A Heart to Help Others in H&S’s Nancy DeSandre

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When Nancy DeSandre lost her job in 2013, she began looking for work in a new field.  She had extensive customer service experience from  past jobs in the restaurant field so that’s where she began her search.  “In April of 2013 I found an ad for H & S Protection Systems on the internet and applied.  The interview went well and I was offered the position of Customer Service and the rest is now history,” she smiled.

Prior to working for H & S, Nancy was in ministry for 11 years working with men and women who were transitioning from prison  back into the community. “My role was similar to that of a case worker.  Two years prior to  release we would begin the process of  education  and gaining job skills needed for employment outside prison.  I worked with many organizations in the communities of Waukesha and Milwaukee to aide these men and women with housing resources, clothing, food, employment and healthcare needs for when they returned to the community. Many of these organizations and churches are our customers today and I get to talk to some of the same people I worked with in my past position,” she said.

She was also instrumental in partnering with The Salvation Army of Wisconsin, Prison Fellowship and the Department of Corrections to begin the Prison Aftercare Network of Wisconsin (PAN) which is still in existence to aide in the transition for ex-offenders (called “returning citizens”) from prison back to the communities they live in after release. “We trained hundreds of volunteers to mentor these men and women upon release and trained churches how to work with sex offenders who wanted to attend church services” Nancy said.

For H&S, Nancy is the service coordinator out of the Pewaukee, WI office, and her main role is to work with customers who need service and schedule these service issues.  “It involves troubleshooting with customers over the phone to diagnose the issue for the service tech to repair.  I also order all parts for upcoming install jobs as well as stock and service repair parts.  I organize and file paperwork and work to add and organize information in our database to make it more efficient for sales and service.  My favorite part of my job is to train customers on use of their software and phone apps for their new alarm or access systems,” she added.

As a single woman, “who is available to meet someone” Nancy chuckles, “I have four children and two grandchildren.”

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DeSandre is involved in many adventurous activities and hobbies.  “If it happens outside you will most likely find me.  I do stairclimbing and train on hills and stairs at the lakefront two days a week year round (yes at -18 wind chills).  I also love cycling — when the snow is gone I am gone.”

 

She recently completed her second year for the Great Cycle Challenge to raise money for children’s cancer.  “This year I rode 300 miles for the month of June. I added whitewater rafting, indoor rock climbing and now backpack camping in a hammock.  This winter I will learn how to survive winter camping. I love winter and why not take advantage of 12 months of camping instead of just 6?”

 

“I talk about H&S Protection to many people and carry a card so I can leave it when I am out.  I let them know that we are local and you will know your rep and your service tech  We pride ourselves on being fast and efficient.  And we guarantee  our work. Can you tell I like where I work?,” she laughed.

(Editor’s note: Nancy is behind the guy in green in the photo below.)

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H&S Sales Team Transitions as Two Retire

Several weeks back, two of our longer tenured H&S employees retiredjim rick– Jim Kurtz and Rick Janowski. Both worked in sales out of our Pewaukee, WI office. We were sad to see them go. But everyone reaches a stage where there’s a time to take the next step in life.

We appreciate the great years of service they gave us and our clients in southeastern Wisconsin. Over the years, they built relationships that can’t be duplicated. We’re proud to have had them as part of our team.

 

Every business goes through certain ebbs and flows, and losing two experienced long-term employees is always a challenge. We knew the time would come for Jim and Rick to hang up their spikes, and we’ve prepared for an orderly transition through the course of this year and into next. Their accounts will be shifted over, and other members of our team will smoothly assume their duties. If you are a customer, we trust these account changes will be seamless for you.

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In Pewaukee, our sales staff includes Danny Greco, Dave Kwasinski and Dan Revoy. You may reach any of them at our 262.574.7777 number. Danny has been with us for10 years, and in addition to sales has also worked as a lead technician. He handles many bigger projects for us, and is a trusted advisor. Dave has been with us close to two years and has rapidly picked up the security business model. He is excellent at analyzing a project thoroughly and giving accurate quotes to our residential and commercial customers.  In addition to his regular duties, Dave has already assumed some leadership responsibilities with our newer sales staff members.

Dan started with us earlier this year but has been in the security industry for several years. Hailing from Kenosha, he knows southeast Wisconsin like the back of his hand, and with his experience in our industry, he too is highly capable of providing solutions to fit your security needs.

 

We will continue to grow and evolve our business model and our employees in the years ahead. It’s with mixed emotions that we watch Jim and Rick take that next stop in their lives — happy to see them reach retirement and sad for all the memories and good times that come to an end at some point. We will continue to build our business and people to serve all our customers in a way that would make them proud.