I have enjoyed a wonderful career, encompassing many areas of business operations. I have worked for both large corporations, and small start-ups. Through it all, my success has come in utilizing my strongest skills: customer support and advocacy, assessing and mitigating risks, solving problems, strong and effective communication and collaboration.My university professors told me I should become a teacher. That never happened - or did it? In every position I’ve held, I have been a teacher – of my employees, my customers and my co-workers. There is an immense satisfaction and joy in looking at someone and seeing in their eyes that you have made a connection. Teaching is one way of providing excellent customer service.When I worked for VWR Scientific, I had the amazing opportunity to live and work in beautiful Puerto Rico (“the pearl of the Caribbean”), to get a new sales and distribution operation up and running. Yes, it helped that I am fluent in Spanish. I put procedures in place, trained everyone, (even in areas I had to learn myself, such as sales administration), became hazmat certified, and visited customers to install our EDI order entry programs. And, I became forever enamored of tostones and mofongo.As an adult, I took up horseback riding. I naively thought I would learn to ride in a short period of time. Years later, I am still learning what these magnificent horses can teach us – to be in the moment, to be focused and patient. These are all skills I try to employ every day in my work and in my life.