Posts Tagged ‘MVP’

eHarbor names final MVPs of 2009

Friday, December 4th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

We’ve had quite a few MVPs in 2009. MVPs are eHarbor, Inc. employees who go above and beyond their normal job requirements to accomplish something extraordinary. This month, eHarbor’s leaders selected winners for both November and December in preparation for the big announcement on December 10.

On December 10, at the Hawaiian Christmas Party in the Provo City Library, we’ll find out who is the MVP for the whole year. They’ll select someone from all of the MVPs who’ve been named in 2009. But that’s the topic of a whole other blog entry. For now, I’ll talk about November’s and December’s MVPs.

We had one winner for November and two for December. Designer James Gentry is the November MVP, and Developer Matt Walker and Customer-Support Representative David Smith are the December MVPs.

I can’t take credit for writing all of these MVP descriptions. I wrote the one on David while my coworkers Alyssa Udall and Britnee Nguyen wrote the spotlights on Matt and James, respectively. Britnee was actually last month’s MVP. You can read about her in my blog entry, “eHarbor MVP creates 6-month PR plan.”

On with the MVPs!

James Gentry
eHarbor, Inc. MVP James GentryWith hard work and dedication, James has really made an impression on his coworkers and earned the November MVP! Recent changes to the Design team opened up a position for a design manager, which James was unanimously appointed to.

Coworkers say that James “stepped in greatly” with his new promotion and continues to “go above and beyond and is always available to help and give his advice.” This new position enables him to “make sure customers are happy and that our Design team stays happy with their work,” his team leader said.

He loves recording and mixing music, eating peanut butter M&Ms, tacos, watching the shows 30 Rock and Community, and his favorite color is #669900… green.

Matt Walker
eHarbor, Inc. MVP Matt WalkerMatt’s Web-development skills have been valuable to eHarbor for the last three years he’s worked here. Matt’s the recipient, along with David, of the December MVP award for his combination of working hard behind the scenes and being a nice guy.

With the other developers, he’s been keeping things running smoothly throughout the company. He’s also a friendly guy who assists new coworkers around the office. “Matt always does such great work and is always so nice and pleasant to work with!” said one of his nominations.

Matt enjoys programming, which is a good thing since it’s his job, but he also likes to read, write and play video games. His favorite movie is Dead Poets Society and his favorite dessert is chocolate velvet. You can catch him watching Mythbusters and Doctor Who on TV or eating sushi at Sakura.

David Smith
eHarbor, Inc. MVP David SmithDavid works hard to give top-quality customer service to everyone who calls in. He goes the extra mile in helping customers by answering people’s questions thoughtfully and following up to make sure they are satisfied with their custom Internet-marketing solutions. Well done, Dave!

His favorite candy is Reese’s Pieces and his favorite food is gum. Interesting. Like James, his favorite color is green… forest green. For fun, he enjoys working on cars and playing sports, as well as listening to bands like Weezer, Pearl Jam and Saves the Day. His favorite movies are V for Vendetta and Gladiator, and his favorite TV show is It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

eHarbor MVP creates 6-month PR plan

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

Content writer Britnee Nguyen (pronounced “when”) was selected as the MVP at eHarbor, Inc. at the Halloween party we hosted on October 30. You can read more about that party in my blog entry, “The most colorful pie chart you’ve ever seen.”

eHarbor MVP Britnee Nguyen

Britnee is extraordinary, even for an MVP. Take a look at her accomplishments. Within 90 days of joining eHarbor, Britnee has:

- Helped organize the Submit Solution website launch party.

- Obtained cool Submit Solution “S” stickers for employees to stick around the office.

- Gotten eHarbor CEO and founder Oliver Bigler into the Utah Valley BusinessQ as one of the 10 coolest entrepreneurs in Utah Valley. That will appear in an upcoming issue. I’ll hopefully keep you posted on when it comes out.

- Designed a six-month public-relations plan for Magellan Commerce.

And those are just her four most visible accomplishments. Yeah, amazing. When she’s not performing superhuman feats around the office, she likes to sit outside on a warm day with a Dan Brown book. You can find her enjoying enchiladas or an ice cream cone at the Chunga’s restaurant in Provo.

She also enjoys reading, writing (Does anyone ever like doing one but not the other?), bike riding and playing sports like volleyball. Her favorite color is pink and her favorite TV show is Scrubs. Her favorite movies include The Guardian, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Pride and Prejudice (2005).

You can read many of Britnee’s superb blog entries on the Submit Solution Internet marketing blogs. Keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for updates on our company, and check out Submit Solution’s four blogs for the latest information on free search engine submissions and other topics, like Web design and social media.

Merchant-service expert wins eHarbor MVP

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

It’s time to spotlight this month’s eHarbor, Inc. MVP. This month it is Jeni Lavea, an eHarbor employee who took on an amazing amount of work with our Merchant Services unit. Remember my blog entry on the new Magellan Commerce merchant services? It’s a lot like that.

eHarbor MVP Jeni Lavea

Most of the content in this blog entry was actually written by Alyssa Udall, who writes lots of great blog entries on the Submit Solution Internet marketing blogs. We included most of this in our monthly company newsletter, which we distribute to our employees at the start of the month. I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing it here, though.

When we asked people around the office, “If you had to describe Jeni in one sentence, what would you say?” we received one response that stood out from the rest: “Jeni is the girl who loves you on your worst day; she works hard and is determined to do everything the best she can!”

Anyone can see that Jeni is very friendly toward everyone and is always cheerful. She always works hard and she never complains.

Originally from Temecula, Calif., Jeni now lives in Provo, Utah. She loves spending time with friends and family. Jeni enjoys Tim Burton movies, Mexican food, Disneyland and reading books like Pride and Prejudice and the Twilight series.

