What makes a company great? It’s employees! This month’s Employee Spotlight is on Lisa Medina that certainly proves that point.  Laurice Neely, Executive Director Alternate Billing puts it best.

Lisa has been with ILD since its inception working in the Outsourcing and Alternate Billing divisions.  Lisa’s experience with ILD and the Telecom industry coupled with her excellent customer relations makes her invaluable to our organization.  Lisa’s tenacious spirit in identifying and solving customer issues has made her the “go to person” within the sales organization.  In addition, Lisa is a pleasure to work with – she is always willing to go the extra mile, assist the team, or even liven up the environment with a few practical jokes!

Congratulations Lisa for being recognized by your peers and thank you for all that you bring to the ILD family!  

Some interesting facts about Lisa.

1. How long have you worked at ILD? Since the company started.
2. What positions have you had at ILD? Customer Service Manager and Operations Manager.
3.  What do you like most about your job and working for ILD? As far as my job is concerned, I enjoy problem solving, analyzing data, and helping customers.  As far as ILD, I love the people I work with… we are truly a great team.
4.  What do you find most challenging? Public speaking.
5.  How many siblings do you have? Two sisters.
6.  Do you have any pets? Tropical fish and a Balinese cat named Bleu. (Fish AND a Cat… I know!)
7.  Do you play an instrument or sing? No.
8.  Favorite song: No favorite comes to mind right now, but I love a variety of music.
9.  Favorite movie: Any comedy (romantic or otherwise).
10.  Hobbies: Cooking.
11.  Favorite vacation spot: Any place by the ocean.
12.  What did you want to be when you grew up? A hair dresser and a secretary.
13.  Favorite time of the year and why:  Autumn… for sentimental reasons and also because I know the inferno better known as Texas summer will subside for awhile.
14.  Favorite sweet treat: Twizzlers or any ice cream.
15.  Favorite childhood meal: Anything Italian my mom cooked.
16.  Favorite childhood/past time memory: Playing outside in the summer with my neighborhood friends.
17.  Favorite thing to do on the weekend: Getting together with my family.

This month’s Employee Spotlight is on Lorraine McClin-Olriedge. Through a series of ILD acquisitions, Lorraine has been employed with us for 22 years and is currently ILD’s Director of Client Compliance and Regulatory Complaints.

Lorraine was nominated by her boss, Kathy McQuade, as our latest employee highlight due to ”the way she handles challenging situations”.  Because phone billing is a regulated service, Lorraine works closely with the various state and federal regulatory agencies, handling subpoenas and monitoring ILD’s merchants to ensure ILD’s customers, in addition to ILD, adhere to all ILD requirements and regulatory rules and regulations.  Despite the rigid compliance requirements of her position, Lorraine always finds time to be compassionate with colleagues, and is much admired by her staff and by the company.  

When asked what makes Lorraine McClin-Olriege special, Runnette Ragin, an ILD Billing Analyst who works in same office as Lorraine said, “Every year Lorraine plans our Christmas party and goes way out on the decorations to make our office festive, even bringing her own decorations from home.  She has to make sure that the office is decorated from the front to the back. And for the food, each year she is always thinking of new things to add to the menu  and believe me when she gets her thinking cap on you better watch out because it’s going to knock you off your feet!”

But Kathy McQuade, Vice President of Operations for ILD Teleservices put it best when she said, ” Lorraine is such an important part of ILD Teleservices and her rapport with the state and federal agencies that regulated companies like ILD have to work closely with, is simply unmatched by anyone else in the industry.  Lorraine has been an asset since she started working with me over two decades ago.  All of us at ILD value Lorraine’s great efforts.”

 Thanks for your commitment and dedication to ILD, Lorraine.  A little more about Lorraine, including some fun facts and surprises:

