Expert Spotlight: Susan M. Walker
Helping people has always been Susan Walker’s biggest interest.
As BPUB’s Customer Service Manager, Walker is now an expert in customer relations, but it took 20 years of banking experience and three more as a business manager at a local physical therapy clinic to get there.
BPUB serves over 40,000 Brownsville residents and works with customers to ensure their payments are correct and on time. Walker’s careful consideration for customers came from her experience helping patients in her former job.
“The patients were people with injuries, disabilities and illnesses that gave me an appreciation for my own health and the health of my family,” she said. “It also gave me an appreciation for the strength people can find when dealing with some very difficult issues. It was an extremely enlightening experience.”
Because BPUB offers an array of services to customers and employees, Walker was already exposed to BPUB as a banker and at the clinic.
At the bank, she responded to requests for proposals for bank depository bids, and at the clinic, she offered pre-employment screenings to BPUB’s safety officer. Her husband also served two terms on BPUB’s Public Utilities Board Consumer Advisory Panel (PUBCAP) and would tell her about the great projects BPUB was doing. When the customer service manager position opened, Walker jumped at the chance.
Her biggest accomplishment as a manager has been implementing the Cayenta Billing System with the Customer & Information Services (CIS) team.
“When I started at BPUB in 1999, the Customer Service area was doing more things manually than with computer programs,” Walker said. “Today, we have either in-house-developed programs or off-the-shelf programs for many processes as well as the billing system, Cayenta.”
Cayenta is used by many utilities nationwide. Its enterprise resource planning system delivers the functionality, scalability and integration that utilities require to keep up with changing regulations and technologies.
“I love the variety of issues we deal with in customer service,” she said. “There is always something new that comes up, and it becomes a learning experience.”
Her proud moments at work always come from customers.
“When I’m told by people in the community that they appreciate the work we do and the commitment our employees have for the services we provide, I’m very happy and proud to be a member of this family,” Walker said.
In the future, she looks forward to BPUB continuing to make technological upgrades to its infrastructure to provide faster access to information to customers.
Walker recently celebrated 41 years of marriage with her husband Bob and has three children, Matthew, Shane and Logan. Their blessings continue to grow as they are expecting the arrival of their first grandchild. George, a 15-month-old golden-doodle, is as excited as the rest of his family to meet the new baby.