by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Deborah Gierke has an appreciation for downtown areas, which is why she is so enthusiastic about being the new office manager of Downtown Vision, Inc.
“The thing that attracted me to DVI was I worked in downtown Chicago for six years,” she said. “I really liked the downtown atmosphere.
“I hadn’t worked downtown for years since then, but I like the fact that the job they were offering was basically what I was looking for. It matched the skills, the other positions I’ve had in the past.
“And I’ve heard about all the improvements downtown. I hear this from people I know who work down here. They said it’s amazing what has happened just in the last couple of years.”
Gierke, who started her new job the middle of August, came to DVI from Remedy Intelligent Staffing, where she was a staffing assistant. The business handles temporary and permanent staff placement for light industrial and office clerical.
She is also pleased the DVI position will incorporate some work in human resources.
“That’s basically what I’m working toward, getting more into the HR area in office management,” said Gierke. “A lot of my experience is in that area. I was HR coordinator at Episcopal Children’s Services and worked under the director there.
“I also was an office manager for a small corporation, and I did all the HR there. I worked for Met Life, their agency here in Jacksonville, and I was the office administrator there.
“So I pretty much have an office manager background.”
The office manager at DVI
basically does everything,
she said: financial reports, the monthly statements, all the payrolls. She coordinates benefits and does the orientation for new employees.
“I’m also involved in the day-to-day operations of different problems and working with our employment attorney on issues relating to employment,” she said. “I’ve always assisted in that area, but now I’m going to be actually doing it. That really attracted me to this job.”
Gierke, originally from Detroit, came to Jacksonville nine years ago with her husband, Mark, and daughter, Jessica, now 16 and a student at Mandarin High School.
“My husband’s job [at Banker’s Life and Casualty] brought me here,” said Gierke. “We’ve actually been all over the place.”
The most immediate task in her new job will be to make sure everyone involved with DVI feels they’re part of the same “family.”
“We have our Ambassadors, who are located in a different building,” said Gierke. “They work outside, and we very rarely get to see them here.
“One of my challenges for me personally is to bring everybody together as a whole team, get everybody comfortable with each other. And having the Ambassadors feel like we’re all one team.
“They do an excellent job, and we want them to feel like they’re part of DVI, part of this office.”
Gierke has no particular long-range goals and will see what happens as time passes.
“As [DVI] grows, I’d really like, personally, to stay in the HR area,” she said. “I’m just focusing on getting a real HR department in.
“But we’ll see what happens if something else comes my way that might interest me.”
The local economy is one
major difference between here
and other places Gierke and her family have been, especially Detroit.
“The economy here is better than up there, absolutely,” she said. “We’re the only place where the housing market is really booming.”
The weather, naturally, is another big difference.
“I love not having the snow, but I miss the snow during the holidays,” said Gierke. “The only thing I can say I miss down here that’s different from what I’m used to is the change of the colors in the trees, and the fact that they have a lot of different fall festivals up there with cider mills.
“It’s an apple state. They have a lot of different things that I always went to every year.
“But do I miss anything as far
as the weather? I just love
Jacksonville. I like how it warms up right away. And the cost
of living here is very nice compared to up there. We don’t plan on moving.”