1. How long have you worked at ILD?  22 years           
2. What positions have you had at ILD? Customer Service Manager, Regulatory Manager, Director – Client Compliance/Regulatory Complaints
3. What do you like most about your job and working for ILD?  I love the people that I work with.  We have a family relationship and care about each other.  I love working for ILD due to the strength and the strong foundation of the company.  ILD’s Executive team is very strong and personable and they make each and every employee feel that they are a part of ILD’s strength and growth.
4. What do you find most challenging?  Listening and reading all the negative comments about ILD, because with ILD’s name onthe phone bill, it get confusing for people to understand ILD is the payment processor and not the company originating the charges.  So it’s sometimes challenging to  respond to the agencies in a manner that will provide the best for all.
5. Do you have any hobbies?  Cooking and decorating
6. How many siblings do you have? None
7. Do you have any pets? No
8. Do you play an instrument or sing? No
9. Favorite song – Grateful by Hezekiah Walker
10.  Favorite movie – Any Tyler Perry Movie
11.  Favorite vacation spot – Macon, Georgia
12.  What did you want to be when you grew up? A Psychiatrist
13. Favorite time of the year and why – Christmas / It brings my family and my husband’s family together and we enjoy the time we spend together.
14.  Favorite sweet treat – Frozen fruit bars
15. Favorite childhood meal – Fried Chicken, collard greens, macaroni-n-cheese.
16.  Favorite childhood/past time memory – Tricking Mr. George (the driver) into taking me to the store every morning to buy candy and cookies before school.  I was not to have sweets but I would tell him my Daddy said to stop me by the store.  Of course, you can imagine the consequences I had to face when my parents found out.
17. Favorite thing to do on the weekend – Spend quality time with my husband and occasionally visiting my son in college.

Congratulations for being selected by your peers and management as ILD’s employee highlight, Lorraine!

Regulatory Manager by day and talented photographer by night - that’s our Marsha!  Marsha has been at ILD since 2003 and was hired to monitor all state and federal regulatory agency issues.  Her job is to ensure ILD complies with all the various telecommunications rules.  This month she’s been chosen for the employee spotlight not only because of the great job she does at ILD, but also for her extra-curricular activity as a photographer.

Marsha recently showed some of her photographs at North Florida Community College.  The most popular of her pieces depict bubbles in various “poses”.  The viewers enjoyed the bubbles as they tried to imagine how they were captured. “It was a ton of work but rewarding at the same time to see an accumulation of pretty things you were able to capture”, said Marsha about her exhibit.

1. How long have you worked at ILD?  Since January 2, 2003
2. What positions have you had at ILD?  Manager – Regulatory Compliance for the entire time!
3. What do you like most about your job and working for ILD?  The job is a perfect fit for me and my skills so it’s a job I really enjoy.  Plus, the people here are good people.
4. What do you find most challenging?  Explaining complicated regulatory issues in a way that makes sense to everyone else, especially if they aren’t familiar with regulatory perspectives.
5. Tell us about your art.  I started taking 35mm photos about the same time I started at ILD.  We lived in a wetland area and there was so much wonderful wildlife and scenery that I wanted to try to capture it all.  I got hooked and now that I have a digital camera the possibilities are endless.  What I try to do in my photos is to capture one aspect of every subject that is intriguing but that people may not see under normal circumstances, or to capture the image in a way that people may not have seen before.
6. How many siblings do you have? 3 brothers and 1 sister
7. Do you have any pets?  The neighbor’s dog thinks he’s mine.  I let him think so.
8. Do you play an instrument or sing?  I used to sing.
9. Favorite song: Imagine by Mercy Me
10. Favorite movie: Meet Joe Black
11. Hobbies: Photography, sewing (quilts mostly) & gardening.  I grow most of the flowers I photograph.
12. Favorite vacation spot:  Any oceanfront condo (especially if it’s on the 8^th floor at a private beach!)
13. What did you want to be when you grew up?  A flight attendant
14. Favorite time of the year and why:  Fall, because I love to watch the leaves “turn”, plus the weather is so beautiful and crisp.
15. Favorite sweet treat: My mom’s coffeecake
16. Favorite childhood meal: Tacos
17. Favorite childhood/past time memory:  Week-end trips to New Mexico’s lakes and rivers or taking in the beauty of the canyons in Los Alamos. 
18. Favorite thing to do on the weekend: Spend time with my family and work in my gardens.

1. What do you like most about your job and working for ILD? The people that I work with and the everyday challenges
2. What do you find most challenging? Keeping everyone happy
3.  Places you’ve lived? Floresville, Texas
4.  How many siblings do you have?  Two older brothers and one older sister
5.  Do you have any pets? Yes, a Chihuahua named Diego and a Rottweiler named Manu
6.  Do you play an instrument or sing? Don’t play an instrument and only sing in my car and shower
7.  Favorite song? Too many to list
8.  Favorite movie? Gladiator                                                           
9.  Hobbies: Fishing, camping and hanging out with the family
10.  Favorite vacation spot? Cozumel
11.  What did you want to be when you grew up? A Firefighter
12.  Favorite time of the year and why? Summer, family cook-outs, fishing and spending time out by the ocean
13.  Favorite sweet treat? Twix
14.  Favorite childhood meal? Fried Chicken
15.  Favorite childhood/past time memory? When I went to visit my brother who was in the Marines and was stationed at Camp Pendleton in San Diego California and then went to Disneyland
16.  Favorite thing to do on the weekend? Watch movies and fishing

Inc. magazine’s annual ranking of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the country was announced and ILD made it!  The Inc. 5000 is the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy — America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.  So, it’s exciting to announce that ILD Telecommunications earned a place on this prestigious 2009 Inc. 5000 list, celebrating the fastest-growing private companies in America. ILD Telecommunications ranked 4,675 nationwide, 232 in Florida, 16 in Northeast Florida.

