Here at Smartsheet, we like to celebrate each other’s successes. We work to create meaningful change together, and when our colleagues go above and beyond at work to inspire their teams to be better, we believe in honoring their efforts.
Every quarter, we take a moment to appreciate these employees with our Brightspot Award. Nominated by their peers, these employees embody The Smartsheet Way by exemplifying what we believe are the five core competencies that drive our success— drive results, take accountability, value and leverage differences, continuously learn and adapt, and earn trust. They’re the kind of colleagues we aspire to be. It’s time to celebrate this quarter’s five exceptional Brightspot Award winners—let’s meet them and hear what their teams have to say about them!
As a senior manager on the resource management (RM) team, Jay is a crucial leader providing the foundational organization and vision for one of our most fundamental resource management projects, and driving it forward. He tirelessly cross-collaborates across many different stakeholders, writing detailed specifications and working closely with engineering and user experience teams to deliver a great experience for our customers. He is always eager to do the right thing for his team and for Smartsheet.
What Jay’s coworkers say
“I have learned so much from Jay and [am] constantly learning… I am amazed with his abilities to deal with so many stakeholders at the same time. Jay is an awesome team member and we are very lucky at RM to have him on our team. Go Jay!!!”
“Jay is so deeply in-tune with the market and customer needs and demonstrates that thinking in his work. Jay is extremely collaborative and goes above and beyond in supporting his team and cross-functional partners to achieve greater results.”
“Jay Shipley is the man! I am remarkably grateful for everything he does to support both the Resource Management product and Smartsheet as a whole. His willingness to help internal stakeholders better understand RM, answer their litany of questions…he makes me, and this company better. Smartsheet needs 100 Jay Shipleys. Jay’s a remarkable pace car for what driving results is here.”
We asked Jay: What does this award mean to you?
“Winning the Brightspot award was really an honor and I love working for a company that lets its employees shine. While it's an individual award, it's really a testament to all of the great work done by the RM team.”
In his work leading the development, implementation, and administration of Smartsheet’s various compensation programs, Connor has proven himself to be a powerful thought leader for our long-term and short-term compensation strategy. Connor orchestrates our annual compensation review cycle, continuously thinking outside the box to improve and adapt our systems to meet and exceed the needs of our employees and business. He has implemented invaluable compensation tools, built and maintained compensation plans, and overseen program changes that affect every Smartsheet employee. He has a relentless drive for continuous improvement, and never settles.
What Connor’s coworkers say
“Whether a daily task or a complex compensation system or program implementation, Connor has consistently achieved high quality outcomes. Connor embodies The Smartsheet Way and carries himself not only as a subject matter expert in compensation systems, but also as a leader on our team. He is always available to ideate, support, and step up to take on new responsibilities… One of Connor’s greatest strengths is that he does not let ‘the way we have always done it’ be the only way forward. He always looks for ways to improve outcomes while focusing on what will continue to return value to the project/process, employees and Smartsheet.”
“Connor Jones is a true asset to Smartsheet. He holds himself to the highest standards and it shows throughout his work… Throughout years of effortlessly managing these programs, he has earned the trust of stakeholders by consistently providing excellent customer service. He will go above and beyond to make sure his partners have what they need to get the job done. Connor is always challenging the status quo by thinking outside of the box and asking the right questions… He proactively learns and adapts so that he can tackle any new challenges. Keep doing you, Connor!”
“Having a partner whom you can trust to know all the specific ins and outs of their owned module is of utmost importance. He’s a person I know I can count on and trust… I’ve seen him raise his hand to help on multiple occasions (even when it's not expected of him), just to help out.”
We asked Connor: What does this award mean to you?
“I’m incredibly grateful and honored to receive the Brightspot award for Earn Trust, and to be nominated by my peers. The work that we do together is truly humbling. So much of the work that we do in People & Culture requires collaboration and trust in one another, and I feel like this award is equally shared with each of the project team members that I have the honor of working with on a daily basis. I'm inspired to be better by all the great work happening around me.”
