You’ve probably heard or seen us use the phrase “No Place Like Holmes.” Those four words speak to the company we strive to be for our employees and customers each and every day. That phrase also speaks volumes to me as a leader, because I feel we truly have the best employees in the business, and I’m proud to work alongside them. We feel so strongly about our employees that we developed the “Game Changer” award.
Our Game Changer award is a service award that annually honors employees who live our aspirations each day. There’s a nomination process by Holmes Murphy leaders, and an award winner is chosen from our service areas of the business. With more than 1,000 employees, winning the award (and being nominated for it) is incredibly prestigious.
We recently named and honored our 2020 Game Changers. They are six incredibly deserving individuals — Julie Carpenter, Megan Carpenter, Kyle DuPass, Andrea Harkins, Darci Janssen, and Dione Young.
If you’ve had the pleasure of working with or meeting any or all of these individuals, you know they epitomize what it means to be Game Changers. They’re the best of the best from within our service teams, and work tirelessly to ensure you have what you need, when you need it. Allow me to give you a little insight into each.
Julie Carpenter
Julie is an Employee Benefits Sr. Client Service Consultant based in our Minneapolis office. She has so many great attributes, but the ones that stick out the most are her extreme responsiveness, her laser focus on our customers, and her drive to always find new ways to add value to all of our customer relationships.
Through the past year, Julie has stepped up, continually taken on new roles and responsibilities, and never once turned down a tough task. Her drive to help our customers is simply unmatched.
If she doesn’t have the answer to something, she will find it out. She was instrumental in our Minneapolis office this past year, and she has an extremely bright future ahead of her. Julie is truly amazing at her job, and we would be lost without her!
Megan Carpenter
Megan works out of our Waukee office as a Property Casualty Claims Consultant, and she is an excellent example of what a consultant, advocate, and client service professional should be. She is responsive, empathetic, thorough, knowledgeable, and relentless. Megan also thrives on personal interaction. She has a unique ability to quickly earn a customer’s trust and build a strong rapport — both of which are crucial when handling difficult conversations which are common in the claims’ world.
One person recently told me, “Megan is so deeply focused on her customers, that an outside observer may think she is actually an employee of the customer and not just their advocate.” Megan will go to bat for you every hour of every day, and all decisions she makes has her customers’ best interests in mind. Simply put, she gives 110% all the time!
Kyle DuPass
Kyle works for us in our Creative Risk Solutions (CRS) subsidiary as an Accounting Manager. Kyle has had to create processes and workflows where little existed, and he’s someone you can truly rely on to get the job done, often putting in extra time on nights, weekends, or vacations (without ever being asked) to simply ensure things go smoothly.
Kyle is constantly working with banks to improve the processing of payments and moving more to ACH versus paper check. Electronic payment is something that is becoming more highly desired by claimants, and Kyle is working very hard to ensure this process is seamless for them. He has also become a key part of onboarding multiple new customer and carrier relationships, some of which include transitioning old claim data. We are so fortunate to have Kyle and his knowledge, expertise, and tenacity on our team!
Andrea Harkins
Andrea is an Employee Benefits Sr. Client Service Consultant based in our Denver office. Whether she’s personally putting together gift baskets for customers that experience a loss within their teams or families, delivering lunches to customers during times of hardship, recognizing customer birthdays and other special occasions, being available 24/7 to support not only customer leaders but all of their team members, or ensuring that everything we do is accurate and fulfills our customers’ needs, she is always on it.
Andrea also always puts the team and her customers first, in front of her own needs. She teaches and mentors every team member, and she doesn’t just answer questions, she does her best to teach everyone how to be independent, supporting each team member’s growth and success. I can’t say enough about her dedication to those all around her!
Darci Janssen
Darci is the Vice President of IT Operations based in our Waukee office, but her customer service reaches beyond Waukee. As I’m sure you can imagine, with COVID-19 and the need for a quick move to a remote work stance for the safety of everyone, Darci’s leadership and support has been critical. She did a phenomenal job leading her team and Holmes Murphy as a whole through the technology transition, responded quickly to requests, did a great job conveying status and risks to leadership with a calm and focused demeanor, kept her team on task and herself informed on a very frequent basis, and worked countless hours to ensure Holmes Murphy was able to serve our customers seamlessly.
Darci maintained a positive outlook through an unprecedented and unexpected time. Her attitude, demeanor, and leadership are instrumental to our success, and we can’t thank her enough for all of her work!
Dione Young
Dione is a Sr. Client Service Consultant-Team Lead for our Surety group and is located in our Waukee office. Dione is the go-to person for most of our account managers and handles some of Holmes Murphy’s largest, most complex accounts. Dione never gets rattled, is a calming presence for all those around her, and is always there to mentor or help her team members. She is an expert in the Surety industry. Obligees, underwriters, the sales team, customers, and peers reach out to Dione for her advice and knowledge. Our customers rely on her quick and knowledgeable service on their last-minute requests.
With Dione, our customers feel valued. She is the best of the best, and we are lucky to have her!
Living Out Our Aspirations
I love the Holmes Murphy culture, our employees’ engagement with customers, and their willingness to live out our aspirations of Count on Me, Courageous Influence, Leave Good Footprints, Share Abundantly, and Better Tomorrow Than Yesterday. I hope you see this same level of service each day you work with us!
P.S. If you see or work with Julie, Megan, Kyle, Andrea, Darci, or Dione, I encourage you to congratulate them. We are proud of their efforts, and we hope you are, too!
