Gateway Ticketing Systems, a leading provider of admission control systems, appointed Alicia Huppman as Senior Manager, Human Resources and Jarrid Vaughn as Senior Customer Service Manager one year ago. Since their appointment, both hires have been instrumental in driving meaningful change within and without the company.
Huppman brings over 30 years of experience to the role, having worked and consulted at global technology and professional services organizations for 20 years, in addition to a decade of teaching human resources, organizational leadership, business and industrial psychology courses at the college level.
Meanwhile, Vaughn joined the company following 12 years at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, where his most recent role was Senior Manager of Visitor Experience and FUN.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Both joined Gateway Ticketing Systems during the pandemic. Huppman took on the challenge of establishing the company’s vaccine and return to work policies, as well as bringing in its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program as part of Gateway’s commitment to equitable hiring practices, educational and training opportunities for employees, and webinars for the wider industry.
“Companies that are inclusive are more profitable, more creative, nimbler, and create workplaces where everyone can bring their best, true selves,” says Huppman. “Gateway proved to be welcoming and open to this initiative and we are excited about where we are going with this program.
“I’m excited to continue to work on several opportunity areas employees have identified as those they value, including professional development and career pathing, to help Gateway team members reach their full potential. I’m also looking forward to implementing a change management system to help support our internal projects and initiatives, and position our organization and employees for success.”
Improving customer support processes
Vaughn joined the company as someone who used to be a customer, bringing a unique perspective. Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden uses Gateway’s Galaxy Ticketing & Guest Experience solution and Vaughn worked with the software and the Gateway team in his previous role at the attraction.
While business was slower during the pandemic, he took the time to evaluate the processes of the Customer Support team, in order to find areas where operations could be made more efficient and effective.
“I’m incredibly proud of the efficiencies our team has created in such a short amount of time,” says Vaughn. “We’re offering our customers the ability to create a number of requests in a better functioning version of our Support Desk than we’ve ever had before. We’re really focused on delivering consistently world-class communication with our customers and we’re working to put the systems in place to be able to deliver that.”
Vaugh has helped to grow the company’s #TuesdayTalks webinar for Galaxy users and is also playing a key role in the organisation of Gateway’s 2021 Galaxy User Group Meeting in Las Vegas in October.
“We’re proud of the work of all our employees at Gateway,” says Michael Andre, President and CEO of Gateway Ticketing Systems, “particularly during the challenging past year. Witnessing Alicia’s and Jarrid’s contributions to the organization confirms for me that Gateway is consistently working to support our employees with a diverse and equitable culture, support our customers through excellent communication and product features, and lead our industry in both regards.”
Earlier this month, Gateway also announced that it has onboarded and certified three new Galaxy Connect distributors since April 2021.
