Katie Bennie uses positivity and reassurance to coach team members, encouraging them to reach outside their comfort zones.

Relationships at Rise and beyond are important to Katie, and her willingness to build bridges
allows Katie to tackle challenging situations collaboratively with her teams. She believes everyone has the capacity for career growth and supports them through the process.

Her creativity has contributed to great success throughout the COVID-19 pandemic as she and her team explored technology to create remote services activities. They also connected with persons served to learn about people’s interests.

Bennie created an “on-call” list for those unable to return to services due to staffing shortages. When a person served cannot attend remote services, she turns to the on-call list, offering the opportunity to someone who can attend. Whether it’s billing, licensing, policies or technology, as a Rise leader, Katie embraces the challenges Rise faces each day with a positive outlook.

 

Michele Morris is the embodiment of a person-centered leader. She creates a team atmosphere by focusing on the skills and abilities of those she serves. This allows people to confidently own their tasks and take satisfaction in their accomplishments.

She also works hard to build an inclusive environment by seeking input on processes and
procedures. She inspires production teams to do high quality work, which contributes to high rates of customer satisfaction.

Morris is always striving to work smart and has a knack for
understanding the big picture when creating work site plans. A genuinely compassionate leader, she prioritizes people Rise serves and works hard to support them.

 

Ross Wangsteen’s ability to recognize people’s strengths has allowed him to build a top-notch team that values encouragement, communication and positive working relationships.

Having recently been an employment consultant, he has strong foundational knowledge of his teams, which allows him coach team members and connect well with community and business partners, case managers, counselors and social workers.

His knowledge has been an asset during training and development efforts. And his willingness to take on projects has allowed for new training and tracking tools contributing to more organized tracking and documentation systems.

Wangsteen leads by example. He puts people at ease and listens to their concerns. He is polite, clear, consistent and collaborative. He is known for his impressive follow-up skills, which including answering every call, every text and email.