Jen Stuban

What are you responsible for?

I am responsible for strategic business planning, financial operations, and managing the administrative duties of the company. My daily activities includes managing Human Resources, payroll, safety, and insurance, among other things.

How long have you been in the industry?

A total of 22 years. This was my first “real” job as a young 19 year old!

How did you get where you are today?

I started with Vogelsang in 2000 as a college student looking for part-time work. As time progressed and I graduated college, I began to move up and around the different departments and eventually took over the HR department in 2009.

Why did you choose Vogelsang?

This was actually the first real interview I had been on. I had no office experience at all but the managers at Vogelsang at the time decided to give me a try. I guess it was a good fit since I have been here ever since!

What are you most passionate about in business?

Our employees, they are the most important asset of our company. I am passionate about making employees feel like family and I spend a lot of time finding new ways to increase our employee morale!

What is your favorite part of your job?

Interacting with our employees. I really feel that positive interactions with employees can increase productivity and when employees are satisfied with their workplace, they are more likely to stay within the organization.

What is the single most important thing that differentiates you from competitors?

Our staff and their longevity with the company. Our average years of service is 8.5 years right now and is actually lower than it has been in the past but only because we have hired some new people to our team. Every time our company exhibits at a show, our customers come up and say how much they enjoy our staff and how they appreciate the ease of working with us.

What values define your work and/or interactions with customers?

Everyone at Vogelsang has a strong desire to take care of the customer. We want to make sure that every interaction with us is easy, accurate, reliable, and consistent.

What would customers say they value most about working with you?

Long-term relationships, and the fact that we value them above all else.

What is your most memorable success story?

My personal biggest accomplishment is having worked for the same company for 22 years now. I have the most seniority in our U.S. based companies. In that time, I have made many changes within our company but I think my favorite is our monthly morale meetings. Employees are encouraged to give a “You make a difference cert” to ANY employee that they witness going “above and beyond”. Then, once a month we all meet and the employees get to announce to the group why they received a cert for doing something above and beyond. All of the certs go into a basket and one is pulled at random. That employee gets an Amazon gift card and their name goes on a wall plaque. I think it’s important to encourage our employees to tell their fellow co-workers that they are being noticed and I think it's important that everyone else knows they did a good job as well. Public recognition of a job well done is our motto!

What are you excited about right now?

There are so many new and exciting things going on at VFS! We are at our final steps of a rock-star e-commerce system that will definitely bring more ease of shopping to our customers (except for the fact that they won’t talk as often to our awesome Inside sales team). We are also bringing in a brand new automated packaging machine line. 2022 commences our 50th year of business in the US which I find so exciting. 50 years and still going, stronger than ever!