Navy veteran uses military skills to manage Avaya systems

Tina Trumble, U.S. Navy

IT pro Tina Trumble is no longer working on ships, playing hostage, or riding on Zodiac boats with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. Still, her Navy training prepared her to manage and adapt to an ever-changing IT profession with Maximus.

Trumble retired from the Navy in 2001 and has lived in her husband's hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, ever since.

"My husband was still in the military, so for his last three years in the Navy, he was the local recruiter," she said. "I was in California, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. We decided to return here once we retired because his family is from here."

In Lawrence, Trumble serves as the senior manager for Maximus' Avaya voice team.

"I walked in the front doors of what was then NCS Pearson and applied for the desktop support job and have been here ever since," she said. 

The team maintains and manages the Avaya voice systems for Maximus call centers on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) contract, Contact Centers Operations for Medicare/Medicaid (CCO) and a few others.

"Just like in the Navy, the IT field sometimes changes daily, so we must ensure the systems are operating and up to date,” Trumble said. “We were using different systems and had different ways of doings things, but my military experience helps me adapt quickly and foresee what's required to resolve things before they become an issue."

Having a background in IT that dates back to the early 1980s – her first job doing data entry for a gas company at age 15 - helped Trumble build a foundation in computer systems, networks and managing all the systems required in her job today.

With a wealth of experience and knowledge gained from a career in the Navy, Trumble said she feels right at home with her Maximus colleagues, many of whom also served in the military.

"I really appreciate my team," she said. "We all work together to make sure all of our systems and everything else runs as smoothly as possible. When someone on the team needs help, another co-worker always offers support or assistance. They're really good people."

Trumble's military career took her to exotic places like Sicily and she served in Diego Garcia, a British island in the Indian Ocean during Desert Storm Desert Shield, where she met her husband. Her travels also resulted in some exciting experiences and lifelong friendships.

"I still keep in touch with many of those people I served with," she said. "Relationships seem to go on for quite a while after you've left the service."

That camaraderie is something Trumble hopes to help foster in Maximus' Veterans Employee Resource Group, which will become active later this year. Trumble also appreciates that Maximus considers veterans even with its holiday calendar.