Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton PMOLink - New Orleans ...
Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton PMOLink - New Orleans ...
Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton PMOLink - New Orleans ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Photo by Frank Aymami<br />
At center, <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> Hornets President Hugh Weber, left, owner George Shinn and Executive Officer of the Board Chad Shinn hit the court with employees of the NBA team.<br />
The <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> Hornets<br />
Season tickets to NBA home games and the<br />
chance to rub elbows with superstars such<br />
as Chris Paul are just part of coming to work<br />
every day for The <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> Hornets.<br />
Employees point to a sense of camaraderie<br />
and commitment that they say starts at the top<br />
with owner George Shinn.<br />
“Mr. Shinn makes the effort to come to the<br />
office and talk with us and knows everyone’s<br />
name,” said Robert Miller, Hornets’ group-sales<br />
manager. “My friends who work for other sports<br />
teams tell me that’s very rare for an NBA team<br />
owner. He’s hands on, cares about us and the<br />
community and is fabulous to work for.”<br />
Miller also likes Breakfasts with Hugh, held<br />
throughout the year by Hornets President<br />
Hugh Weber, who invites one person from each<br />
department to join him and General<br />
Manager/Coach Jeff Bower to discuss where<br />
the team is headed.<br />
“You have a chance to ask questions and<br />
learn from two outstanding leaders,” Miller said.<br />
Devyn Smith, the Hornets’ community<br />
enrichment coordinator, said there’s a sense of<br />
purpose that Hornets staffers and players get<br />
from the company’s involvement in nonprofit<br />
activities. The Hornets’ community investment<br />
department matches employees with volunteer<br />
activities, including the Hornets Believe outreach<br />
program focusing on children, senior citizens,<br />
schools and refurbishing playgrounds<br />
and homes. And the company’s bookmobile<br />
hands out more than 50,000 books to local children<br />
each year.<br />
Smith and her husband Brandon Smith, also<br />
a Hornets employee, transferred with the team<br />
when it moved back from Oklahoma in 2007 as<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> continued to recover from<br />
Hurricane Katrina.<br />
The franchise was briefly known as the <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Orleans</strong>-Oklahoma City Hornets. Devyn Smith<br />
said Hornets staffers are excited to participate<br />
in the Crescent City’s revival and that the company<br />
and <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> have been good places<br />
for young professionals to thrive.<br />
A recent company project was planting trees<br />
at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in<br />
eastern <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>, Smith said. On Hornets-<br />
United Way Volunteerism Day in October,<br />
staffers joined local residents to clean playgrounds<br />
and paint fences in St. Roch and other<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> neighborhoods.<br />
The company also provides top-of-the-line<br />
benefits to employees, such as a health care<br />
Nature of business: professional basketball<br />
Where based: <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
Employees: 128, plus 15 players<br />
Average starting salary: $35,000*<br />
Median salary: $65,000*<br />
Average employment time: seven years<br />
Benefits: health care with 100 percent coverage, dental, vision<br />
and prescription plans, health, dental, vision, prescription drugs,<br />
maternity-paternity, disability, 401(k) with 6 percent match, relocation<br />
assistance, flexible hours, employee recognition program,<br />
fitness program<br />
Wait time for benefits: about one month<br />
Paid days off: 32<br />
Web site: www.hornets.com<br />
* Salary figures exclude players<br />
plan with full coverage for employees and their<br />
families, plus a flexible spending account offering<br />
up to $2,500 a year for medical expenses<br />
and up to $5,000 for child care.<br />
“But our staff is fairly young, so it may be<br />
awhile — 10 years or so — before everyone<br />
takes advantage of them,” said Weber, who<br />
focuses on business operations.<br />
The company also covers the cost of downtown<br />
parking and graduate school tuition and<br />
offers fun perks such as discounts on team gear<br />
and two season tickets a year.<br />
And one of the advantages of working for<br />
the Hornets is the annual Christmas party,<br />
“where everyone gets to mix with the players,”<br />
Weber said.•<br />
— Susan Buchanan<br />
December 14, 2009 29