Consider for a moment that according to statistics from the US Census, there are over 6 million employee businesses in the United States, and ILD Telecommunications came in at #4,675!   Outstanding!  Congratulations everyone at ILD for making this happen!  For more about the Inc. 5000 list, click here.  To see why ILD made the list, click here.

The participation by the ILD staff in the Shine in ’09 campaign was great. So good, that all of our offices won. Our San Antonio office wanted to celebrate by having a party at Dave and Busters.

There was great food, karaoke entertainment, and fun had by all. At the party Merced Aguilar (one of our lead agents) and Jennifer O’Connor (Workforce Supervisor, SA Office) were chosen to be the king and queen. They were voted on by their peers for engaging their co-workers and getting everyone in the spirit for he Shine in ’09 celebration. Their energy and karaoke skills solidified their spots as the King and Queen.

We recently launched a campaign to help refocus and revitalize our company environment for the upcoming year. Taking a look around we noticed things were a bit outdated – more than outdated if you count files laying around from more than a decade ago. So, we came up with a creative and productive project to renew ILD’s image. Our employees formed teams/ groups, a budget, and competed for prizes following these guidelines:

1 – Establish a Theme

· Express the depth of our team and our team’s commitment to our customers
· Demonstrate a professional and goal oriented environment
· Illustrate the professional successes of our company and each other
· Display common goals (charts and graphs) and publicly track progress towards those goals
· Motivate and inspire!

2 – Establish Teams and Rules

· Set a start and end date
· Create 4 teams across our 5 offices, based on business and location
· Each designated division will select a “Captain” who will then determine, based on that location’s needs, the specific goals (i.e., customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, organization)
· Committee meetings must be kept to a maximum of 2 one hour meetings per week and individual time spent on reorganizing should be at the discretion of the supervisor
· Each team must take before and after photos and provide to members who are excluded from the contest
· Upon conclusion of contest, the executive team will visit each office to judge improvements

3- Set an equal budget for each team

· The funds can be used for any improvements that the division/location would like to make (furniture, furnishings, framed charts, awards, etc.)

Because of the hard work and impressive efforts by ILD’s employees, the judges decided that all offices should win the prize of their choice. Over the course of the next week, we’ll show you some of the before and after shots of the offices and show you how each office celebrated, starting with ILD Teleservices’ customer service team in San Antonio.

We recently launched a campaign to help refocus and revitalize our company environment for the upcoming year.  Taking a look around we noticed things were a bit outdated – more than outdated if you count files laying around from more than a decade ago.  So, we came up with a creative and productive project to renew ILD’s image.  Our employees formed teams/ groups, a budget, and competed for prizes following these guidelines:

1 – Establish a Theme

· Express the depth of our team and our team’s commitment to our customers
· Demonstrate a professional and goal oriented environment
· Illustrate the professional successes of our company and each other
· Display common goals (charts and graphs) and publicly track progress towards those goals
· Motivate and inspire!

2 – Establish Teams and Rules

· Set a start and end date
· Create 4 teams across our 5 offices, based on business and location
· Each designated division will select a “Captain” who will then determine, based on that location’s needs, the specific goals (i.e., customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, organization)
· Committee meetings must be kept to a maximum of 2 one hour meetings per week and individual time spent on reorganizing should be at the discretion of the supervisor
· Each team must take before and after photos and provide to members who are excluded from the contest
· Upon conclusion of contest, the executive team will visit each office to judge improvements

3- Set an equal budget for each team

· The funds can be used for any improvements that the division/location would like to make (furniture, furnishings, framed charts, awards, etc.)

Because of the hard work and impressive efforts by ILD’s employees, the judges decided that all offices should win the prize of their choice.  Over the course of the next week, we’ll show you some of the before and after shots of the offices and show you how each office celebrated, starting with ILD Teleservices’ customer service team in San Antonio.