Blog it Forward – Kristen Scheffler

I was tagged by Gretchen Lindquist and Greg Myers in their blog it forward posts.  They make for some great reading, so check out Gretchen’s blog and Greg’s blog.  A special thanks to xMoshe Naveh (Old Acct) for his initial challenge.  I think this is a great way to get to know community members. 🙂

This is a picture of me and the kids apple picking.  They are yummy!

A little about me.  My name is Kristen Scheffler and I am the Communications Manager for the SAP AGS Customer Experience team.  I was born in Connecticut, and moved quite a bit during my childhood, but the farthest from the east coast we ever made it was Michigan.  My family was very much into sports: baseball, basketball, football, tennis.  You name it, we played it.  In high school, I played field hockey, basketball, and softball.  I had high hopes to play field hockey in college, but then in my second to last game in the basketball season my senior year, I tore my ACL, so I had to have surgery and months of physical therapy.  People ask if I feel the weather change, and the answer is yes!

Fun Fact

When I’m not at work, I enjoy playing in the yard.  I don’t consider it to be work: it’s relaxing for me to garden, weed, plant, mow the grass, and believe me, we have a lot of grass!

This is a view from the top of our yard.  The field behind the trees in the background?  Yep we mow that too!

We have apple, pear, peach, plum, and cherry trees, as well as a garden that currently has melons, beans, carrots, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, okra, and broccoli growing.  It is great to be able to come in at the end of a day and make dinner with items from your yard.

What do you enjoy most in your work and why?

I love the fact that I get to talk to customers about their experiences with support and be able to bring that feedback in to our organization and affect change.  A lot of times, our customers want someone to take the time and listen to them.  So to be able to listen and then use their feedback to change how we run, or how we support, is a truly satisfying experience.

If you were not in your current position, what/where would you be and why?

This one is a little bit tougher for me, because I can’t imagine not being a part of the Customer Experience team.  But, if I were to be somewhere else, I would still love to be a part of SAP, and work within the Customer Engagement Initiative team.  They roll out different projects that customers and partners can get involved with throughout the year, and to be a part of something that customers and partners help build is what I would love.  (Yes, very similar to my role now 🙂 )

Name the person who affected you most in your career/way of thinking That would have to be my dad.  Dad instilled a strong work ethic in our house, made sure that we were ‘on-time’ (which meant early, because on time in his eyes was late), follow through: if you say you are going to do something, you do it, and never give up on your dreams.  Each day I live by those standards, and try to ensure that my children do the same. 

What is your favorite place in the world?

My favorite place I ever visited on vacation was the Tuscan region of Italy.  It is so beautiful and peaceful there.  The rolling hills, grapevines, olive trees, and people of the region are absolutely amazing.  Hawaii is definitely on that list too, but if I had my druthers, I would move to Italy, learn Italian, and live off the countryside 🙂

I’d like to blog it forward to:

Stephen Millard

Tridip Chakraborthy

Christopher Vozella

Luke Marson

Please reply to one or all of the following questions?

• What was the most fun project you ever participated in and why?
• Share a fun fact/story about yourself that people don’t know
• If you were not in your current role, what/where would you be and why?

Please ‘blog it forward’ to some of your SCN colleagues to keep the chain alive!