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References

This page provides references from people with whom Grace worked. They are arranged in four groups as you scroll down the page:

1) People who supervised Grace,

2) People Grace supervised,

3) People Grace collaborated with from other departments,

4) People Grace collaborated with from outside her employer's organization

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Cleaning Products

Supervisors of Grace

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Nan Mays

VPHR

Caraustar 

Industries

Intelligent, talented, focused, honest, humorous, and compassionate are just a few words that describe Grace Lawson. Grace worked for me as Corporate Manager of Health and Welfare Plans for over four years. Her attention to detail, superb technical skills and knowledge of benefits made her a highly valued member of our HR staff. She led and successfully completed numerous projects. Grace's coaching and mentoring skills, along with her great sense of humor were simply value added. I highly recommend Grace Lawson as a competent and proven senior level Human Resources Professional.

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Barry Smedstad

VPHR

Caraustar

Industries

As head of HR I had the pleasure of working with Grace during her five years with Caraustar and experiencing the extraordinary value that she brought to the organization while managing the company's health and welfare benefits programs. During her tenure the company had year over year declining or zero healthcare claims costs as the result of her creative and aggressive oversight of every aspect of the plans. She also pursued very effective and efficient benefits administration outsourcing and the establishment of a comprehensive wellness initiative. Both of which also contributed significantly to healthcare cost reductions. Over a two-year period she also participated in a comprehensive ERP implementation project in a manner that substantially improved the interface between payroll and benefits administration. Bottom line is that Grace is a dedicated professional with the skills and experience to bring significant value to any organization. 

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John Lurz

VP Private Equity

Alliant Insurance Services

I worked very closely with Grace on two client assignments when we were at Mercer together. I was senior to her but in reality, we were closer to peers. Both projects we worked on were under very tight timeframes and high pressure. The projects include 3 consecutive all-nighters to complete, and we would not have gotten this work done without her tenacity. Up to this point in my career, Grace is the most genuine person I have worked with. She is very passionate about whatever she gets involved in. She is smart and innovative and is a quick study. She wants to work hard, try new things, and have fun. She wants the people she works with to excel. If you speak with her for any amount of time this will come across immediately because that is truly what she is all about. I would hire her in a second if had an opening at our company. 

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Mike Keough

President &

CEO

Caraustar 

Industries

Grace made significant improvements to our benefits program at Caraustar. These improvements included automating our benefits enrollment process, establishing an online benefits information website, and implementing a wellness program with incentives, wellness assessments and on-site wellness screenings. Over 60% of our employees participated in the wellness programs. These tasks were made more complex because we had approximately 90 locations in 30 states with 30 unions, resulting in significant variance in benefit offerings and employee contribution rates. Surveys from our locations indicated that all these programs were well received by our employees with 97-98% rating the new processes as good, very good, or excellent.

 

Grace also partnered with other departments to make the conversion from our Infiinium payroll system to the new J.D. Edwards enterprise resource planning system. During this process, her setup of the new system eliminated several hundred journal entries that previously had to be made each month. She was also effective at managing our vendor relationships, optimizing our benefit plan offerings/designs and ensuring that any transition from one vendor to another was as smooth as possible. I recommend Grace for any organization. She is a continual learner, constantly looks for ways to improve business processes and is an excellent project manager.  

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Mark

Stroman

I had the pleasure of working with Grace on several client projects at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Grace has an exceptional ability to manage huge projects and is extremely detailed oriented. She is an absolute wiz with numbers and would make a very strong addition to any team. I strongly recommend Grace. 

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Greg

Whittle

VP Private Equity

Alliant Insurance Services

Grace is a high-performing individual with great enthusiasm with excellent productivity. She is excellent at multitasking, and her technical background as a consultant suits her well for an executive-level HR position. 



People Grace Supervised

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Terri

Trigg

Caraustar Industries & BBA Aviation

I highly recommend Grace for a senior level Human Resource role. I had the pleasure of working with Grace at Caraustar. Grace always came to work with such a positive attitude and was ready to tackle any challenge that was ahead of her. I was impressed with her strong work ethic and her advanced technical abilities. Grace always went the extra mile to get the job done in a time efficient manner that produced positive results.

