By: The Protech Team
Audrey Smilgys is a one-of-a-kind Protech team member. She’s a self-proclaimed “foodie” and a former Lithuanian folk dancer. Last year, Audrey, who is based in Chicago, began utilizing a standing desk in her home office for at least five hours per day when assisting customers.
As one of Protech’s senior solution consultants, Audrey guides customers through association management software (AMS) implementations from the kickoff meeting through the go-live date. Her duties include maintaining consistent communication with Protech’s customers, and determining system requirements and configuring software to meet the customers’ needs. Also, Audrey holds both a Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step certification and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization and Configuration certification.
Audrey first learned about the association management software industry in the late 90s when she managed the National Certification Corporation for Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing Specialties’ (NCC’s) AMS implementation as its manager of candidate relations. Through this experience, the Northern Illinois University alumnus discovered her love for the intellectual challenges of testing software and identifying system requirements. As a result, Audrey pursued a project manager position with an AMS vendor and then served as the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR’s) online education manager before joining Protech in 2009.
When Audrey isn’t configuring software for customers, the Country Club Hills, Illinois, native spends her spare time attending concerts, visiting museums, hanging out with her cat Babette, and traveling. Her most memorable trip occurred in 2007 when she spent three weeks in Lithuania performing in the Lithuanian Dance and Song Festival as a member of a Lithuanian dance group. During the trip, Audrey, a second-generation Lithuanian-American, met nearly 50 members of her extended family and toured the country. Regardless of where she travels, Audrey always samples the local cuisine. As a “foodie”, she is on a constant quest for restaurants capable of satisfying her diverse food tastes.
As much as Audrey Smilgys loves sampling exotic foods, it is also important for her to feed her soul by reading books by Pema Chodron. Chodron’s writings are the food–for–thought that have helped Audrey develop her personal mantra, “Everybody is doing the best they can with what they’ve got.” This mantra enables her to keep a cheerful disposition when challenges arise while assisting Protech customers with AMS implementations.