Welcome to Our New WashU IT Team Members
As we embark on a New Year, we are joined by some new faces. Each new hire adds to the richness of the WashU IT workplace culture. A mix of expertise, talent, experience, and personality makes it possible for us to serve our customers and achieve our goals.
Originally from Brazil, Tahnee Alves Ayala Pereira brings a robust marketing and communications background to her new full-time position. She is an integral part in the development and execution of the IT Strategic plan’s marketing and communications effort. Additionally, Tahnee works closely with a variety of customers within WashU IT and across campus.
Guided by her family’s principles, education has played an important role throughout Tahnee’s life. Her father, an orthopedic surgeon, pursued his path following an important conversation he shared with his daughter. Tahnee noted, “My grandfather told him once that if he wanted to have a different life, he would have to create it himself. And that education was the path for it.”
When her daughter was a few days old, she made the decision to leave the corporate environment and pursue employment at WashU.
She added, “I feel professionally fulfilled every time I think about our team and the work we’ve been doing, and I’m excited about what’s coming next.”
As a new Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) Analyst, Amisha Bhatt said she is most excited to bring her energy to the Asset Management Program and make an impact on the university. She was contacted by five different recruiters about the position. With each interview for the role, she said she became “more interested and excited about the role.”
She added, “WashU is a reputable and remarkable institution of knowledge in St. Louis and beyond. The energy of the Asset Management team, their collaborative spirit, invitation for feedback, and earnest praise for one-another was magnetic. I increasingly believed that working with this team would push me to learn, grow, and advance my knowledge, experience, and confidence in the ITAM (IT Asset Management) and ITSM space.
Amisha noted, taking this position was a move that would have made her father proud. “He highly valued education and had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.” Amisha lives in St. Louis with her partner, Jake, and their two sons.
As the new IT Project, Portfolio, and Governance Coordinator, Alpa Shah brings a wealth of experience to the WashU IT team. She has a background in health care. Intrigued by the highly detailed job positing that captured exactly what the hiring manager was looking for in a potential candidate, Alpa applied for her new position.
Of the posting she said, “When I read it, it felt like this position was tailor made for me. It played to my strengths and offered me the opportunity to be where I want to be at this point in my career.”
Alpa said she sees the university as an amazing place to study and work. She added, “While it is important to be part of a good organization, it’s equally important to be a part of a good team and have a good leader.”
Speaking to what made her decide this was the job for her, she said, “It reminds me of a quote from Steve Jobs: ‘Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become.”
As a Business Analyst III, Kristie Grote was inspired to apply for her position in the Asset Management Program based on her previous employment experience at WashU. She noted, “During my tenure, I enjoyed interacting with my peers and stakeholders across the university. Both projects implemented Change Management components, and I enjoyed learning about current processes and figuring out what we could do to enhance their process.”
She added, “The part I enjoy the most is meeting with our stakeholders and understanding their needs, along with the needs of the effort I am working on to configure a solution that works for both the stakeholders and IT.”