Veronica Andersen

Business process analyst

Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS)

Age: 32

Current city of residence: Kennewick

Briefly describe your company:

HMIS strives to provide safe, efficient, and effective solutions to the Hanford site while balancing ever-changing priorities, complexities, and while integrating with the other Hanford contractors. HMIS continues to seek out innovative solutions to provide valuable services to the Hanford site while maintaining a safe and ethical work culture.

How long have you worked there?

4 years

Briefly describe your job and what you do. Tell us how you got into it.

I work as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, a certification for analyzing and improving processes, for the Continuous Improvement Department at HMIS. My primary responsibilities involve meeting with customers to determine their efficiency needs, preparing for the structured improvement activity, and then facilitating the event to ensure the customer’s success measurements are met. I’ve been pursuing this line of work for the past 10 years after getting the opportunity to become trained as a green belt early on in my career. Ever since falling in love with the continuous improvement mindset within that training, I have worked to get myself to the role I have today by working stretch assignments and taking on additional process improvement opportunities to gain the experience I needed.

Tell us about your work history.

In college, I worked as a summer intern at Hanford, starting in the Finance Department, then moving over to the Infrastructure and Services Alignment Plan team where I was able to interface with groups across the site to develop an annual U.S. Department of Energy deliverable. When I graduated college, I came back to the Hanford site, this time as an administrative specialist for the Reliability Projects Department. Shortly after getting brought on as a full-time employee, I was moved into a document control role within Reliability Projects and was able to grow that from a team of one to a team of three to four. After several years, I transitioned to the company’s Records Management team where I was able to grow in my understanding of records keeping laws and regulations. Finally, I moved to the continuous improvement organization and have been here for the past four years.

Tell us about your first job.

My first job was as a ballet teaching assistant as a 16-year-old high school student. I danced from the ages of 4-18 and knew from a young age that I would love to teach. I started assisting classes and then became a teacher shortly afterward and have been teaching ever since then.

What advice would you give to your younger self about achieving success?

To lean into a support system to ensure your “yes” to opportunities doesn’t burn you out. I spent a lot of my younger years thinking that success only counted if I accomplished it on my own. Recently though I’ve grown to understand that I would not be able to accomplish anything if it wasn’t for the people who love and support me along the way.

What was your dream job as a child?

When I was very young, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian.

Who are your role models – and why? Tell us what you learned from them. What do you consider your leadership style to be?

My ballet teacher from my childhood taught me to always strive for excellence and to find joy in doing so. My best friends have taught me that I can be proud of what I’ve accomplished, even when the accomplishment is different than I planned. The director of our organization has shown me that being a successful woman does not mean you have to make yourself smaller or less. When it comes to my leadership style, I think I encompass all of these by leading first with empathy while also expecting excellence. When someone falls short, I first want to understand their circumstances, then we can work together to get the job done.

What would be your top three priorities to make our community a better place?

Continued emphasis on the importance of art in schools to help create well-rounded learning experiences.

Integrating the Tri-Cities on projects/initiatives that benefit the community as a whole.

Support for small businesses during economically hard times to ensure the community continues to grow and thrive as a hub for creativity and innovation.

Tell us about your community involvement/community service:

As an arts lover, much of my community involvement and community service center around that arena. I regularly volunteer to assist backstage at the annual “Nutcracker” performance and at various ballet recitals within the community. I also like to support local art by attending high school musical theater productions, I attend LGBTQIA+ events around the area and volunteer time at my son’s school.

How do you achieve work-life balance?

I have always approached work-life balance as something that ebbs and flows, which means communication is key. Sometimes my job requires more, sometimes my home life does. Either way, I maintain open lines of communication and foster healthy relationships with both my coworkers/managers and my personal support system. I’ve learned over the past few years that nothing is accomplished by one person alone, and I’m very fortunate to have a lot of people in my corner rooting me on. At the end of the day, I’m incredibly lucky to have two jobs that I am incredibly passionate about which makes work fun, but I do all of it to create the life I’ve always dreamed of for me and my kids.

Do you have family? Pets? Tell us about them.

I have two boys, Atlas, 7, and Calvin, 4, who are the light of my life.  We live close to my parents (GiGi and PaPa) and they have a wonderfully loving relationship that is regularly fostered over weekly family dinners and summer afternoons in the pool.

How long have you lived in the Tri-Cities?

I have lived in the Tri-Cities since birth, with only my college years spent elsewhere (Montana).

What’s your dream vacation?

A month exploring the Renaissance sites in Europe.

Planner or procrastinator?

Calculated procrastinator

First car?

1997 Chevy Blazer

Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert

Favorite thing to do in Tri-Cities?

Find and try new restaurants

What would people be most surprised to learn about you?

I’m an avid baker and regularly bake cakes for my coworkers and family.

Text, email, phone call?

Phone call or better yet FaceTime.

Favorite Tri-City restaurant?

Currently it’s Perch Cantina

Favorite day of the week?

Thursdays because it’s almost the end of the week and it’s the day I get to teach ballet.

Would you rather travel back in time or to the future?

Back in time, I would love to see what life looked like at different periods of time.