2018 Eastern National Annual Employee Awards Announced
Eastern National’s annual awards highlight excellence in performance and partnership. The awards program was designed to acknowledge outstanding achievements and contributions that have had a positive impact on Eastern National’s operations or an individual park. We are pleased to announce the winners of our 2018 employee awards and look forward to announcing awards for our park partners shortly.
Left to right: Megan Shelley, Eastern National chief operating officer; Karen Peters, EN merchandising and store design manager, who received a Distinguished Service Award; and Kevin Kissling, EN president and chief executive officer.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS recognize significant active service at a high level of excellence that has resulted in substantial contributions to EN. A Distinguished Service Award was presented to Karen Peters, merchandising and store design manager. Karen has served over 29 years with EN, including almost 18 years as EN’s Coastal Southeast regional manager until becoming the merchandising and store design manager in 2007. We thank Karen for her many years of dedicated service.
Left to right: Stacy Madalena, Eastern National director of retail south; Dave Hobbs, EN National Capital assistant regional manager; and Nick Miano, EN National Capital regional manager. Stacy, Dave, and Nick accepted the EN Customer Service Award on behalf of the team at the Washington Monument Lodge.
The CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD was presented to Washington Monument Lodge. This award recognizes the EN store staff with the highest average score in EN’s secret shopper program. The program evaluates the overall store appearance, product presentation, and staff professionalism. This store earned a 98.15 percent on the secret shopper 2018 score. This is a great tribute to the team, considering the Washington Monument was closed to the public in 2018 for construction.
Eastern National employees who were recipients of 2018 Special Achievement Awards, left to right: Emily Cruse, EN project manager; Robert Willey, EN site manager at New River Gorge NR; Debbie Luketich, EN site manager at Indiana Dunes NL; Katrina Nobles, EN site manager at Martin Luther King, Jr. NHP; and Rafael Vasquez, EN unit manager at Statue of Liberty NM – Ellis Island. Not pictured: Mickey Goodson, former EN site manager at Martin Luther King, Jr. NHP; Debra Hayes, EN site manager at Springfield Armory NHS; and Carica Williams, EN office administration manager.
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS recognize exceptional performance in the area of store operations and partner relations. Awards were presented to the following EN employees:
Emily Cruse, project manager at Eastern National Headquarters, for her involvement in key initiatives beyond her normal task goals for the year, including holding group training to get staff familiar with new technology tools as part of the rollout of Office 365.
Mickey Goodson, former site manager at Martin Luther King, Jr. NHP, for exploring innovative ways to help our partners and creating situations to increase sales and motivate his team.
Debra Hayes, site manager at Springfield Armory NHS, for raising the profile of the Springfield Armory store and increasing its sales and revenue—despite lower visitation for the year compared to prior year—and developing a new array of products for the upcoming establishment of the Coltsville NHP store.
Debbie Luketich, site manager at Indiana Dunes NL, for her determination and hard work opening a successful pop-up store at West Beach during the summer months, which involved recruiting, hiring, and training a new staff member; helping to develop new products; and preparing the space in a matter of a few days and just in time for opening day.
Katrina Nobles, site manager at Martin Luther King, Jr. NHP, for providing essential operational support and helping to grow store operations, while supporting other regions and training new managers as well as challenging EN team members to develop new skills.
Rafael Vasquez, unit manager at Statue of Liberty NM – Ellis Island, for his leadership in meeting goals to exceed the fiscal year 2018 combined sales budget for both stores by 13 percent—an increase of over $600,000 to prior year.
Robert Willey, site manager at New River Gorge NR, for raising the bar for every metric at the site, including breaking all previous sales records and increasing average sale, as well as providing strong leadership and fostering team membership and providing excellence in customer service.
Carica Williams, office administration manager at Eastern National Headquarters, for initiatives outside the scope of her normal duties at the headquarters office, including developing and leading the Safety Leadership Committee, coordinating “All Hands” meetings, and leading the establishment of a new employee orientation and onboarding program.