Project Manager of the Quarter – January 2018

It’s a New Year, and if you’re still thinking about resolutions, here’s one to consider: Be like Heather. Heather Banks is our first Project Manager of the Quarter for 2018, and with good reason. In the over four years she’s been at ModSquad, she’s managed numerous projects, all with the goal of making ModSquad feel like home to the Mods who work with her.

Heather first joined ModSquad in October 2013, after hearing about the opportunity from now-fellow employees with whom she played EverQuest II at the time. She’s since worked on projects across all our specialties — customer support, community, moderation, and social media — and her particular strengths lie in customer support and moderation.

For one of our clients, Heather manages a team of Mods who provide customer support for trading card collectors and users of their various mobile apps. Recently, Heather got a personal taste of the positive impact her team has on her client’s customers.

I was at a picnic with my husband’s family — one of those gatherings with the five million relatives you barely know. I was introduced to a far distant cousin and asked the standard questions, including what I did for a living. I mentioned I worked in customer service, and his eyes lit up. He told me all about a mobile app he had been playing; he had recently had issues with the app, but he raved about how the customer service folks were so nice and fixed things for him right away, and how he has so much respect for customer service folks. He was talking about our client. I couldn’t tell him I knew anything about it, of course, but it was amazing to see how much of a difference the team made for this one individual.

Heather’s Bachelor’s degree in sociology and Master’s in Psychology have helped her connect with the people on her teams.

I try to bring the human element to remote service. I make time to check in on everyone, and ask how they’re doing and what I can do to help them reach their goals. I try to be approachable and human, instead of just ‘the manager.’

Away from work, Heather keeps busy with a full house of family and pets: her husband Jeff, her kids Anja and Trevor, dogs Athena and Chewbacca, and Midnight the cat. She loves to hike and take in the sounds of nature, especially with her husky Athena, as well as play video games and watch her home team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, compete. She’s also a diehard fan of The Walking Dead and has the stories (and photos) to prove it.

Heather makes a positive impression on nearly everyone she comes in contact with here at ModSquad. Her advice for future Project Managers? Always strive to learn more.

“I have had the privilege of being Heather’s direct supervisor as well as colleague here at ModSquad for over three years.

“She has handled all aspects of project management. She understands deliverables and keeping key stakeholders informed of any changes or needs to timelines. She has delivered on timelines that were given with less than 48 hours notice and extremely challenging to meet with grace, efficiency, and calm under pressure. If I could clone her a hundred times over, I would and then selfishly keep them all. She is Wonder Woman!”
—Kelly Clendenning, Account Manager

“Whether you’re launching a moderation project, a community project or a customer support project, Heather can do it all. Need to launch with short notice on a weekend? Need a team of non-English Mods in every language imaginable? Heather has your back. She is reliable, hardworking, and goes above and beyond for ModSquad and her clients.

“Every Account Manager knows that when Heather is assigned to your project, the client is in good hands.”
—Jason Ferguson, Director of Client Services