Blum is a peach…and totally bananas!

MCC payroll manager Stacey Blum is known for two things: being helpful and being wacky. Well, and being the paycheck lady. Now she can add one more moniker to the list: employee of the month.

Blum, who was selected for the honor earlier this month by colleagues at the Administrative Center, is described as “the shining light in her department.” Her helpfulness, responsiveness and dedication have been credited with ensuring employees are paid correctly and on time even when the department was understaffed.

Blum has worked in MCC’s payroll office for
 12 years, starting as a payroll technician, then specialist, then coordinator. She was promoted to payroll manager in December 2010 when former payroll manager Janice Cole retired.

Prior to joining MCC, Blum spent five years at Argosy Casino, working her way up from ticketing agent to various roles in accounting and human resources. She attended classes at MCC-Longview and then went to Park University and graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management.

During her time at MCC, Blum has held a number of leadership positions, including serving as both treasurer and secretary for the AC staff association. In 2008 she graduated from the MCC Leadership Academy, where she developed a prototype of a program that would help employees create a plan to work towards their dream job if they are working in a different department than where they would ultimately like to work.

“To be honest, when I started at MCC I really wanted to be in a role that dealt directly with students but I didn’t qualify because I didn’t have that experience,” said Blum. “So when Leadership Academy gave me the opportunity to work on a project that I felt would benefit MCC, I was excited to draft a plan to help employees to realize their career goals through cross-training.”

The project hasn’t yet been implemented, Blum says, but she hopes to work with MCC’s professional development team to bring it to fruition. One of the things she appreciates most about MCC is the focus on educational opportunities for employees, including tuition reimbursement and tuition remission, and she thinks an increased focus on career path advancement would also benefit individual employees and MCC as a whole.

When she’s not at the office, Blum enjoys spending time with her husband and 10-year old daughter, Hailey, watching hockey, racing remote-controlled cars and camping. She hopes to be a positive, healthy role model for Hailey. In 2010, the pair completed their first 5k fitness event together and Hailey was the top fundraiser for the youth portion of the event, thanks to her mom’s help.