Staff Spotlight
Our Staff Spotlight this newsletter is on Shari Russell and our student worker, Hudson Nebbe!
Shari Russell
My Role in Procurement Services
I am the Card Program Administrator for the Purchasing Card (P-Card) and Travel & Hospitality (T&H) Card programs. My responsibilities include conducting training sessions (such as T&H Card Orientation and Card Programs: Beyond the Basics), managing the compliance review process of departments participating in the card programs, processing card applications, working with international programs offices to configure T&H cards for study abroad, and monitoring unreconciled transactions over 60 days past the post date. I also serve as a liaison between cardholders and the bank.
Cardholders and university departments can contact me, or any member of the Iowa State card services team, for assistance with issues such as declined authorizations, blocked merchants, and card limit changes. I am also happy to answer questions about training opportunities, card program policies, running transaction reports, and resolving problems related to processing transactions more than 60 days old.
Highlighting a Recent Project or Accomplishment
One work-related project that I’m happy to share was the development of Department Report Cards for the P-Card and T&H Card programs. I worked with a supplier who assists us with data analytics for the card programs to develop Report Cards that provide business unit managers and cost center managers with information they can use to evaluate the overall spending of their cardholders. Each quarterly P-Card Report Card and T&H Card Report Card contains a listing of all of the active cards in a department or unit, the transaction limits and usage for each individual cardholder, data on spending per month and with which suppliers and a list of transactions that may not meet the guidelines of the card programs.
Hudson Nebbe
My Role in Procurement Services
My role in Procurement Services is that of a Student Employee. I’ve worked on several projects in my time with procurement, mostly helping on projects that need more hands. One of the more memorable projects was working with Finance Delivery to help enter invoices into the system at the end of FY22. Another more recent project was finding the gaps in the UNSPSC Codes that correlate to the university’s spend category system. As a student, I’m a junior working towards a Computer Science degree, and even though it is not directly in-line with my major, I think this job gives me unique perspectives into parts of the business world!
How Do You See Your Work as a Student Employee Benefiting You in the Future?
I’ve learned a lot, not only from different areas within procurement but also had the opportunity to work and learn under other departments. In the future, I hope to keep learning, and I hope I will be able to use this as insight in a future job.