Welcome to our Quarterly Employee Spotlight series!
Every employee at Election Systems & Software (ES&S) is a part of what makes our company continue to succeed within the election industry. In this edition of our Employee Spotlight, we take a look into a day-in-the-life of ES&S Regional Account Manager, Heather Scott.
Let’s first get to know Heather and learn more about her background…
Have you always worked in elections?
No, I originally went to school for Music at Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio, I was going to be a Music Therapist. After I graduated college, I ended up going into advertising and marketing, then eventually switched to sales.
What made you choose ES&S, and what has made you stay?
I was looking to switch jobs when a friend, Linda Bennett [ES&S VP of Account Management East], reached out to me about an opening at ES&S. When I look for a position, I look for three things: make a good living to support my pets in the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to, have a job where I am always learning and to provide a service for people. At ES&S, my love for learning is fueled by getting to know the ins and outs of our solutions and supporting states with their different ways of running elections. I have been with ES&S for 13 years, and I am constantly learning something new every day. I like working with election officials and providing them support.
You mentioned your pets, what do you do when work takes you on the road?
If it’s a short trip, I make arrangements for care at home. If it’s longer, I will take them all with me. I have a reputation at ES&S for traveling with my pets and staying in pet-friendly hotels. My dog loves to travel with me, so when I start packing up my car my dog will go sit in the front seat and look at me like “I can see you’re leaving, I’m going with you.” The cats on the other hand have been a journey. It took a while for them to adjust to the traveling, but now they mostly sleep the whole car ride. I will never forget when I was in Ohio, and my cats saw their first snow, their eyes were huge, and it was like they thought they were in the apocalypse.
Next, we wanted to learn more about Heather and her career at ES&S.
As an Account Manager, you have a lot going on. Can you tell us about the different tasks you encounter on a day-to-day basis?
My day is very customer oriented. I look at things from their [the customer’s] point of view and bring that perspective to ES&S headquarters. I assist with customer support, as well as programming and training – every day is different based on what the customer needs.
There is a lot of planning too. We have daily calls with management to ensure that we are staying on top of all customer activity and addressing things in a timely manner. I love the fast pace and ever-changing environment the industry brings.
Election security is very much top of mind for everyone. How have you seen security evolve within the election industry?
We’re continuing to incorporate security in our products, procedures and processes. We do this to ensure our customers’ elections are secure. We have always had secure products, but I can see the reality of a solution deployed in the field and bring feedback to our developers.
You mentioned you work a lot with customers, how do you ensure you’re always there to help?
Once we have a county installed with our system, we provide ongoing support. Whether it’s going on site for coding support or doing preventative maintenance – we’re there. I’m always hearing from ES&S customers that the attention and service our company provides is unmatched. We have the resources to ensure we’re giving our full attention and our culture is very customer-satisfaction focused.