Employee Spotlight: On the Beach with Customer-First Katie Conners
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Known for her sense of humor and infectious laugh, Katie Conners is a person who goes the distance to make sure our customers get the most out of Kenna. As part of the Customer Success team, Katie is often the first to raise her hand, jumping in to help her coworkers without a blink of an eye. Her positive can-do attitude, curiosity to learn, and technical confidence has worked wonders for building relationships with some of our most demanding customers.
Katie’s uncanny ability to walk in her customers’ shoes and the empathy she brings to her role comes from her first-hand experience as a Kenna customer. She led the proof-of-concept (POC) of the Kenna platform (when it was still called RiskI/O) on the vulnerability management team at an American retail health care company. Working very closely with the Kenna team gave Katie an affinity for the company so when the opportunity presented itself to come on board over four years ago, she did not hesitate. And we can safely say Katie has been integral in shaping the product and a consistently positive experience for customers for a long time.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in a small, cute little beach town two hours north of Miami on the east coast of Florida named Palm City. And that’s where I live now.
Q: How did you come into this field of work?
A: I started in security at 19 as a business analyst on the IT team for a small local company. I went through two company acquisitions, landed at Express Scripts, and have been evolving my role in security ever since.
Q: Do you have any interesting hobbies?
A: Exercise is my thing, so I make sure I go to the gym and work out daily. I am also going to school and have two boys, 11 and 6, active in sports, with my oldest playing on a travel baseball team. So I spend most of my time between work, school, kids, and my family.
Q: What is your favorite way to spend the day off?
A: We live close to the beach, so I like to relax there or go on our boat.
Q: Which holiday do you most look forward to every year?
A: My favorite holiday is Christmas for sure. I look forward to having time off with family and enjoying each other’s company.
Q: What t is your favorite memory of your family?
A: I have fond memories of spending time on the west coast of Florida and seeing the sunset on the beach. As a child, my family would go there each year, and I even got married in Siesta Beach – it is my happy place, and I love it there.
Q: If you could relive any moment of your life, which would it be?
A: I guess maybe to take high school a bit more seriously.
Q: In the morning, do you hit the snooze button or wake up immediately?
A: I wake up immediately.
Q: What are the top 5 songs for your road trip playlist?
A: 90’s hip-hop—it’s hard to name just five songs.
Rapid-Fire Round
Q: Phone call or text message?
A: I like phone calls now.
Q: Music or podcast?
A: Music.
Q: Ocean or mountains?
A: I guess I would say ocean, but I have contemplated moving to the mountains.
Q: Burger or taco?
A: Taco.
Q: Deep sea diving or bungee jumping?
A: Neither. Too scary.
