Celebrating Heather Ward

I have been with Royal American almost half my life.  When you say it like that, it seems almost overwhelming…  When I started here, I never knew that I would be here 24 years later.  I did not know that this company was the type of company that took care of its employees, that cared about their work/life balance.  It has been a journey from being a young mother to being someone looking forward to retiring on the horizon.  When I first started, I was the youngest person in my department for several years, I can’t say that anymore!

My advice to young women entering the workforce is soak up knowledge like a sponge.  My first boss when I started, used to say let me explain “in case you care”.  I loved that, I always wanted to learn more, to know why I was doing something instead of just doing it.  Knowledge is power, remember that.  The more you know, the more valuable you are.  And on the flip side, be willing to share what you know with others.  Allow others to grow as well.  Enabling others to reach their potential is empowering to you.

I have written many manuals for our department and am happy to say that we still use them.  I use them when I am working in an area that is no longer part of my daily routine.  When I first started, I worked in the RAC/Job Cost area.  I did that for almost 18 years.  Now I work in the First Service/Credit Card area.  I was blessed to be mentored by a wonderful, godly woman in Kathy Vossler.  She was the embodiment of patience, persistence, strength, and grace.  A true southern lady, she never had to raise her voice to get a point across.  It was a joy to work with her.

In my time with First Service, the accounting department has implemented Cash Management, and now we are implementing Expense Track and Real Page.  Going through Covid, I was able to become a paperless accountant, which I never thought I could be!  One thing I can definitely say is that we are always busy and whether you like it or not, something is always changing, so you need to learn to embrace the change!  I like to think I look on the positive side of life.  As long as we are busy, we have job security!  We have a great team here in accounting and I have been very blessed to work with some amazing people over the years.  I have made great friends and learned a lot, both as a person and as an employee.  I thank God that he led me to this RA family!

My last thoughts are this, never allow anyone compromise your ethics.  Your value is yours alone.  Once you give it away, it can never be reclaimed.