TASUS volunteers for O’bannon Day of Service

June 1, 2017

Bloomington, IN- On April 28th, TASUS employees got out into the community and volunteered for the O’bannon Day of Service. Ivy Tech partnered with local businesses to reach a goal of 1000 hours of community service.

12 employees from TASUS volunteered for approximately 30 hours doing various activities around the community. Larry Mackey, Ryann Reagen, Heather Krout, and KayLeigh Duerksen volunteered at the community kitchen by helping prepare meals. Jay Wilson, and Cindy Welch helped plant a garden at Girls Inc, but they weren’t the only employees to get their hands dirty. Greg Kloeppel helped weed and mulch the Willie Streeter Community Gardens, Remy Page helped with gardening at the Wonderlab, and Eiji Ito planted fruit trees on the Ivy Tech campus.

Doug Vaughn utilized lean practices at the Habitat for Humanity Restore by using 5S to organize cabinets. Jon Lichfield worked at Stone Belt helping clean out vans used for clients, and mulching. The stylish Cassie Abrell worked at My Sisters Closet building storage racks for clothing inventory.

All in all it was a terrific day as TASUS employees got out into the community and made a difference.

TASUS Employee Mentors Student to Success

May 31, 2017

Georgetown, Texas- For the past six years, TASUS employee Kim Mundy has been mentoring a young girl, Lakendra weekly on her lunch break. Lakendra recently graduated high school on May 24th and in the fall will be attending Austin Community College, where she wants to get her LPN. Eventually, she wants to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and then become a labor and delivery nurse.

In her graduation paragraph, when talking about overcoming obstacles and her personal growth, Lakendra wrote to Kim:

“My mentor, Kim Mundy, who has seen me at my lowest points from 6th grade to my senior year. I’ve grown so much since then and she has contributed and helped me through my trials and tribulations of high school and just life in general. I truly thank you Kim!”

Kim has really embodied our culture of giving back to the community, and this truly highlights her caring, generosity and the effect it has had on someone else’s life. Thank you Kim for making a difference, and being such a great part of the TASUS family!

Welcoming some new faces at TASUS

May 23, 2017

This employee feature will be a bit different than ones in the past. As it features not one employee but, two! TASUS recently welcomed a new HR Director as well as a new Director of Finance.

Amy Ketcham, the Director of Finance for TASUS and Tsuchiya Group North America, has been with the company for a little over 2 months! Many people may cringe a bit when thinking about finance, but not Amy. She likes that she can support management by providing them with the financial information to make good business decisions. Amy said she really enjoys how employee focused the company is, the size, and the atmosphere which gives the company a great family-oriented culture.

In her free time Amy spends a lot of time outdoors. She has recently began gardening (her flowers pictured above), she also spends a lot of time with her kids, running them back and forth to the various after-school activities they are involved in. (pictured above)

When it came to choosing someone who inspired her, Amy had a hard time choosing but, she listed her husband Damon as one of her biggest inspirations. He inspires her because of his generosity not only with his resources but, his time as well. She said that during the time they have been married, she has become more generous as a person because of her husband.

Amy and her husband, Damon will be celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary soon. They have two children Zane who is 13, and Chloe who is 9. It is certainly a full house as they have three outside cats, a dog and two pet goats!

Her dream vacation is also on her bucket list. If she could go anywhere she would go to Puerto Rico to see the bio-luminescent bay (pictured above). It is an extraordinary sight! Click here to find out more info about it!

Amy’s favorite food is Mexican, and she loves going to El Ranchero, she also really loves seafood! Amy likes all kinds of different music. Last year she saw the Dixie Chicks come back tour! Finally, Amy’s favorite movie is Footloose, the original with Kevin Bacon but, she really likes any movie that has Matthew McConaughey.

Thank you for being a great part of our team Amy!

Next, we will be introducing Sarah Shea the Director of Human Resources for TASUS and Tsuchiya Group North America. She has been with the company a little over a month and says the first thing she noticed was how employee friendly the company is! She was amazed at how many programs we offer and even future programs that are in the works. These programs show how much TASUS values its employees. Sarah has been in HR over 20 years, and loves being able to support the growth and development of employees at a personal and professional level.

In her free time Sarah likes to paint! She also loves music and has been to several concerts from Bon Jovi to Harry Connick Jr. Her dream vacation would be to backpack through Europe for several weeks. As for food, Sarah likes anything Mediterranean such as Greek and Turkish food. She really enjoys the Bloomington classic, Trojan Horse! Sarah’s favorite movie is Trading Places, which is a comedy about a wealthy investor and street hustler trading roles, due to a complicated bet made by millionaires.

People who inspire Sarah are her mother and grandmother. She said they are very giving and are continuously learning, traits they instilled in her. Sarah has one daughter, Kayla grace (pictured above) who is 12!

Welcome to TASUS Sarah and Amy. Glad to have you on our team!