Spotlight on Staff | Lorrie Gagné, Senior VP of Operations

Lorrie Gagné, Senior Vice President of Operations, has been with WHA for over 23 years. She effortlessly leads and inspires others on a daily basis. Outside of the office you can find Lorrie and her husband, John, cheering on their favorite team the Angels. Recently I sat down with Lorrie for a few minutes to talk about her life and career.

Tell us about your journey that brought you to WHA?

I worked as a sales rep for Universal Reprographics; Bill and Roger Shleppey were my clients. I always enjoyed coming into Shleppey Hezmalhalch Associates, the precursor to WHA. When I left Universal Reprographics, Bill offered me a job in Marketing but I had already accepted a position with another company. I referred Deborah Portuguez to Bill and Deborah ended up taking the Marketing position. Another of my clients, Bonnie Hall, needed a job and I referred her to Bill; Bonnie ended up being the Office Manager at WHA.  One day Bonnie called me and said the receptionist had quit; could I come in and answer the phone for a few days? I had left the print company by then and had started a gift basket company working out of my house. My girls were 4 and 5 at the time. I said sure but had only planned to work for a couple of weeks. Before the two weeks were up, Bill asked me if I wanted to stay on and be his assistant. Before I knew it, I was working full-time and shortly thereafter was promoted to Operations and then Associate.

What is your favorite thing about WHA?

I love the fast paced environment and the fact that Bill gives all of us an opportunity to strive, move forward and attain our goals. He has vision and is not afraid of creating new positions for talented people. When I started, he created a position for me and allowed me the space to grow. I have watched this happen over and over again for the past 23 years that I have been with WHA, amazing, talented people have come onboard, and grown and made a huge success.

As Senior VP of Operations what are some of the tasks you perform?

Anything having to do with the day-to-day business side of the firm…..contract preparation, contract negotiations, collections, legal matters for the firm, risk management, human resources, recruiting (one of my favorite things to do!), team manpower management, projections for new work, interface with the Admin, IT, Facilities Teams and such.

What do you look for when you interview new employees?

Enthusiasm! People that have a passion for planning/architecture/art/graphics, people who are truly creative and possess talent, can draw, and bottom line want to work for WHA!

What was the firm like 23 years ago and what are some of the significant changes?

This will make you laugh…when I started, we did not have voicemail or email. We took messages on pink slips of paper! We prepared all the budgets for contracts with a pencil and calculated all of the fees by hand. We announced phone calls over an intercom! We did not have a database! We used the fax machine to send correspondence and contracts to our clients! There were about 30 of us and we just got things done. We had just started our Color and Materials department. Many of our core senior talent was hired during that period, Fernando Laullon, Dinna Mize, Bob Wilhelm, Don White, Donna Aldrich, Kim Spears, Mike Cantrell, Mohsen Heidari, Robert Lee, and Daniela Mocan.

Do you have any favorite moments, achievements or accomplishments that are particularly memorable or rewarding?

I am always proud of WHA and its accomplishments – so many talented staff members, many, many awards won because of the hard work and dedication of the staff and the fantastic relationships we have with our Clients.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to spend time in my garden – I like to grow different varieties of flowers. I enjoy art and photography and have been studying art history at Cal State Fullerton. My girls are grown and my oldest daughter is engaged so wedding planning is on the agenda! My husband John and I just celebrated 30 years of marriage…I am proud of that! My family keeps me busy and I love playing with my labs, Howard and Suzy Q!