As a software engineer, Travis manages several complex product feature requests, ensuring maximum value for our customers. He also took charge of the integrations workflow manager, an internal product that will save the integrations team hours of manual work. Travis is critical to enhancing his team’s productivity and growth, always ready to support others with his expertise and experience. With his willingness to ask questions, go the extra mile, and learn on the job, jumping in to help with tasks outside of his comfort zone, he has provided crucial support to his team, creating solutions and driving growth.
What Travis’s coworkers say
“Travis is consistently one of the people I enjoy working with the most. He approaches every problem we throw at him with care and humility, always pulls in other contributors to gather diverse feedback, and organizes, plans, and communicates his projects in a way that I only see in the most senior people at Smartsheet. His enthusiasm and positive attitude are contagious.”
“Travis goes above and beyond every day for our customers and fellow team members. He has taken ownership of a large, complex project to enable customer experience (CX) to set up their own integrations and has absolutely crushed it. Not only does he provide clean and efficient backend code, but he also has jumped in on multiple frontend tickets to help support the team. He is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure the customer is satisfied… He is well deserving of this award and embodies everything a Smartsheet employee should be!”
“Travis has had an incredible impact on the team ever since he started. He has knocked every project he has been on out of the park and does it with a smile the whole time. He initiated having a ‘kudos’ section for every retro and is a total cheerleader for all of his team members, which is incredibly impactful for our productivity and morale… He has mentored team members and is a total pleasure to work with. I know that anything Travis touches is going to be a homerun.”
We asked Travis: What does this award mean to you?
“Winning the Brightspot Award for Value and Leverage Differences this quarter was a very special and humbling experience. It is so rewarding to learn that my teammates and leaders see me as someone who incorporates diverse perspectives into my day-to-day work, and I'm motivated to keep doing just that. Plus, being recognized in front of the whole company brought a smile to my face that lasted for days — literally.”
Pia wears many hats in her role as a senior customer excellence product readiness manager, supporting our go-to-market strategy for our customer excellence (CE) offerings, managing ongoing programs, and executing new projects. Pia is her team’s go-to person for tackling the biggest challenges, and she is constantly adapting to changes and rolling with the punches.
What Pia’s coworkers say
“If there is one thing I consistently hear, it is that “Pia is the glue that…” fill in the blank. She holds people accountable, keeps things moving forward, ensures everyone is on track, and the deadlines are met. She takes on hard projects and executes over and over again.”
“When we have a deeply cross-functional and complicated project, Pia is our go-to because of her dependability, her ability to gain consensus, and build scalable programs that move our company forward together.”
“She is instrumental in connecting the Control Center team to the entire CE organization and constantly does an amazing job representing the voice of the customer in everything she does.”
We asked Pia: What does this award mean to you?
“I am so honored to receive this award! I am grateful to work with amazing cross-functional teams at Smartsheet and love that I get to learn from and grow with so many incredible people.”
Laura is a natural leader with dedication and drive, managing all the tactical and operational aspects of three of Smartsheet’s largest accounts in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. She stepped up to fill a role during a transition period, and with her meticulous and detail-oriented approach, she has made sure that every stakeholder remained taken care of in the process. Leveraging her network and her customer relationships like no other, Laura has maximized engagement and secured huge commercial wins for Smartsheet within her region.
What Laura’s coworkers say
“Her dedication, professionalism, leadership, and communications have been absolutely instrumental to ‘holding the fort’ for a number of key clients in critical positions. Without her leadership and willingness to go above and beyond during this transition I’m quite certain these customer relationships would not be as strong as they are today. She is highly deserving of this Brightspot Award!”
“I am nominating Laura for the Brightspot Award in recognition of her unwavering commitment to maintaining trust with customers, ensuring maximum return on their investment in Smartsheet and continuously identifying opportunities to expand the value they receive from working with our platform… Without Laura’s investment in these customer relationships, the EMEA Large Enterprise growth would not be where it is today. We are so thankful for everything Laura brings in helping expand and drive growth for our international regions!”
“Laura is a standout team member who in a short time at Smartsheet has become a true pace setter. The way in which she builds trust with clients, drives for outcomes, and has managed to cover her territory without an account executive (AE) for the last quarter (whilst still delivering considerable growth) should be applauded.”