Our team spotlight for this month is the one and only Tara Nachreiner, Field Pros Direct’s Office Manager. During this session of our Team Spotlight Q&A session, we will introduce you to Tara Nachreiner on a personal level and take a peek into her professional journey with Field Pros Direct.
Tara has been with us at Field Pros Direct (FPD) for 3 years now. Join us on this month’s edition of the Team Spotlight series as we get to know Tara better.
What is your role at Field Pros Direct?
My official role is that of an Office Manager. I mainly work with one of our larger accounts that starts right from when we receive assignments. I start by assigning claims to matched field adjusters all the way to closure of the claims in Xactanalysis and making sure we meet all our KPIs and milestones throughout this process. Additionally, I work closely with Bonnie Winters, Savannah Gray, and the Customer Success team.
What does an average day look like for you during regular as well as CAT season?
Every day begins with a nice fresh cup of coffee for me and the luxury of working from my home office! My labrador, Bella, joins me in my routine as she plops herself next to my feet. There is a lot of multitasking involved. A major part of my day goes into replying to emails coming from carriers, field adjusters, and desk adjusters on statuses, requests for supplements, as well as reinspection requests. I also work closely with reviewers, the customer care team, and FPD management to keep the claims moving. I assign a lot of new claims to the field and I speak to adjusters over the phone throughout the day.
During CAT season, all of this increases tenfold, but my main priority during CAT season is deployment. This includes getting the adjusters where they are ready to be deployed, focusing on getting all the claims assigned out, and making sure that we get all our reports on time.
What has been the most rewarding experience for you this past year?
I would say the way we have all pulled together as a family with what last year threw at us has been nothing short of amazing. Not only did we have COVID but we also dealt with back-to-back hurricanes (Laura and Delta) landing in the same area. Harnessing technology to deal with these situations and building our FPD family has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me.
My relationship with my work family has evolved to the point where we interact beyond just claims. We know what’s going on with each other’s lives, how their day has been, and crack jokes for a laugh. So I would say getting to build a deeper bond with my work family has been truly rewarding.
What is your favorite part about Field Pros Direct?
I know I’m repeating myself but the family culture that we have built at FPD is the best. All of us work hard, play hard, and have fun together. It’s amazing how everything flows so well with field adjusters, desk adjusters, reviewers, internal teams, and senior management. Everyone feels like family and that is not easy to find.
What was a big lesson you learned over the last year?
Last year taught me how to nail work-life balance and it has been amazing. I have two boys and I’ve been reflecting on how quickly time flies when you are raising kids. One day you’re chasing them across the kitchen, taking them to baseball games, watching them roll their eyes at you as teenagers, and you feel as if it will never end.
As I look back, I see my oldest graduating from the University of Illinois now going to graduate school and my other one graduating from high school and attending the University of Milwaukee in the fall being left with an empty nest. So those who are in the middle of such a process must enjoy the ride, savour every moment, and find their own work-life balance.
If you had to pick three words to define Field Pros Direct, what would they be?
For me, the first word would be ‘innovation’. We are always trying to harness technology to simplify older processes and create new ones that streamline our business, including our adjuster app (which has been a huge success).
Even when it comes to communication, we were innovative in the way we used Slack during CAT season to answer field adjuster’s questions and shared them across so everyone could learn from them. Not to forget how we leverage technology to run reports and track milestones as well as managing tasks within our project management software has been very innovative.
The next two words would be ‘family’ and ‘culture’. I know I’m repeating myself here but it’s the truth. Despite being remote, FPD has truly been a family for me and for everyone who works here. When we first started, 4 years ago, it was me, Matt Anderson, Bonnie Winners, Danielle Manzo, Matt Cronican, and shortly afterward, Bentley Laytin. We didn’t have a customer service team or a reviewers team at that point. It has been pretty amazing to see how much we’ve grown in such a short amount of time. And the quality of people who have become a part of our family has been impeccable. Now with Bridgewater Group as our newest addition, I’d say kudos to Matt Anderson for bringing us all together.
What is something people might not know about you?
I think most people know this already but I love visiting flea markets. I also love refinishing furniture and decorating after getting inspired by various HGTV shows. But something people may or may not know from my accent is the place where I am from. I never hear it myself when I talk to people but everyone says that I do say some words oddly, or have unusual phrases.
Those who are familiar with it can probably guess that I am from the Midwest. I currently live in Chicago, but I grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison ( go Badgers!). I’ve been in Chicago for the last 16 years but I’m a die-hard Badgers and Packers fan through and through.
My fiancee and I are always at odds with each other because he grew up in Chicago and is obviously a Bears fan whereas I grew up in Wisconsin, a true Packers fan. As you may know, Bears fans cannot stand Packers fans. So during football season, I’m always outnumbered when we go to watch a game with our friends. But it’s still fun.
What are some of the memorable DIY projects you’ve done?
One of the first projects that I did was an old record cabinet... It belonged to my mother. Andy, my fiancé, and I whitewashed it and that was our first attempt at refinishing furniture (pictured below). It now belongs in my office. After that, we got a couple of dressers. One is from the late 1800s and the other one is a bit more recent and is more like a chest. I’ve been working on it for a while now but looking forward to seeing it completed.