Plus, her favorite holiday is Halloween. I’ll talk more about our exciting Halloween Party in my next blog entry on Friday. Be sure to stay tuned!

This is the fourth time I’ve spotlighted an MVP in the eHarbor Blog. You can read about last month’s winner, Jeff Ashby, in my blog entry, “ThemeFury.com creator named eHarbor MVP.” I’ll keep showing off our MVPs accomplishments in future blog entries.

ThemeFury.com creator named eHarbor MVP

Monday, September 7th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

Jeff Ashby, an SEO technician at eHarbor Inc., is the latest employee to be named the company’s Most Valuable Player. He received this honor at our monthly company meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2009.

In addition to his normal responsibility of providing search engine optimization for our clients, Jeff created a new website called Theme Fury, which offers more than a hundred free Wordpress themes. These themes help Wordpress blog owners stand out with a creative design instead of using a standard format.

Theme Fury logo

Theme Fury already offers themes for websites in a number of categories:

- Animal

eHarbor MVP Jeff Ashby- Artistic

- Business

- Car

- Craft

- Education

- Electronics

- Family

- Health

- Music

- Nature

- Personal

- Sports

Be sure to visit Theme Fury’s installation page to find out how to install your favorite theme to your blog.

When Jeff’s not doing SEO or computer programming, he enjoys collecting Pez dispensers and watching Filipino movies. His favorite restaurants are Red Robin and Olive Garden, and he likes to watch shows like “Seinfeld” and “Arrested Development.”

This is the third time I’ve spotlighted an MVP in the eHarbor Blog. You can read about last month’s winner, Derek Anderson, in my blog entry, “eHarbor MVP gives great customer care.” We have many great employees to spotlight. I’ll keep you posted on them at the start of each month.

The photo of Jeff Ashby is from the blog post “Halloween Pictures” in the Ashblog, his personal blog. The Theme Fury logo is the copyright of Jeff Ashby and Theme Fury.

eHarbor softball rides again

Monday, August 10th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

I love keeping promises. In my earlier blog entry, “eHarbor, Inc. softball ends season in good form,” I said, “[eHarbor’s softball team] might play again in the fall, so I’ll keep you posted if we do.” Guess what. We are playing softball again, and I get to keep you informed on how we do again.

eHarbor softball players

The eHarbor softball team, which we affectionately call the eHarbarians, ended its spring season with their best record ever, 6 wins and 4 losses. We then made it two games into the playoffs before being eliminated. It was a fun rollercoaster.

For our first game of the summer/fall season, we played a team sponsored by a local Hogi Yogi restaurant. Ironically, Hogi Yogi provided the food for our company-wide meeting earlier this month where the July MVP was announced. Funny. Anyway, our team played on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at a new field in Orem, Utah, instead of Provo.

And we won!

That’s right, we fought hard and brought home a 9-8 victory. Hopefully we’ll have many more victories to report as the new season progresses. Be sure to keep coming back to the eHarbor Blog for updates on our company, as well as helpful tips on Internet marketing and ecommerce.

eHarbor MVP gives great customer care

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

Derek Anderson, a customer-service representative at eHarbor, Inc., was named eHarbor’s Most Valuable Player at our monthly company-wide meeting on Monday, August 3, 2009.

eHarbor MVP: Derek AndersonSince coming to eHarbor three months ago, Derek has worked tirelessly to give our clients excellent support when they call in with questions. In fact, in July he set the record for taking the most calls in a single day: more than 150. Amazing. Customer service is important at eHarbor and its subsidiaries. I discussed how essential it is to take care of ecommerce customers in my blog entry, “Angry ecommerce customers fight back on Twitter.” Good customer care can make the difference between success and failure in any industry, but particularly online.

Returning to Derek, he is quite competitive, and not just in his work. He enjoys a good sporting event with coworkers and other friends. And he usually wins. Congratulations on this award, Derek!

This is the second time I’ve spotlighted the eHarbor MVP. You might remember last month’s winner, Alisha Walton. You can read about her remarkable story in my blog entry, “eHarbor June MVP returns to work after breaking her neck.” We have many great employees to spotlight. I’ll keep you posted on them at the start of each month.

eHarbor June MVP returns to work after breaking her neck

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

By Robert Lockard

Each month, eHarbor, Inc. singles out one of its employees as the Most Valuable Player or employee of the month. They announce the winner at a company lunch on the first business day of each month. The MVP is someone who has done extraordinary work, going above and beyond his or her duties to help the company succeed. On July 1, Alisha Walton was named MVP for her exceptional actions in June.

eHarbor June MVP: Alisha Walton

It takes an amazing kind of person to come back to work so soon after enduring a terrible car collision, a month-long hospital stay and several surgeries. Alisha is definitely an amazing person.

She was riding a motorcycle in May when a car came and hit her at full speed, knocking her to the ground and breaking her neck. Thankfully, Alisha’s neck injury did not paralyze her. She spent a month in the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. You can read a quote from her about her experience in a Daily Herald article, entitled “UVRMC trauma team: Life in the balance.”

Six days after her June 3 release from the hospital, Alisha returned to work while still wearing her halo and being confined to a wheelchair. Amazingly, she got right back into her job, despite the pain and struggle she faced. She has a great sense of humor about her situation. For instance, she said her hobbies include photography, reading, surfing and now wheelchair racing. Her spirit is truly indomitable.

I’ll keep you updated on MVP winners each month from now on. We have quite a few exceptional workers at eHarbor, so it will be great to give them the recognition they deserve. By the way, I was also named the MVP for June along with Alisha, but I prefer not to call attention to myself. It’s nice to be noticed for my hard work on the blog and other projects, though.

Be sure to enjoy our great blog posts on ecommerce and search engines next week in the eHarbor Blog!