2010 recipient

Eileen Behr, an administrative assistant with SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., is the winner of the 2010 OfficeTeam Administrative Excellence Award. A nine-member committee chose Behr from a large pool of nominations from throughout North America.

Behr's leadership skills, including the ability to initiate and implement change, and provide meaningful results to her employer, make her a standout in the administrative profession. “She has created a sense of trust through effective communication and workflow management, a willingness to take on any task, and her attitude of calmness,” said nominator Viki Young, a senior researcher at SRI.

When the company was preparing to install Microsoft Office Suite 2007, Behr learned how to use the applications in advance. This enabled her to train others in their use and reduce the learning curve for employees. “Eileen has a knack for solving problems before they occur,” said Young. Behr also assisted in making her team's reports compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. She researched ways to convert PDF and Word files to formats that are usable with a screen reader for the visually impaired. She then tested sample documents and made adjustments until the reports passed inspection. Her final step: documenting the process for future report development.

When Behr realized her group’s Excel training program wasn’t meeting employee needs, she worked to make updates. “Eileen surveyed staff members and worked with our training vendor to improve the program,” said Young. “She also marketed the program to other SRI groups, lowering the cost.”

Behr has been praised for her work developing and maintaining her work group's wiki. With employees working in remote sites, the wiki has become a critical tool for accessing information about employment issues, company newsletters, organizational charts and other resources.

Behr advises other administrative professionals to go the extra mile with their work. “Research and design a process that will save employees time, effort or frustration and then advocate implementing the idea,” she said. “The people you work with will love you for making their work lives easier, and you'll expand your knowledge and expertise. In addition, your boss will recognize your efforts to better the work environment - and, as a result, be more open to the next great suggestion you have.”

Behr is committed to professional development, having taken more than a dozen community college and university extension classes in diverse topics ranging from grammar and editing to accounting and business law. She also attends employer-sponsored educational sessions and provides training to IAAP members on the topics of group discussion facilitation, resume development and office organization.

She holds the Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) and Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) designations.

Behr also is a high achiever in local professional groups. She is the incoming president of the El Camino IAAP Chapter and has served as the secretary, webmaster and program chair. She has held leadership roles with and received awards from public speaking organization Toastmasters International, as well.