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Grace is a forward thinker. She excelled at streamlining processes and always finding a more proficient and cost-effective way to do something. Grace also has excellent interpersonal skills and works well with all types of people in different levels of the organization. She is always thinking of other’s well-being and always takes time out of her busy day to help someone else. Grace is truly one of the most intelligent people that I have ever met. I am confident that she would add value to any organization. I highly recommend her to any prospective employer!

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Timothy Johnson

Grace is a very detailed manager and great team player. She was always helpful, explained current projects and always open to suggestions. Grace is a good listener, always willing to accept responsibilities beyond the current project assignment. Grace is a tireless worker, never makes excuses, does a superb job with project tracking and planning.  Grace is a very caring individual and always showed true concern for her fellow employees. She has a positive attitude and drive, which is contagious. Grace had a positive influence on the team and kept everyone on track.

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Carrie

Bednarz

Mental Healthcare Professional

I have worked with Grace at BenRx, Inc., Mercer, and Arthur Andersen. Grace is a consummate professional, who has been instrumental in helping to shape my career. Grace is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable, with a unique ability to instruct and supervise others in an very efficient, yet comprehensive manner. She is a true joy to work for and within all environments. Grace is passionate about her work, and it is evident in everything she does. I consider it a privilege to have worked with Grace, and any work group would be lucky to have her on their team.

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Felicia Clayton

Benefits Manager BenRx Consulting

Grace trained me on a very complex financial analysis that required many steps using Excel. She was an amazing trainer both in terms of her patience and her ability to take a process so complex and make it understandable. She even took the time to write a 12-page step-by-step manual to document the process before we started. Then I was able to add my own notes to the documentation as I was learning from her. She also taught me to perform complex claim analyzes using Access, breaking out medical claim experience by provider type, procedure, diagnosis and more. 

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Grace was also a wonderful mentor. She spent a lot of time with me talking about my career progression, steps I should take depending on which paths I wanted to pursue, providing me other helpful advice and wisdom. Grace really cares about the people she works with and does whatever she can to help them. I definitely recommend her for any HR role, and particularly one that involves training, development, mentoring or coaching.

People that Grace Collaborated with from Other Departments 

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Andy Anderson

Systems Analyst

BBA Aviation

As an IT System Analyst, I have worked with Grace on several HR/IT projects over the last 5 years. It was a pleasure working with her on the projects and I look forward to our meeting because she always has something to contribute. Because of this, I have grown to respect her as a coworker even though she was in a different department. Grace thoroughness and attention to details always amazed me. And I often wonder how she does it because nothing escapes her even when you think its minor. Her response to questions is clear and precise. She will always follow up on issues and doing whatever is needed to resolve them, even if it means working through a weekend or on a holiday. She has used her knowledge to improve her team’s performance, which help our organization tremendously. And this led to great respect from her team. In addition to her professional talents, her warm personality made her more respectful and contributed to her success. I have no issue with recommending Grace to any position that she seeks to get into. I am sure she will do a great job at whatever she chooses to do

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Traci Miller

Global CompensationManager &

HR Controller 

I had the pleasure of working with Grace for over four years. Grace is a true subject matter expert that is passionate about her craft. I would seek out her counsel and rely on her advice to form business conclusions. Her team demonstrated a dedication to the organization that was unrivaled. I attribute the majority of their commitment to Grace's influence. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Grace again.

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Diane Myers-Thevenau

Senior Manager

BBA Aviation

I would recommend Grace Lawson in the role of Director of HRIS and Global Benefits. I had the opportunity of working with Grace Lawson at BBA Aviation on several HR/Benefits projects. Grace was one of the most knowledgeable Business Partners I worked with on a project. Her knowledge of HR and Benefits was one of the vital reasons for the project success. Her dedication and perseverance to removing obstacles during the project was essential for keeping the project on track. I also worked with Grace on enabling BBA to be compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA was quite new to many of the project team members and Grace took the initiative to educate the rest of the team to ensure the team understood the requirements and policies.

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Pat Wilkins

Grace is an extremely capable and intelligent person. She excelled in her work as an Underwriter at CIGNA Healthcare by handling a large complex book of business with multiple funding arrangements. She acted as a subject matter expert on various pricing tools for both Sales and Underwriting. While working at CIGNA, Grace also completed her MBA, which was a great accomplishment since her duties at CIGNA required her to work overtime. While at CIGNA, Grace improved multiple processes, workflows and tools resulting in increased efficiencies for the entire department. I highly recommend Grace for any position for which she is qualified. 

