Lisa Huber has been working for AWARE for the last 22.5 years. She and other supervisors help lead an 18-person fiscal team that consists of accounts payable, accounts receivable and other specialists to help with grant analysis along with client/family financial resources. Together, the team ensures bills are paid and payments are issued in a timely fashion, which can be quite a daunting task given the thousands of invoices that pass through an organization as large as AWARE.
An Anaconda native (at least since she was 5 years old), Lisa's spent most of her career in finance and banking.
Interestingly enough, she originally applied at AWARE for a night watch position, but when it didn't pan out, she went to work for a local bank. She started out as a teller and worked her way up through the ranks to eventually become an operations manager for the local branch.
Over time though, another position popped up with AWARE that caught her eye, and this time she was hired. She accepted a job in the accounts payable department and went straight to work. From there, she transitioned into a position in the payroll department, eventually becoming a payroll supervisor. Today, she is the fiscal risk manager and cash operations lead responsible for supervising the accounts payable department, managing employee purchase cards and all things cash as well as a variety of other tasks.
During her time at AWARE, Lisa has been a part of some major transitions. When she first started with the organization, employees were submitting paper timecards, which meant the payroll team was manually processing around 500 timesheets every pay period. As the company grew, that wasn't a sustainable practice, so Lisa helped guide the transition to an electronic time keeping system called NovaTime. Eventually, the company outgrew that product too, and Lisa provided assistance in another transition to the system we have today, called Paylocity.
"It's been really incredible to watch AWARE grow from an Anaconda-centered company into the large statewide one we have today," Lisa said. " I really value AWARE's ability to focus on clients first and find the best solutions that result in improved care, even if it means having to find creative solutions to funding."
Lisa also spoke of another notable memory. She recalled a time when AWARE was one of the first providers in the state to step away from a piece-meal rate that clients received for work completed during employment-type services. Instead, AWARE decided to pay working clients minimum wage or better. Of course, this involved coordination with the payroll department to add the clients into the timekeeping system and then process paychecks during each pay period.
"I really love my job and the complexities of managing AWARE's cash accounts," Lisa said.
It's a constant juggling act to manage all of the different accounts in the most efficient and sensible means possible. Lisa is always monitoring balances to make sure the appropriate cash levels are maintained and any excess funds are used appropriately.
"More than anything, though, I love the people that I get to work with every day," Lisa said. "I've been part of a lot of changes during my time at AWARE, and I appreciate the time and energy put into making each change positive for just about everyone."
That extends far beyond her office too. Lisa recently made a trip up to Great Falls and was able to tour some of AWARE's facilities, including the day activity center and the farm. She said it was a perfect example that connects the dots between her daily duties in the fiscal department and AWARE's overarching mission of helping people live independent lives.
Lisa also appreciates the work/life balance that she has working at AWARE. Not all jobs and employers grant the same level of flexibility, and she knows first-hand from previous jobs how demanding work can get at times.
"I'm just grateful to have found a place that allows me to work while still being able to take advantage of life's events outside of the office," Lisa said.
Well Lisa, we're grateful for you! Thanks for everything you do and for committing the last 22.5 years of your career to AWARE. We can't wait to see how you spend the rest of your time with us!
To learn more about working for AWARE and finding a meaningful career like Lisa, please click here.