145 employees from the Finance and Budget, Service Center of Excellence and Finance and Operations executive support teams attended the virtual Five Star Employee Recognition Awards on Feb. 19, 2021. Five employees were presented with the All Star Award, which recognizes employees for their service excellence, innovation and continuous improvement, teamwork, a healthy and high-performance culture and prudent management and leadership.
The eight-member committee, representing five areas in the division, were faced with the challenge of creating a meaningful and fun online event. The entire division contributed by submitting team pictures from throughout the year, which provided a welcome touch of camaraderie to the event. Nathan Knuffman, Interim Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations, Steve Agostini, Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Budget, Carly Perin, Interim Executive Director for the Service Center of Excellence, and Beau Jimmerson, Executive Director for Procurement and Strategic Operations presented the five winners with their awards and spoke to the attendees about their important work for the University. The event also included lively videos of cheering Tar Heels, a message from Rameses, trivia breaks and an innovative online raffle. Feedback after the event confirmed that the employees had a good time and liked the shorter format, but missed the delicious food from years past!
Honorees
Alfred Jeter, Logistics Manager
Surplus Property
“(Al) has managed the COVID19 PPE/CPE merchandise and ensured that all the ServiceNow orders are fulfilled on time. He has been working on-site since COVID-19 started and never missed a day. His excellent performance and professionalism helped the campus be safe.”
Ammar Yameen, Director, eProcurement and Materials Management
eProcurement and Materials Management
“Ammar partnered with Purchasing Services, ITS and the EOC to develop and test a process that enabled campus CPE coordinators with the ability to submit orders for CPE which were then routed to Ammar’s Logistics team for order fulfillment and delivery. … Without Ammar’s efforts, the University’s academic and research missions would not have been able to function safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Braden Leonard, Technology Support Analyst
SCE Service Center for Excellence, IT
“Braden continually looks for repetitive problems and asks ‘how can I reduce the steps to fix this or eliminate the problem completely?’ Braden … was instrumental in replacing a system that cost thousands of dollars each year with a system that was already licensed by the University: in essence saving F&O thousands of dollars each year.”
Laurie Farrar, Financial and Budget Analyst
SCE Service Center for Excellence, Finance
“Laurie … provided amazingly prudent financial management of $29 million in an extremely dynamic project portfolio with complicated budgets … and stepped up in a leadership capacity to address budgeting/fiscal issues not only in numerous units across UNC-Chapel Hill but also numerous units across 13 other UNC campuses. I honestly would not have had the success of this extremely critical, time-sensitive and high-profile project without Laurie Farrar.”
Lynn Barello, Purchasing Agent
Purchasing Services
“(Lynn’s) efforts allowed the Collaboratory to maximize their funding and provided urgently needed equipment to individuals on the front lines of COVID-19 vaccination. Her efforts were recognized by the Chancellor, VC for Finance, and head of the Collaboratory. This is just one example of the fiscal stewardship and outstanding customer service that Lynn provides to the campus community every day.”