Teamwork

Volunteering at Rebuilding Together St. Louis, the charity that helps repair homes for people in need, has become something of a Scottrade tradition, thanks to the leadership of Ryan Blum, Senior Counsel, and Joe Pope, President of Scottrade Bank.

Ryan got the whole thing started, getting the company involved with the organization a couple of years ago. It was his determination to give back to his community that inspired so many fellow associates. Shortly after Joe joined Scottrade, he joined Ryan in his philanthropic engagement. Together with associates from various departments, a trivia night was planned to raise funds for Rebuilding Together. More than 160 people showed up and the take came to $4,000.

In spring 2009, Joe asked other associates to join him in fixing up a house for a community member. A few weeks later, Joe and a crew of Scottrade associates and their family members showed up at the community member's home with tools and supplies.

Over the next 12 hours, the group transformed the house with much-needed renovations and repairs. This included new ceilings in the living room and dining room. They remodeled the kitchen with fresh paint, new floor, new cabinets, countertops, sink and faucet, upgraded electric service and a new drop ceiling. Flower beds were planted in the rear of the house and they created new landscaping for the front of the house, including construction of a keystone wall and installation of edging stones.

"I would just like to say thank you to everyone involved," Joe said in an e-mail to his crew. "I hope you truly appreciate the fact that we made a difference in someone's life on Saturday.

"I took my middle son, Michael, with me on Sunday to put the finishing touches on the kitchen and the community member was there with her daughter," Joe said. "She had been outside all morning admiring our additions to her yard, and she and her daughter were now inside cleaning and moving things around, with the sense of enthusiasm you gain when moving into a new house. She and her daughter couldn't stop thanking me, and I know her appreciation for our efforts was sincere."

When Tracie Gildehaus, Director of Business Architecture, was asked to lead an effort to revamp Scottrade's corporate Intranet, known as The Insider, she knew she had a huge job on her hands and that she couldn't do it alone.

Everyone at Scottrade uses The Insider and considers it vital to the work they do for the company. Tracie created several teams with members from just about every department – one team to choose the software, another to pick the business partners to implement it and a group that assisted in its design and user experience.

That last group put the pedal to the metal to deliver the product in a timely manner.

"The Insider team worked late almost every night for weeks around the holidays to prepare to launch the new intranet," Tracie said. "Often they were working 12- and 13-hour days and surviving on pizza delivery and fast food. No matter how badly you want to go home, you don't want to be the one to walk out when your co-workers and friends are busting their tails!"

One Scottrade associate, Brendan Mongey, Portal User Experience Analyst, was planning to go home in the evening to grab his sleeping bag and bring it up to work so he could work through the night if needed, and catch a nap in between.

"I thought he was kidding, but he really was planning to do that!" Tracie said. "He was able to sleep in his own bed that night, but I know it was that kind of dedication to the team – not wanting to let any of the team members down – that kept them all motivated during such a stressful time."

The portal debuted in January 2008 and was greeted with praise from across the company.