athenista Spotlight: Meet Donna Berry
athenaPulse: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Donna Berry: I have been with athenahealth in the Maine office since March of this year. I live in Newport, Maine with my husband of 25 years and have 2 grown daughters. Before joining athenahealth, I was an EA in both the Manufacturing and Banking industries.
aP: Can you explain your job at athenahealth?
DB: My position at athenahealth has a wide variety of tasks with two major components. My primary duty is to support David Tassoni, the Director of Maine Operations, by assisting in meeting planning, reporting and general support. And part of that support is also to work closely with the executive assistants to ensure the folks they support have what they need if they travel to Maine.
My second major responsibility is facilities-related; I work with our vendors to keep our building clean and supplied daily. Tasks can range from ordering basic items such as book shelves for offices as people move into them to making sure the mail is delivered and\or mailed on time. I get a good deal of assistance with that as I work very closely with our one and only Maine facilities representative Karen Moody. She and I, together, ensure that folks in Maine have the facilities support they need to get there work done.
aP: What was it like being one of the athenahealth Maine’s first employees?
DB: I consider myself very fortunate to be one of the first Maine athenistas. I was hired as employee #5 to the Maine site. Now we have over 70 folks here so we have come a long way. It gives me a great a sense of pride and ownership to see what athena has done for this building and the community. The building has transformed into a beautiful and welcoming space, and knowing that my work had an impact in the overall outcome is very gratifying.
aP: How did you decide Athena was where you wanted to work?
DB: I had the opportunity to find out about athenahealth from David Tassoni. When he joined athenahealth he shared with me what a great company it was and I started to do some research. The more time I spent reviewing information about the company the more I knew it was a good fit for me. After discussing the options available at athena I was fortunate to be offered this position.
aP: What is one thing that people may not know about you?
DB: For most of the past 7 years we (my husband and I) spent every weekend all summer long drag racing snowmobiles seeing who could go faster and win more races. We even got my daughters involved with the sport until college took them away from it. In the winter we make every effort to ensure that we dedicate time for riding. Our favorite place to take our sleds is about a three hour drive north to Aroostook County where the trails are wide and flat and there is “a lot” of snow.
aP: What do you enjoy doing after work/outside of work?
DB: In the last few years I have been focusing on home improvements. My husband and I create a project list every week to see what we will work on over the weekend. So if I am going to run into anyone from work on the weekends, it will most likely be at one of our local home improvement centers where I can be found shopping for lumber or some other hardware product.
aP: As a resident, what tips would you offer to a first time Maine traveler?
DB: My suggestion for someone traveling to Maine would be to embrace the picturesque beauty that Maine has to offer. Maine has many beautiful landscapes that are off the beaten path and shouldn’t be missed. My advice, be adventurous and take some detours to see what’s out there! There is a newly opened observatory, the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory, located between Bucksport and Verona Island, that offers miles of fantastic views.
aP: If you were given five million dollars, what would you do?
DB: If I had five million dollars I would take half and donate to cancer research as that cause is near and dear to me. Then I would make some sound investments to secure my retirement future. However if there was one luxury item I would purchase it would be vintage street rod for my husband and I to cruise in on the weekends and put on the drag strip from time to time for fun.