People Grace Collaborated with Outside Her Company

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Mark McPhail

Senior Client Manager

CIGNA Healthcare

Grace is an outstanding health and welfare benefits leader that thoroughly understands the complexities involved in developing a winning strategic benefit design that drives employee engagement, health improvement, and superior financial results. She is a tough negotiator, but she is very collaborative in her approach. Grace is a tireless worker, and she is always focused on improving the process in order to enhance the employee experience. Grace has a deep understanding of the mechanics of benefit administration, financial underwriting, team building, and strategic planning. Grace is an accomplished health and benefits professional, but she is an even better person that I'm proud to call my friend. 

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Karen Martinez

Attorney

Kilpatrick Townsend

Grace Lawson is very knowledgeable with respect to benefits, is detail-oriented, energetic and has excellent people skills. Grace is adept at leading organizations through significant, corporate-wide operational changes with successful results, she develops practical solutions to complicated issues, and she is responsible for designing and implementing strategic initiatives that meet organizational objectives. 

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Sean Rodak

VP Private Equity

Alliant Insurance Services

I've worked with Grace in a vendor capacity where I represented the vendor/consulting entity and she managed the particular client’s benefits department, which included her overseeing all contract vendors and vendor relationships. Throughout this 2+ year working relationship with Grace, she consistently demonstrated forethought and the ability to visualize where and how various vendor services needed to function and converge efficiently within the strategic / functional goals of her Company. She possesses

a strong ability and willingness (a rare find) to roll up her sleeves with the cultivated pool of vendors, digging into project and service/process model improvement details. This aspect of her skillset not only expedited solution implementation, but also provided the pool of vendors with direct access to key decision-maker (Grace) when it came to critical initiative junctures and improvement details. 

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Jo Steinberg

CEO

Midland Health

I am especially grateful to Grace for helping our company with our quality control, designing our survey and improving our communication forms. Lot’s of people have good ideas but there are only a few like Grace who actually take the initiative to make things happen. Her organizational skills are beyond excellent. There is no one on the planet more detailed than Grace Lawson

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Kelly Bonanno

Atlantic Practice Leader

Vol. Benefits, Arthur J. Gallagher 

I have had the pleasure of working with Grace for the past 4 years as her consultant for Voluntary Benefits. She is extremely knowledgeable and has been a true partner during this time. She is innovative and continually searches for solutions that are in the best interest of the employees she represents. Grace has been a true professional and advocate for her company and the employees.

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Andrea Shands

Engagement Consultant at Cigna

Grace was such a pleasure to work with and support while at BBA Aviation. Her leadership and expertise in the Health and Welfare industry was always commendable. She served as a Subject Matter Expert in the areas of Health and Welfare, Benefits, Compliance, and Business Strategy. She has a dynamic leadership style that fostered a nurturing environment for her team to grow professionally and personally. She was such a pleasure to work with and learn from. I highly recommend Grace to be a part of any organization, as she is a dynamic leader and a valued asset. Grace was such a pleasure to work with and support while at BBA Aviation. Her leadership and expertise in the Health and Welfare industry was always commendable. She served as a Subject Matter Expert in the areas of Health and Welfare, Benefits, Compliance, and Business Strategy. She has a dynamic leadership style that fostered a nurturing environment for her team to grow professionally and personally. She was such a pleasure to work with and learn from. I highly recommend Grace to be a part of any organization, as she is a dynamic leader and a valued asset.

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Lynne Clark

I had the pleasure of working directly with Grace Lawson in her role as Director of Health & Welfare Benefits with BBA Aviation. Grace's attention to detail was meticulous and she was dependable and incredibly hard working. Grace always kept the best interests of her employer at heart and was steadfast in her efforts to protect her company from risk associated with new legislation in the H&W area. I would recommend Grace to any organization seeking a highly dedicated individual with deep expertise in her field. 


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Speight Bird

Senior Account Manager

Graphic Solutions Group

I have been fortunate to work with Grace on several employee benefits and corporate communications projects at Caraustar and BenRx. She is a consummate communicator and as a result, her projects always flow seamlessly from start to finish. I look forward to working with Grace again and would recommend her to any company.

The true measure of a company is
how they treat their lowest paid employee.

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