Denise Harrison Email and Phone Number

In this role, I support the General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Development as well as the Senior Director of Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability in addition to their team members. I coordinate the Procure to Pay function for my team and oversee the process from requisition to payment on dozens of purchase orders and millions of dollars in payments. I create new vendors and resolve accounting and purchasing discrepancies not only for my team but for other teams in the organization as well. Beyond the procure to pay responsibilities, I am an active Events Committee member. I am involved with selecting entertainment and food vendors for multiple events throughout the year. When the team leaders travel, I create and submit their expense reports. I help with meeting management and travel arrangements, though the executives on the team manage their own calendars. I've scheduled company-wide training. I provide reception relief and overall building support. I also supervise the employee kitchen, making sure it is well-stocked with a variety of coffees and teas throughout the days we work in the office. I distribute mail and interact with all levels of the organization. I'm a soup-to-nuts type of assistant. I can stock the kitchen, clean the microwave and interact with the leadership team. No job is too small or too lofty.

Working as a Special Ed Program Assistant is demanding and rewarding work. Flexibility is necessary as you'll never know what awaits you from day to day. Compassion and sacrifice are necessary as well, not to mention the capacity to forgive and carry on despite trying circumstances. Experience in stand up comedy is recommended, as I never know when I may have to employ improv skills to draw the attention of a classroom of children to me and away from a public display of behaviors best kept private. An element of boldness and courage is necessary, too, as children say the darndest things, as do grown children (parents and colleagues alike). Not for the faint of heart, for sure!

Palatine Emergency Management is an all volunteer force dedicated to preserving the safety of all people. Trained to respond to disasters, we supplement the village's first responders at special events with traffic control, perimeter protection, fire rehab and more. Certified to "Train the Trainer" and teach FEMA courses within the state of Illinois.

Assistant to Chief Officers and Senior Management in the Compliance and Corporate Risk areas for a Fortune 300 financial services organization. Increased efficiency of arranging regulatory meetings through standardizing the process with key stakeholders; response rate reduced from four days to four hours. Onboarded 40 employees over 16 months as Model Risk area expanded to 50+ resources. Improved collaboration and morale by providing insight and instruction to internal and external clients on systems, policies and culture.

Services were retained by leading financial services company to support Senior Vice President of Human Resources and his directors with calendar management, provide HR transaction support, and manage office supply inventory. Pulled, recorded and prepared employee hard copy files to go to external storage for retention purposes. Managed strictly confidential information on all US employees, including salaries, merit increases, performance reviews and improvement plans, attendance and promotions. Converted to employee as Executive Assistant at contract end.

Highly diversified financial services provider based in North America with assets of $589 B and employee base of 46,000 retained services to ease officers’ burdens by coordinating live and virtual conferences as the provider successfully redesigned its e-banking strategy while merging and acquiring other institutions. Managed meetings and calendars, arranged travel, reported expenses and other duties as assigned by bank officers at multiple locations.

Contributed to the establishment of Astellas in Latin America through supporting the Vice President of Latin America and his team as they launched Astellas Brasil and increased presence throughout South, Central and North America. Arranged international travel, bridged the gap between ex-pats and HR with mobility transactions (relocation expenses, visa documents). Translated the occasional document from Spanish to English.

As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric offers integrated energy solutions across multiple market segments. Successfully supported a high performance vice president and his global team of business development directors and managers.Worked with minimal supervision as team traveled nearly 100%. Arranged all aspects of international and domestic travel and answered team calls 24/7 to resolve travel challenges. Converted from contractor to employee inside of three weeks. Traveled domestically once a month to participate in and support team meetings.