Nepal is a very special place to the Avionté family.  Not only is it a beautiful country with rich history, but two of the four partners are originally from Nepal and we have an office located in the heart of Katmandu.  So, it is exciting for us that part of the Avionté Hope Foundation’s mission is to set aside funds to help people and organizations in Nepal.

We are happy to share that we have recently sponsored 3 children from the Early Child Development Center (ECDC) in Katmandu, Nepal.  The ECDC was founded in 2005 by Pushpa Basnet and is working adamantly to break the cycle of crime and poverty in Nepal. The ECDC’s mission is to help rescue children who have, due to no other options, accompanied their mothers to jail.  In Katmandu, if a woman is sentenced to jail and her relatives cannot take care of her children, many times the children go with their mothers.   This puts the children in an environment where they have no access to education, nutrition, clothing and medical care.

The ECDC has set up 2 facilities for the children, a kindergarten center and a residential home. Depending on the child’s age they either live at the residential home fulltime with the ECDC or if they are under the age of 5, they attend the kindergarten center and spend the nights with their mothers at the jail.

The ECDC not only strives to improve the lives of children whose parents are imprisoned, but also helps to educate and stabilize their mothers once they are released from prison. They will teach the mothers income generating skills and stay in contact with the families to give them a greater chance at success. Currently, the ECDC is supporting 42 children in the residential home and 5-7 children in the kindergarten center. AHF’s sponsorship will help support the educational expenses for three of these children.

If you are interested in learning more about the Early Child Development Center visit  their website  at http://ecdcnepal.org/ or contact the Avionte Hope Foundation at ahf@avionte.com

A video was also recently published on CNN about the ECDC. Check it out here

Corey Cook, The Avionté Support Manager along with his son Jack (6 yrs) and wife participated in “Feed My Starving Children” yesterday.

Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit organization committed to feeding hungry children around the world. The approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children, and we ship the meals to nearly 70 countries around the world.

As part of the Avionte Hope Foundation  Initiative, Avionté gives each employee up to 3 “Hope Days” a year  to donate their time to a charity or organization of their choice.

I experienced the best introduction to Avionté Staffing Software. I have been with Avionté for about a month, and much discussion concerned the Year End Party. “Katherine make sure you are free January 21, you do not want to miss this!”  The stories I heard about the past year’s party only added to my anticipation and excitement; hypnotists, dancing, coveted prizes, tigers (only kidding) and lots of dancing.

I am the sales and marketing assistant and part of my responsibilities include event planning and party prep. So the couple of weeks before the big event were spent covering every aspect of the Year End party in great detail. We needed prizes, games, munchies, transportation, name tags, booze (and lots of it), music (the Avionte band debut), and surprises! After all that planning and buying we pulled it off.

We held our gathering at the Dakota Lodge in West St Paul. The Dakota Lodge was a quintessential place to host a party. The night started off with a cocktail hour and many introductions. Just to put it in perspective, Avionte hired about 25 employees in the past year. Our Year End party guest list was double that of the previous year. After some initial mingling, everyone took their seats for dinner and a short presentation by our CEO, John Long. One of the best surprises of the night was the revealing of Operation See-A-Need, which was the launch of our Charitable Arm, The Avionté Hope Foundation. That topic deserves a blog all to itself!

We catered in dinner, enjoyed cocktails, played some highly competitive yet socially awkward team games, raffled prizes, listened to the Avionté band (New Order Wizard and the Worker Comp Claims), danced and sang.  While all of that made for a great party, it was really the amazing group of people that came together to celebrate what they had accomplished as a team over the past year that really made the night special.  There was camaraderie within this company that I had never experienced before in my previous positions and it was truly amazing to be a part of it.   Here’s to an amazing 2011 and looking forward to all that 2012 has to bring!

Corey joined the Avionté team in May of 2011 as Support Manager.  He brought with him a unique set of talents after serving as the Vice President/General Manager for CCI and The Merchandising Team, a reputable Twin Cities staffing and retail service firm, since 2002.  Having been on the client side for so long, Corey has an extraordinary perspective into the dynamic challenges and issues facing the staffing industry today.  As the new Support Manager for Avionté Staffing Software, he manages the client support team and is responsible for driving the highest levels of satisfaction and problem-solving capabilities for our clients. Corey attended the University of Minnesota and lives in Eagan with his wife and their three sons. In his little free time, he enjoys golfing and playing hockey.

by John Long

On August 11-13^th, Avionte had our first ever Client Connection Forum.   

We called it that because we intended it to be a whole lot more than just a User Group meeting. 
To us, we had a couple simple goals:  

• Listen to our clients
• Build relationships
• Help clients gain a greater understanding of Avionté and how they can apply the tools to their businesses.

As our first forum in a poor economy, we were expecting a low number of attendees.   As the registrations continued to climb, our final count was close to 50!  However, numbers alone wouldn’t begin to describe the success of this Forum.  Even now, over 2 weeks later, I’m still humbled and honored to have such a great group of customers and frankly put, friends. 

Top 5 things that I got out of our Forum: 

1.  What a great group of customers and friends we have.  The talent and knowledge level represented was staggering. 
2. Always, always, always listen to your customers about what they need.  Don’t just assume.
3. Our clients are just as interested in each other, as they are in us.   One of the biggest feedbacks about the forum was to have more breakout sessions that featured smaller groups for the staffing individuals to interact.
4. More training – people wanted more staffing software training in all areas.
5. More time with the entire Avionte staff.  Our staff works very closely with each of our clients, so giving them the opportunity to get to know each other and put a face with the voice was a big hit.

Overall, this forum was simply amazing.  Everyone walking out of there (both us and our customers) were blown away and looking forward t next year!

Doug Gilbertson

As one of the first employees of Avionté Staffing Software, Doug has proven to be an extremely devoted and valuable member of the team.    We can’t thank him enough for his long-standing dedication to helping Avionté achieve its success.

Role at Avionté:  Implementation Specialist – Doug is responsible for managing implementation projects for many of our newest clients.  Starting with a kick-off call, Doug guides clients through the process and manages the entire project from setup, conversion, development, parallel and live week.

Outside of Work:  Doug likes to spend his free time ice fishing, deer hunting and hanging out with friends.  He also drives a Honda Prelude in the 4-cylindar Hornet division racing league in Lacrosse, WI.

On the Lighter Side…

• Favorite food – Steak (medium rare)
• What is the first thing you notice about people? – Their looks  (what can we say…he’s an honest guy)
• The world would be a better place if… – The government wasn’t screwed up
• If you were a car, what kind would you be? – A Chevy Colorado Truck