepped up to be front and center in the launch of our new Work Management Tool (WMT). She helped our deployment team stay focused and on task. But, most importantly, she’s taken a deep dive into the functionality of the tool, helping to define use cases, shape and establish best practices, and acting as a hands-on consultant to guide other teams within OIA in their own implementations.”
“Evie is a UMBC alum, and a wonderful example of how incredible our Retriever graduates are. She’s quick to volunteer with major campus initiatives like Commencement and Homecoming.”
Evie recently transferred to her new position in the Marketing area of the Division of Professional Studies. Her new supervisor, Julie Gilless, Assistant Vice Provost, was very enthusiastic and supportive of Evie’s nomination and selection as Employee of the Quarter. Announcements were made to staff both in the Office of Institutional Advancement and the Division of Professional Studies so that all could celebrate in Evie’s recognition.
Recipients receive $500, a special parking space, one day of administrative leave, a certificate, his/her/their name on the Employee of the Quarter plaque and an invitation to the annual Service Award Ceremony.
Human Resources offers special thanks to everyone that nominated an employee for the award. Previous nominations received will be eligible for consideration for one year from the date received. The next Employee of the Quarter recipients will be selected in October.