Madison Bartkoski, senior project manager with the CyBear program, was surprised by the number of times she was nominated as a 2024 WashU IT Person of ImpacT. She was one of 12 individuals who received multiple nominations. A Person of ImpacT is an individual who personifies the IT Strategic Plan, ImpacT. “You don’t realize how the work you are doing impacts multiple people. It feels good,” she said.
Bartkoski was the first project manager hired for CyBear and feels amazed at how the program has grown over the years. Currently, her daily responsibilities primarily involve working with Shared Infrastructure, Information Security, Governance, and Compliance. Bartkoski loves what she does and appreciates that people are recognizing her hard work. She said receiving the Person of ImpacT award makes her feel valued and motivates her more to do her work.
Alyssa Todd, Business Analyst IV, was one of Bartkoski’s nominators. In the nomination she said, “Madison excels at driving projects forward through accountability, positive attitude, and [her] collaborative nature. In any interaction with her, I know the work is in good hands, as she has fostered trust amongst her relationships with others.”
With an undergraduate degree in marketing with an emphasis in advertising and promo, one might wonder how Bartkoski ended up in IT. “There was an internship for an IT help person at Missouri State University to help students and professors with their clicker devices and give presentations. I was the clicker girl my junior and senior years. It exposed me to IT, and I liked it so, here I am,” Bartkoski noted.
After college graduation, Bartkoski went to work in data governance and analytics at Charter Communications until a recruiter reached out to her about a position on the IT team at WashU. “I love being a project manager and love being in WashU IT,” she said.
When asked what she thinks makes people feel engaged and valued, Bartkoski points back to each person’s love language. She advises that once a person’s love language is discovered, making them feel valued is easy. “Figure out how they like to receive praise and deliver it to them like that,” she added. As a person whose love languages are words of affirmation and recognition, receiving the People of ImpacT award was, in her words, “the ultimate awesomeness.”
Bartkoski intends to continue developing and learning in her position and plans to one day achieve a leadership position.
When not working at WashU, she and her two dogs Coraline & Winnie enjoy walks and dog parks. She and her husband enjoy traveling to outdoorsy locations, particularly mountains and places where they can hike. She also likes to read and hang out with friends.
Bartkoski added, “Thank you to everyone who nominated me. It really made an impact on me – no pun intended.”
A total of 96 individuals were nominated for an ImpacT award in 2024. Nominations are being collected now through Nov. 1 for 2025 People of ImpacT awards.