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We’re recognizing some of our administrative professionals this month in recognition of the upcoming Administrative Professionals Day on April 26. This week: Rhea Hasson.

Rhea works as executive assistant in the Business Innovation Group (BIG). She has been with National Life for almost three years and joined the BIG team when Achim Schwetlick joined the company in October 2016. In this piece, Achim describes his experience of working with Rhea:

How we work together:

Rhea and I work together as partners and she is a direct contributor to our BIG leadership team.

The most critical part of Rhea’s role is to keep the team and myself focused on the strategic priorities for BIG. To that effect, Rhea prepares the weekly leadership team meeting, sets the agenda, and acts as the navigator in the meetings. Rhea proactively sets up required follow-up meetings, checks in on action items, and holds each of us accountable to our commitments.

In addition to traditional administrative support, Rhea spends a lot of time organizing meetings and events for the broader BIG group e.g., our quarterly BIG meeting.

What I value most about Rhea:

Rhea is by far the most organized individual I have had the privilege of working with throughout my professional career. She constantly looks ahead, anticipates what will or could happen, and plans accordingly. Nothing would ever fall through the cracks…

Rhea thrives on putting her creativity to work. She is the creative mind behind borrowing the logo of a local ice cream company as the symbol for our transformation journey from a traditional insurance carrier to a fast-moving consumer goods company.

In the BIG leadership team meetings, Rhea is the participant with the highest score on Steadiness in her DISC profile. This is a tremendous benefit to the team as Rhea often points out the emotional or relational impact decisions or alternatives can have on others.

Some fun facts about Rhea:

Rhea enjoys traveling and experiencing new cultures: Before she started working at National Life, she spent three months in Belize volunteering at a school and living like a local.

Rhea has never eaten fish before (i.e. in her life!!).

On top of Rhea’s bucket list: riding in a hot air balloon, preferably in an exotic location, like South Africa.