Among AMN’s winners of the 2019 Values In Practice (VIP) Award winners are two B.E. Smith employees who have made great contributions across the organization: Laura DeVera and Chase Tryon.

Each year, AMN gives its VIP awards to 24 individuals across all brands, acknowledging employees who exemplify AMN’s six core values: Continuous Improvement, Customer Focus, Innovation, Passion, Respect, and Trust. Both Laura and Chase are well-deserving of representing B.E. Smith with this honor – here is how they earned their respective awards.

Laura DeVera, Senior Accountant – Respect 

As Senior Accountant, DeVera has spent her four years at B.E. Smith interacting with a variety of people across the organization, and improving the process and efficiency of Permanent Search billings. She also does a majority of month-end activities, where she has the opportunity to work with a handful of AMN accounting and finance individuals. Jake Meyer, B.E. Smith Finance Manager, is grateful for DeVera’s drive and professionalism, where she has proven to be reliable fixture of the Finance Department.

“Laura is a fantastic employee and coworker,” Meyer said. “She doesn’t get a lot of public recognition, but I’ve never heard a single negative comment regarding Laura in her entire time here from any department. Coworkers speak incredibly highly of her.”

Notably, DeVera has improved the process of completing each month-end accruals/adjustments checklist from 10 business days to now three days. She has also made a number of manual edits on invoices for B.E. Smith’s Project Recruitment searches, ensuring that clients receive fewer, less complicated invoices. To do this, she set up a meeting with Search SVPs and a Client Organization representative to ensure everyone was working toward the same goal.

Outside of her role, DeVera has been an Ethics Champion for the last three years and has served on the Community Partner Program. She has also run the holiday toy drive for Children’s Mercy Hospital at B.E. Smith over the past two years. In spring of 2019, DeVera co-organized and co-managed B.E. Smith’s participation in KC Corporate Challenge. Her willingness to contribute to so many areas in the company has earned her respect from all levels of the organization.   

“I am extremely honored and thankful for this award,” DeVera said. “I feel like finance can sometimes fly under the radar, so it was exciting to even be recognized, let alone win. I am truly grateful to work with the people I get to work with every day and I love to give a helping hand.”

Chase Tryon, Talent Acquisition Coordinator – Innovation

Tryon was promoted to Talent Acquisition Coordinator in May 2018, where he partners with Talent Coordinators, Directors, and VPs on their searches, assisting in candidate generation. In this role, he has continuously thought of ways to improve processes for himself and colleagues alike.

Feeling empowered to speak up to senior leaders who are open to fresh perspectives, Tryon volunteered to spearhead B.E. Smith’s internal IDEA (Innovation and Development Execution Alliance) team. This peer-run group is dedicated to bringing new ideas to life while exploring and delivering on innovations that affect the employees of B.E. Smith. The IDEA team’s successes include a month-long wellness initiative throughout the organization, an online compact state map available to candidates, and implementing ways to keep remote employees engaged.

Not only did the IDEA team give Tryon an outlet for innovation, but it helped give him and others a voice when trying to implement change. Lisa Carr, B.E. Smith Senior VP of Talent Strategies, consistently hears positive feedback from other colleagues about Tryon’s contributions

“Chase is an extremely valuable member of the BE Smith team,” Carr said. “He can be counted on to deliver results above expectations and his team thoroughly enjoys working with him. He never hesitates to offer to help.

Last year, Tryon became Yellow Belt Certified and helped the organization with a candidate study, Voice of the Customer, to create a process improvement project pipeline that would support increasing Interim retention after assignments. Chase developed post-assignment touchpoints for the candidates, which have helped increase rebook rates. He has also participated in the creation of the LEAD Advisory Service product, where he worked with senior leaders to develop a new succession plan offering for B.E. Smith.

“I’m very surprised,” Tryon said after learning of the AMN award. “I know many other individuals here who are also innovative, but to know that I can have an impact is heartening.

B.E. Smith employees Jenny Wright and Gail Wurtz were also nominated for AMN’s VIP awards.

Congratulations to these exceptional employees and their continuous commitment to helping not only clients and candidates, but their team members and the organization as a whole.