Rock Star of the Month (June 2018) – Judy Ruiz

STEVE JACOBSON ANNOUNCES THIS MONTH’S ROCK STAR

It’s time to award our latest JCA Rock Star Award. This time, however, our Rock Star Award could just as easily have been called the “Unsung Hero Award.” According to the Urban Dictionary, an Unsung Hero is “someone who does a great job, yet receives little or no recognition for that. An unsung hero usually refrains from claiming too much in return for his/her efforts.” There’s also a national holiday for unsung heroes called “National Underdog Day,” which was established in 1976 to celebrate the unlikely and “unsung heroes of literature, movies, sports, and life.” But National Underdog Day isn’t until December and our latest JCA Rock Star deserves her recognition now. So… drumroll, please. Our latest JCA Rock Star Award goes to Judy Ruiz.

Judy has long been JCA’s go-to resource for everything JCA. Back when we were smaller and had our offices in the Old McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street, Judy took care of all of our administrative needs. You never had to ask twice; whatever you needed was done right the first time and always served up with a smile. Even when we had a blackout and Judy had to walk down 30 flights of stairs WHILE PREGNANT, she still had a smile on her face.

Now, we’re in bigger quarters, but the same smile persists. As one of her colleagues who travels occasionally to the NYC office said, “Judy is one of the most welcoming people I’ve ever worked with. Whenever I show up at the NYC office—usually after a 6am train ride to NYC—she always has a smile ready that just starts my day off in the right way.”

Judy simply makes the JCA engine go: she is so knowledgeable about our accounting, financial reporting, and payroll—and is a font of institutional knowledge. And, she’s always quick to lend a helping hand, whether it’s listening to a colleague’s tribulations or helping a new staff member get up to speed. Her office is the unofficial water cooler of the NYC office.

And if all of this isn’t enough, here are some of the statements that her colleagues use to describe her: she is “an independent thinker” who “exceeds her responsibilities.” Judy is always “cooperative and knowledgeable” and “strives for a high level of performance.” Judy has a “knack for getting an amazing amount of things done every month, everything that comes her way, and I doubt this is a surprise to anyone at JCA.”

Please join me in congratulating Judy Ruiz as our latest JCA Rock Star!