On August 22, MSBA Meetings Coordinator Theresa Michael marked two decades of service to the Association.
“For the last 20 years, Theresa has been a consistent, reliable mainstay of our administrative operations,” says MSBA Executive Director Paul V. Carlin, noting that the concentration of 80 percent of the Association’s members in the Baltimore-Washington area affords MSBA’s Sections and Committees frequent opportunities to meet. “As our primary Meetings Coordinator, Theresa is extremely busy with scheduling and announcing approximately 500 meetings a year.”
The staff is and has always been great to work with, and everyone seems to get along like a family
Theresa Michael
MSBA Meeting Coordinator
Naturally, much has changed during Michael’s tenure with MSBA. Hired as Administrative Assistant just 12 days after her 21st birthday (her job title was changed in 2002), Michael recalls going to work in an office equipped with manual typewriters and word processors. She also remembers “a crazy telephone system where we had to ‘park calls’ [while we] let whomever the call was for know what line their call was on.”
Likewise, Michael’s own life has evolved. “Since then, I’ve married, had a baby and seem to have entered my forties,” she laughs. “How did that happen?”
Carlin credits Michael’s willingness “to go that extra mile” in tending to the many details her position demands as a valuable asset to the Association. “It takes a highly organized person to do her job,” he explains, “and she has accomplished it to near perfection.”
But for Michael, the job’s appeal goes beyond skill and determination. “The best thing about working here is that it’s comfortable – like being at home,” she says. “I think that’s why I’ve stayed so long: the staff is and always has been great to work with, and everyone seems to get along like family. Heck, we are family.”
