Names from left: Erin Darrow, Jarrett MacDonald, Suzanne MacDonald.
Recent growth at Blue Ocean Contact Centers has triggered restructuring and new appointments in the company’s project management team. Among those new appointments are the promotions of three young professionals, Erin Darrow, Jarrett MacDonald, and Suzanne MacDonald, who all began their careers with Blue Ocean as agents. “We get a lot of bright young people coming through our doors early in their working lives,” says Kim Campbell, who has recently been appointed Vice-president, Operations of Blue Ocean, “Our goal as an employer of choice in our marketplace is to provide opportunities for growth for the quality people we attract. It’s a formula that adds to the value proposition for our clients,” Kim says, “Retaining talent and developing senior managers from the ground up creates a depth of project knowledge that has a direct benefit for our clients.”
Blue Ocean has a solid track record of nurturing management talent. 40% of the company’s salaried staff started in entry-level positions and average tenure on the management team is 14 years. “The appointment of Erin, Jarrett, and Suzanne as project managers on their respective projects represents another chapter in that success story,” Kim Campbell adds.
All three newly-minted project managers have followed a similar career trajectory at Blue Ocean starting out as customer service agents and moving into coach positions before becoming project coordinators, and most recently accepting senior positions on their respective teams.
Erin Darrow joined Blue Ocean in 2000. Erin, who has a BSc from Acadia University, started her career at Blue Ocean as a reservations agent and was promoted to coach and corporate trainer. For the past four years, Erin has been project coordinator for the team providing logistics support to the worldwide leader in networking.
Jarrett MacDonald, who did his undergraduate work in French at Universite Ste Anne, has been with the company since 2007. Jarrett’s first position was as an agent for one of Blue Ocean’s telecommunications projects. As project manager of Blue Ocean’s Help Desk operations, Jarrett now has responsibility for the company’s shared pool clients.
Suzanne MacDonald, who is also bilingual, is a graduate of Mount Saint Vincent University. Suzanne joined Blue Ocean as an agent in 2008 with the launch of the company’s project providing reservations support for the global leader in executive ground transportation. Suzanne now leads that team as project manager.
“These three individuals have gained the knowledge and experience to be recognized as leaders in contact center management,” Kim Campbell says, “Over their years with Blue Ocean, each one of them has earned the trust and respect of the world-class clients they serve and the teams they lead.”
