Team Member Highlight: Courtney Simmons

We’re excited to highlight our Director of Programs, Courtney Simmons! She’s been a cornerstone of our team since she joined Bandalier, so we’re excited to put her in the limelight today.

Courtney joined our team as an inside sales rep back in November of 2018, well before Bandalier shifted to remote work. Like many of our team members, she had experience in the hospitality industry and was looking for a new way to use her communication skills. She was an incredible rep for all of her clients – to the point that she was often tapped to help out when programs were struggling.

Hard Work Pays Off

Thanks to her incredible organization and work ethic, she was Bandalier’s first ever Kaizen Award winner – and one of the first people promoted into leadership. In July of 2019, she became an Associate Sales Manager – equivalent to our current Program Manager role. Courtney continued to impress the team, and over her time as a manager, she worked with more than 25 different clients! She managed to beat her previous records for time management and consistently delivered impressive results for her clients and the Bandalier team. While working as a Program Manager, Courtney kept picking up the responsibilities that fell to the wayside. She started helping organize events for the office, planning SPIFFs, and working with her fellow Program Managers to keep things running smoothly across Bandalier.

After two years of working as a manager, Courtney started moving into her current role; in March of 2021, she became the Junior Director of Programs. Over the course of 6 months, she learned all of the ins and outs of every program and worked alongside the leadership team to help improve rep experiences and client results.

Continuing to Step Up

In October of 2021, Courtney started her current role as Bandalier’s Director of Programs. She works with our leadership team to keep programs on pace and advises PMs when they run into tough situations – whether that means that a rep needs help or a client needs advice on process updates, Courtney’s on deck to help solve those problems. She’s also a key organizer – she’s the one who keeps our leadership meetings organized and the invites up-to-date. Courtney is the one who tends to take the lead on organizing in-person events, too. She planned a food truck event that has gone down in Bandalier history for pulling in a crowd much larger than our current team!

More importantly, Courtney has maintained her focus on our reps’ daily experience. She advocates for simple changes that will help improve the team’s daily experiences, and always starts with simple changes. She always seems to have a bank of games ready to launch for our end-of-week meetings and makes sure that we take time to get to know each other even as our team expands across the country.

When looking back at Bandalier’s history, Courtney’s impact is undeniable. We’re incredibly proud of everything she’s accomplished, and we’re looking forward to seeing what else she accomplishes with Bandalier moving forward!

Authored by Abagael Rudock