Employee Spotlight: Timothy & Aundrea De Vore

This month, we have a duo Employee Spotlight on Mr. & Mrs. Timothy & Aundrea De Vore!

Tim & Aundi are recent additions to the CORECHEM team but are already making a positive impact. In fact, if you are a customer, there is a good chance Aundrea has already taken your order, arranged your freight, or helped you on the phone. All of us at CORECHEM appreciate this outgoing & friendly couple and their enthusiasm for getting involved and making things happen!

We asked Aundrea to tell us about her role at CORECHEM, as well as a little about herself:

“I joined the CORECHEM team as Customer Service Representative on September 10, 2018. Just three months later, I became our Customer Service Manager. While the opportunity at CORECHEM has been new and exciting thus far, it has also definitely been an adjustment for me.

The most important part of this job is getting to meet our customers and assisting them with any needs they may have. Having been here for several months now, I can say that I have truly enjoyed this, and what I have learned so far. Growing up, I was always taught to find a career that you enjoy while helping others. I believe that I have found the perfect fit for me.

I am currently finishing my bachelor’s degree in Business Management at ECPI University. While studying my degree, I have been able to use some of the knowledge here at CORECHEM. I am hoping to bring new ideas to the table that will help everyone here excel. When I am not at work or studying for school, you can find me outdoors with my husband and two dogs (Camo and Lucy).”

Aundrea’s husband Timothy shared his thoughts with us as well:

“I joined CORECHEM’s production team on January 24, 2019. I have never worked with chemicals before, so being in this environment has definitely been an adjustment for me. I have been learning a lot, not only about the chemical industry but about myself.

I enjoy working for CORECHEM because I feel like I am a part of a team that cares. One thing I have found I like the most is that people at CORECHEM are always willing to help you and help you to challenge yourself, not only on a professional level, but on a personal level as well. That is what is amazing about the culture at CORECHEM.

I dream about going to school to get a degree in Engineering, in either electronics or industrial. My goal in life is to open an orphanage somewhere and to help kids in need. Not only that, I want to give back to God for everything He has blessed me and my beautiful wife with.”

Earlier this month, Timothy & Aundrea took a vacation to the Bahamas. We asked them to give us a recap, in lieu of taking team CORECHEM along! Here’s what they had to say:

“This was truly an experience that we will never forget. We started out by flying to Miami, Florida (Aundrea’s first time flying). We spent the day touring different areas of Florida and diving into their culture.

Once we boarded the cruise ship, we were off to the Bahamas. Our ports included Nassau, Half Moon Cay, and Grand Turk. Each port was unique and offered a lot of new experiences for both of us. Some of our favorite parts were enjoying the crystal blue water, seeing the coral reef and fishes while snorkeling, and soaking in all the sun we could get!

It was amazing to be able to spend this time together, but we are glad to be back at work serving and helping our customers.”

Thanks, Tim & Aundi, we’re glad you’re back, too!

Employee Spotlight : Olivia Pool

This month we would like to put the spotlight on a new team member: Olivia Pool. She joined the CORECHEM team on June 4th, 2018, to fill the much needed role as Supply chain coordinator. Her work here has already more than filled our expectations, and has brought a sense of relief to the entire team. We have asked her to reflect on the job thus far:

June 4th, I joined the CORECHEM team as the Supply Chain Coordinator. In my previous work history, I had been in several different logistics and management positions, but the opportunity at CORECHEM has been a new and unique application of these skills. Having just passed the one-month mark on my tenure, I was asked to take a moment to reflect on my experience to this point. As I considered these four weeks, three ideas came to mind: what I have truly enjoyed about this job, what I have learned so far, and what I hope to accomplish.

Coming in to the job, I expected to be overwhelmed: any company whose product offering is as extensive and knowledge intensive as CORECHEM’s would—naturally—be quite a task to master. In this regard, I have not been disappointed. I told a friend a few days after starting, “It just seems like there aren’t enough hours to the day! I start through my ‘to do’ list, and, the next thing I know, it’s already the end of the day.” The challenge of learning—learning about our products, our transportation channels, and our customers—has certainly kept my mind endlessly occupied. Most particularly the challenges all suppliers, producers and distributors are facing considering the driver shortage in the market was a dynamic I had not previously been truly aware of. I look forward to every day learning better ways to be more effective in my application of all the new knowledge I’m being gifted with. My favorite aspect of the job, thus far, has been the opportunity to learn about the various businesses with which we partner. To see all the vibrant and successful businesses in our community and the broader world using the products we provide to solve problems and make products that help people has been truly eye opening. American industry and the unique people who have built it never cease to amaze me. I have loved the opportunities I have had to talk with these hard-working people and learn how I can better make the work they do more seamless and effective. I take very seriously the responsibility I have been given to be a part of the daily workings of other people’s businesses, and I am eager to learn how I can fulfill this responsibility better as I learn and develop.

As I approached this new opportunity—considering what I wanted to accomplish in this new work—I hope to bring a sense of ownership to my work in the supply chain. Ownership in the sense that I treat this job with the same kind of seriousness and industry that I would if I owned the entire company, but also by looking at my work in supply chain here as though I owned our customer’s businesses. If I were a customer of CORECHEM , what priorities and convictions would I want the person in charge of acquiring my components and inventory to have. I have always enjoyed bringing this mindset to my previous pays of employment, and I’m eager to discover the ways I can apply these principles here. I’m so excited to have the chance!

Team Building

Each month at our staff meeting, CORECHEM Inc. employees join in a team building activity, employees are inspired to work together. We are encouraged to communicate, trust, innovate and strategize to complete, and maybe even “win” the challenge.

Here at CORECHEM Inc., we believe that culture is what we make it. If we want a culture that is fun and encourages growth and inspires teamwork and innovation, effort must be put into it. As in any culture, we realize that it starts at the leadership level. We choose activities that help sculpt our culture into one that allows each of us to be unique contributors to a vision that is broader and bigger than any one of us but would not be possible without each member of our team. It is our goal that, by getting ourselves out of our comfort zone and into a challenging situation, we learn to respect our team members and contribute our talents to the end goal. During these activities we encourage behaviors that are healthy to our team in a fun environment, so we can recognize the same behaviors and talents in our everyday tasks.

This month, our activity highlighted the principles of communication and trust. Each employee was paired up with an employee from a different department and told to sit back to back. One of the partners received a picture, and the other a piece of blank paper. The object was to tell the person with the blank piece of paper how to draw the picture without telling them what the picture was.  The results were impressive!

Other activities have included putting questions inside balloons and tossing them to each other, taping pair words on one another’s backs and asking questions to find the match, and building bridges out of pasta, and much more. Each activity has helped us grow together as a team.