Please join us in wishing a joyful retirement to Donna Hammerich, our Vice President of Statement Operations! Donna has been with LKCS for 35 years, having performed multiple and increasingly important roles along the way. Her hard work, dedication, expertise, and belief in our capabilities has helped to define LKCS’s “We Do That” attitude. She’s a pleasure to work with, and it’s hard for us to imagine LKCS without her.
Donna started at Letterkraft Printers, Inc. in September 1977 as a bindery assistant. After a sudden vacancy, Norb Dudek (LKCS’s founder) asked her to tend to customers in the front office. “After that, I never went back to the pressroom!” she laughs.
After a seven-year hiatus raising daughters Jenna and Gail, she returned to LetterKraft, initially hand-stuffing statements and catching envelopes off the inserters, and later assisting Nina Burkhart in bookkeeping. “It was during this time that I was very proud to help out with the historic Desert Storm poster drive,” recalls Donna, “which earned LKCS recognition from all over the country.”
In the mid-1990s, Donna jumped at the chance to create her own customer base and become part of the LKCS sales team. Later she also became assistant to our VP of Business Development, Sid Haas. She began representing the company at conferences and trade shows across the country. “I’d discovered my skill for listening and for learning about our customers and pairing them with the services they needed,” she says. “I loved it!”
Donna became Director of Statement Operations in 2009 and, six years later, VP of Statement Operations—a position the management created for her. During her tenure, LKCS has onboarded over 100 additional financial institutions to our monthly Statement Mailing and e-Statement Services. (Over 100!) Though she’s proud of that achievement, Donna is especially pleased that, of her many clients, most have also become her friends. That’s what she does best, after all: authentically connecting with people, going the extra mile to meet their needs, communicating with clarity and empathy, and following through.
During her retirement, Donna plans to travel with her husband of 46 years (Neil); spend more time with her daughters and 3 granddaughters (Violet, Bea, and Hazel); learn to play the guitar; and begin oil painting again. “My family is rooted in music,” she says. “I grew up in rural McNabb, singing folk songs with my mother. And I oil painted a lot in my twenties, when I was planning to become a commercial artist.” She’ll also continue fossil hunting, cheering for the Bears, and playing with her two labs, Max and Ruby.
Donna, thank you for the many years of incredible service that you’ve provided our customers and our company. Each of us hopes you enjoy every minute of retirement to the fullest.
Post edited by D. Hammerich, J. Hammerich, G. Klein
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