Dixie Vaughan is a Senior Consultant at HRchitect who brings over 30 years of HR technology industry experience to the HRchitect team. Get to know Dixie in this month’s consultant spotlight.
Hometown: I was born in North Dakota and have lived all over the United States including Wyoming, Oregon, California and Missouri, but I consider California my home.
Alma Mater: I started my bachelor’s degree program at Taft College, and when I moved to Santa Barbara, I transferred and completed my bachelor’s program at California Coast University.
All-time favorite restaurant: Any type of seafood restaurant!
Last book you read: The Five Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, which is an updated version of Ruiz’s earlier book, The Four Agreements.
One song you could listen to on repeat: “Watching the River Run” by Loggins and Messina.
What do you do when you’re not working? I’m a musician – I play the piano and I like to spend time with my family and my grandsons. I also like to travel and explore new places. I’m a fan of spontaneous road trips.
In your own words, what do you do at HRchitect? My role is a little different from a typical implementation consultant. I’m a full-time consultant but I’m 100% allocated to working with one particular client assisting with the phased implementation of this client’s full-suite HCM system in a variety of roles including project manager, analyst and HRIS manager. I really enjoy working with this client and being their client-side advocate when working with implementation consultants and the software vendor.
How did you find out about HRchitect, and what made you join the company? I’ve been familiar with HRchitect and our leadership team, for many years because of my involvement in IHRIM. I was on the IHRIM board for over 20 years and have served as President and Vice President of a local chapter in California. HRchitect reached out to me to see if I’d like to come on board when a particular client need arose that matched my skill set quite well. I was excited to get back into the consulting world, so I accepted and here I am over three years later!
Tell me about your background in the HR industry. Up until about 12 years ago, I was a practitioner working in HRIS manager roles. After that, I branched into the consulting world where I did a lot of work assisting with implementations of ADP, Kronos and a few other systems before I moved into HRIS manager consulting roles within the healthcare and hospitality industries.
What’s a typical workday like for you? My days are usually atypical, because I spend them doing whatever it is that my client needs me to do that day. Some days that means supporting payroll, other days I could be writing reports, doing data validation, attending calls with the client team, or acting as a Project Manager.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day? I really like what I do every day. I found my niche working in HR technology over 30 years ago, so anything I do within this realm is a lot of fun for me. I enjoy teaching and sharing what I’ve learned with others, and consulting allows me to do that.
Which employee perk that HRchitect offers do you enjoy the most? As far as enjoyment goes, I enjoy the health initiative (reimbursement for health-related purchases) the most. As far as appreciate and also find very necessary, I’d say the health insurance and retirement plans. It surprises people to learn that there are a lot of consulting companies that don’t offer insurance or retirement plans, so I’m glad that HRchitect makes this a priority for our team.
Learn more about Dixie Vaughan