Interview with Katy Bassindale, Business Analyst

I’m going to warm us up with a personal question. What are some interesting things about yourself — a hobby, passion, volunteer activity …

I’m on the board of two nonprofits in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

One is House of Hope, which provides emergency shelter and housing stability programs for young parents and their children who are experiencing homelessness. The largest population of House of Hope residents each year are infants and children under the age of five. I just got involved with that last year, and it’s a great organization. It’s one of the few shelters that serves this young adult population, and it serves quite a big area.

I’m also on the board of Service League of Green Bay, which supports the children of Brown County who are in need. Our biggest project is the back-to-school store, which can serve up to 3,000 kids every year. We fundraise, apply for grants, and ask for sponsorship from companies in the area for our financial support. Then, throughout the year we shop for backpacks, shoes, socks, and underwear. The store has changed over the years; we try to change based on what the need is each year, based on feedback from school social workers and local agencies. In addition, we work with the school social workers and local agencies to improve the experience each year.

That’s incredible. How did you get involved with those organizations?

When I moved back to Green Bay, I was looking to get involved and give back to the community. So, I joined Service League. Then, about a year ago, a friend I used to work with recruited me to House of Hope.

Recently I took on the role of president of Service League because there was a need. Membership in the organization has gone down, along with engagement, so I want to see if we can change that by trying to do things a little differently and evolve the organization.

You mentioned before we started talking about your nonprofit work that you have a lot of nieces and nephews …

Yes, that’s another interesting thing about me! I have 12 nieces and nephews — six girls, six boys. I have two brothers and a sister, and they all have four kids. It’s fun, they keep me busy. We have what we call “birthday season” between March and June — there’s a birthday party practically every other week.

I’m also a dog mom — I have a six-year-old goldendoodle, Frank.

I’ve got one more personal question before we get into the business side of things: Can you tell me a funny story about yourself?

I accidentally won a race!

During my sophomore year of high school, Green Bay had an inaugural 4-mile race and a half marathon, and the race ended running down the middle of Lambeau Field. My dad had recently started his own business, so my whole family ran this race wearing t-shirts with his company’s name on it. My younger brother and I had to use the restroom right before the race, so we decided to run together and break off from the rest of the group. On our way back to the starting line, the gun went off — so we were a little late getting started, but no big deal. It was a fun run.
We ran down Lambeau, and as we were coming into the finish line, the male and female runners had separate lanes to run through (this was before there were chips in your race bib). I hear, “first woman, first woman” and they were adamant about getting my race number torn off my bib. Didn’t think anything of it — just thought it was weird.

I met up with my brother and he was laughing. He asked, “You were the first woman?” I was like, “I don’t know. No? I am not a runner; I am sure others finished before me. I heard them say first woman, but just thought they meant, like, first one coming through in a while.”

Turns out we had started with the half marathoners, at least 15 minutes before the 4mi race started! A trophy was shipped to my house along with a lot of recruitment for other races. After finding this out, I wanted to give the trophy back, but they only had like four or five of the other top 10 finishers names posted, so I just kept the trophy as a joke.

Let’s switch gears and talk about your work with Syte. What is your favorite thing about working at this company and with this team?

My favorite thing is developing client relationships and being an advocate for them in such an impactful, meaningful way. I have been in the client’s shoes, and Syte’s role is so valuable and needed throughout the transformation process.

What is something Syte clients say about working with you?

Our clients would say that they consider me as another person on their team. That I am in the trenches with them, keeping them in line with their eye on the prize. I’m really good at developing relationships and trust with our clients. When you trust the person you’re working with, you are much more open about what’s really going on, and aren’t afraid to raise the issues.

How did you get into this line of work, business analysis?

I went to UW Milwaukee and majored in information science with a minor in business. I was always really interested in technology, and I even did a little bit of programming early on — but I didn’t like that. One of the companies I worked for early in my career went through some major changes while I was there. They went public and acquired two other large manufacturing companies. That was my first taste of leading a team through system consolidation and implementation. Then I worked for a dairy manufacturing company, on a team that was responsible for implementing the ERP system and standardizing business processes at all of their international locations.

I met Erin about two years before I started working with Syte. She was telling me about their approach, and I was like, yes — every company going through ERP needs a partner like Syte on their side!

Based on your experience, what should CEOs and CFOs be keeping an eye on right now?

AI is on the cusp of completely changing things.

AI can give you insight and access to info that we have never had before. CEOs and CFOs should think about how they can use AI to help improve internal operations and look for opportunities to use AI to improve customer-facing pieces of the business. Keep a focus on high value areas that will increase customer and employee experience.