Congratulations to Becky Petersen on her 20 Year AMP-iversary!
I wanted to share a special thanks and a public handshake, high-five and hug with Becky PBack in the year 2000, American Marketing & Publishing was a business with one phone line and about 20 employees. Becky Petersen was the person, starting on July 5 that year, who answered that one phone line. We weren’t large enough or sophisticated enough to afford a real business phone system, so that one phone rang at the front desk in our little office, and if it was a call to a graphic designer to change an ad, or to anyone else not within easy reach, Becky would literally put her palm over the receiver and then get up from her desk, spool out a long phone cord as she walked back into the office, and bring the phone to the person the caller needed to talk to. When they hung it up, they had to get up from their desk, spool in the extra long phone line as they walked, and bring it back to the front desk where Becky sat.
Becky was here when Joline and Abe brought our first little baby home from the hospital, and then our second… then third, all who put in a LOT of time at the office as infants. (She was here for Clare, Margaret and Mark too, but didn’t get to know them as well as our first three!) Becky was here when we outgrew that first DeKalb office, then outgrew our next DeKalb office, and she helped us pick up and move when we bought the building we’re headquartered in today. She was here when we first pushed into Wisconsin, then Indianapolis, then Iowa… then Michigan and Minnesota, Nebraska, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, Arizona, and Georgia. Becky was here when the internet bubble burst, when Twin Towers Fell on 9/11, when the housing bubble burst, and of course for the coronavirus spring! She watched us roll out HomePages® dominance, witnessed us launch our CloseBy® Text Marketing, and then OPTIMA™ services. In her time with AMP, she’s answered phones, bounced babies, entered contracts, run bank deposits, talked to crazy customers… memorably, she once even had the experience of watching me interview an inebriated candidate who fell down on his way into my office for a morning interview (true story). Over the years, she’s helped run payroll, has played key roles in customer service, provided guidance to sales reps on tough past due client situations… etc., etc., etc. It’s pretty awesome that she’s running a voice-over-internet protocol phone system now that serves many people all over the country and that doesn’t require a long spool of cable to connect calls!
In short, Becky has been a constant, quiet, wholly positive force in my life, and in the lives of SO many people at AMP. Becky is an example to everyone of personal kindness, business professionalism, and life consistency. She’s the same person in her life outside of work as she is at her desk – a steady person in the world that all people can rely on and that all good people who get to know her truly appreciate. If you have been fortunate to know Becky well or just to work with her from time to time, please join me thanking Becky Petersen for 20 good years at AMP.
Becky, from Joline and I, and the hundreds of AMP teammates whose lives you’ve touched alongside ours here at work, congratulations on this 20th anniversary and thank you, for being who you are, and for being a good friend and colleague to us these past 20 years.
Congratulations and Cheers to 20 Years of Dedicated Service, Becky Petersen!
