Grateful

Yesterday and today my newly-merged company, Corizon, finished the "consolidation of corporate office positions" -- in other words, laid off the people whose jobs overlapped at each of the offices. We ended up losing like 35 people out of our 200 at the Brentwood office. It was about the same number at the St. Louis office.

We have all lived in fear over the past three months, as this merger has played out, knowing that after the June 3rd finalization the cuts would come.

I am GRATEFUL that my position has been retained -- there is nobody at the St. Louis office doing what I do. I am so thankful to still be employed, have benefits, work for Jon Walker (who is a great boss), and to (at least for now) have the security of a regular paycheck. I know that a lot of things are still changing, and my job duties may change. But for now, I HAVE a job! YAY!

And...I'm finally getting an assistant -- DOUBLE YAAAAY!!!

Blood Relatives

I am embarrassed to admit, but yes, I am related to these two women who are trying out for "The Cowardly Lion" in The Wizard of Oz or something...kids, kids, kids.

My sisters, Lori and Corinne

Waaaaaay too much time on their hands...!

Can you say "PINK?"

I can...and I feel this sudden urge to go shopping!!

Bounce

Loved a quote repeated by someone in their testimony at church yesterday:

"It doesn't matter how far you fall.
It only matters how high you bounce."

Great food for thought...

CORIZON

On March 7th, my company, PHS Correctional Healthcare announced a merger agreement with Correctional Medical Services (CMS) in St. Louis. PHS founded the industry in 1978, and CMS broke off from us and started their own company a couple of years later, and we have been fierce competitors for the past 30 years, the leading players in the industry. The announcement of the merger was something like an 'engagement,' and yesterday was the actual 'wedding,' when the merger became final. We now have over 11,000 employees, and serve appx. 400 jail/prison sites.

Over the past 3 months, we have worked around the clock to make all the behind-the-scenes marketing and communications preparations for this merger. We came up with a new name through an employee contest, choosing from over 2200 entries -- and we developed the logo below:

...the look/feel/message of the logo denotes ongoing journey, bringing two paths together, always moving, striving for success, looking to the horizon, etc. So far, we have created an interim website, internal employee communications processes, developed & printed letterhead & business cards, written press releases and policies, ordered branded shirts & other items for 11,000 employees that drop-shipped yesterday, and a host of other marketing-related aspects of the transition.

All of this had to be done behind closed doors due to the fact that PHS was a publicly traded company, and until the transaction was final, none of the information about a "joint" company could be public. So we were working under 'covert' circumstances with much tension about the word getting out.

It's been EXHAUSTING, very long days with too much to do -- and we still had to keep doing our "day job!" I am so glad we are now to the point where we are. Now the real work begins as we bring these two industry leaders together. We'll be developing a new marketing campaign, building new trade show and promotional materials, launching new internal and external marketing tools, and the list goes on...

Being such a huge company now brings many opportunities. I'm excited to learn what the future holds as we join together, and see what exactly my role will be (hopefully I'll still have one!) within the new company.

Go, CORIZON! (http://www.corizonhealth.com/)