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Simply The BestMeet Margaret Montgomery, PEI's behind-the-scenes worker bee.She claims her title is and always has been “simply” an assistant. However, after 32 years, 29 conventions and countless projects,
Margaret Montgomery is far from “simply” anything. She
is the worker bee behind the scenes at PEI headquarters and it is
her quiet and humble nature that helps members get what they need
from their PEI membership.
Margaret was hired at association headquarters in 1974 after working for 18 years at the printing company that handled PEI's publications. When a job opened at PEI, Margaret jumped at the chance. “One of the best moves I've made was to come to PEI,” she says. Over the years, Margaret has witnessed a lot of changes in the industry. “I remember when gasoline went to $1 a gallon,” she says. “The dispensers wouldn't do a dollar a gallon, so some of them sold in half gallons.” The biggest change Margaret has seen over the years has been in the way that the association communicates with its members. The days of addressing and stuffing envelopes, metering mailings and taking them to the post office herself are over for Margaret. “We do some printing during the convention, but we have it printed and sent to a mail house for mailing. For the most part, everything is sent electronically.” For her part, Margaret keeps up and utilizes every technological ad-vance available. Currently working on database maintenance for the Member Directory and assisting the bookkeeper, Margaret is in the office five hours a day, four days a week. Although she likes the nature of the work she does, Margaret says it is the purpose and people of PEI that make her love coming to work. “Bob Renkes is committed to research and reporting information to members that they might not otherwise have access to,” she says. “The camaraderie of the people here and working together make it fun.”
Margaret, a widow who was married for 40 years, has two sons and enjoys spending time with her five grandchildren. In her spare time she has her three youngest granddaughters over for sleepovers and likes to read “anything but Stephen King or Dean Koontz.” Around the office, Margaret is known as the one who knows everyone and everything, and she claims there is nothing the staff in the PEI office doesn't know about her. However, the office may not know how they would get by without her. But it doesn't look like she is going anywhere. “As long as I'm able to drive my car here and be productive, I plan on doing so,” she says. There is simply no changing her mind. |
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