Category: Diversity

In this episode of the Pavion Women’s History Month Podcast, we feature Robin Nishiyama, Pavion Integration BU Director of Healthcare/Education Solutions, Kristina VanderBrink, Pavion Integration BU Southeast Regional Sales Director at Pavion, and Susan Post, Pavion Chief Strategy and Integration Officer.

Robin has a long history with our company, 24 and a half years to be exact. Kristina is approaching her one year anniversary and is excited to see how the company has transformed in such a short time.

Robin doesn’t recall running into many obstacles based on gender in her professional career.  She said, “times have changed, and it isn’t the way it used to be,” when asked to speak on gender bias in construction.

Kristina has been in construction as a designer for 23 years. She advised that when she was involved in the design process she felt respected, but the second she walked into the job site, and she felt like she had to work hard to earn the right to be there.

Decision makers are changing and evolving.  Today, our team doesn’t feel the need to justify holding their place as a woman in the field. However, Kristina said, “It truly is an awesome challenge, being able to surprise people, and then generate results in the field.”

Susan expands on the team’s confidence by saying “We believe in our voice and we possess the knowledge of the business. In today’s world we approach situations with confidence and come to solutions collaboratively.”

Dr. Shirley Jackson is the inventor highlighted during this episode. Shirley Jackson was a huge contributor and inventor of telecommunications. Some of her developments include the portable fax, touch tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, and the technology behind caller ID and call waiting.

Telecommunications connect people, which is what we do as a company. Connecting people is important at Pavion. Technology and communication allow us to work from anywhere, and Robin talked on her love for technology, thanking Shirley Jackson. Per Robin, “Many customers are excited by changing technologies, and it is our job to change with our customers, as they change on how they want to connect with each other.”

Susan Post states, “At Pavion we describe our mission of protecting and connecting, and these connections are constantly evolving. The women of Pavion are excited to encourage other women to become a part of history.  Early on, seek out mentors to help guide you through your career, and when the time comes, make yourself available to be a mentor.  It makes all the difference.”

The next episode of our Pavion Women’s History Month podcast features Susan Post, Pavion Chief Strategy and Integration Officer, Sandy Wolf, Service Manager of The Protection Bureau, a Pavion Company, and Tennille Quinones, Director of Operations of Firecom, a Pavion Company.

In celebration of women’s history month, these three strong women reflect on their journey to advance their careers to the distinguished levels they’ve achieved at Pavion. Sandy Wolf has 33 years of experience in the security industry and has been an employee of The Protection Bureau (TPB), A Pavion Company, for 21 years. She held almost all positions possible in the operations department at TPB and is well versed in operations given the steppingstones she took leading up to her current Service Manager position. Tennille Quinones has been at Firecom, A Pavion Company, for 17 years. She began as a receptionist and worked her way through every administrative position to later reach her current Director of Operations position.

Susan, Sandy, and Tennille all recall wanting to do more than their past positions required of them.
Overcoming adversity is a theme in the professional careers of many women. Roadblocks are bound to appear. For example Tennille recalled an instance when an electrician called and refused to speak to her because she was female. She grew from this experience and knew she had to grow thick skin and make sure she didn’t take no for an answer.

Sandy heard that there was an open position, walked into her manager’s office and said, “If you give me the opportunity, I will make you proud.” Her manager replied with “What took you so long?” Sandy gained confidence in herself after this encounter. “It shows that if you want something, you have to go get it yourself, instead of waiting around for an opportunity.”
During this episode, Susan had flashbacks to memories from the past 25 years. When she was awarded General Manager of the Year, she overheard somebody say, “it’s a woman?” It was ironic hearing how surprised people in the crowd were about a woman winning this award.

Lifting others up when working on a team is crucial. Women supporting women and traditionally celebrating team wins is critically important. We are here to support, recognize, and pave a path forward.
In every episode of this series, we also highlight a female inventor that impacted our industry, and this episode’s inventor is Hedy Lamarr. Hedy Lamarr is dubbed “the mother of Wi-Fi” and other wireless communications like GPS. GPS and other wireless communications are widely used in society today. With what we do as an organization, systems have changed and we are so reliant on this technology.

A major takeaway from this episode is that you can be an ordinary person, but with determination and commitment, we can make extraordinary impacts every day.
We are extremely proud to have extraordinary women like Susan, Sandy, and Tennille working at Pavion. They make a big difference at our company and continue to make a big difference for other women at Pavion and around the world.