When talking about employees who are keeping the college up and running, we need to include Michelle Butts, business services PCard/Wex Card supervisor for CALS Business Operations (CBO).
Butts, who joined CALS in 2016, has kept the large CALS PCard community functioning smoothly before and during the pandemic.
“Michelle trained three new hires during the first month of working remotely with a mission of ensuring their success. Her dedication and work ethic, especially during the pandemic, has allowed operations to remain consistent for our CALS community,” Director of Business Services Tiffany Bryant said.
Michelle’s team has not skipped a beat.
Butts pivoted in March to change how she trains internal staff. Prior to the work from home orders, Butts was filling four vacant positions with each expected to start within the month. Developing a training plan for the new employees quickly became her top priority.
In response to COVID-19 there were several policy changes that impacted normal business processes. The biggest change, related to travel, required that Michelle work with her team to modify business processes in stride.
“Michelle has done extraordinary work managing her remote team of PCard processors during the pandemic,” said Assistant Dean for Business Operations Joyce Munro. “In our first week of fully remote work, Michelle embraced the new challenge of remotely managing her PCard team.
Her dedication and work ethic, especially during the pandemic, has allowed operations to remain consistent for our CALS community.
“Michelle’s team has not skipped a beat in their timely review of PCard transactions and approval of statements during this time,” Munro added. “Michelle’s ability to pivot her management approaches to a fully remote work environment has been instrumental in business continuity for our college’s business operations.”
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences holds one of the biggest, if not the biggest, PCard programs on campus. Michelle and her team continue to protect the college’s teaching, research, extension and international programs by helping cardholders successfully navigate policies and expenditure reporting.
Like all of us, Butts is staying home and wearing a mask when she goes out to help keep others well.
Thank you for all you do for everyone at CALS.
Have a coworker who is an essential employee and deserves recognition? Email cals_communications@ncsu.edu.