Emerson’s Kris Lescinsky joins our 5 Questions for an Emerson Expert podcast series. Through her work as a project technical leader, Kris fosters collaboration via knowledge-sharing platforms among Lifecycle Services engineers across the Emerson business units and world areas to better serve our customers.
Share any feedback or suggestions you have for other questions or experts you’d like to hear in future podcasts.
Jim: Hi, and welcome to our Five Questions for an Emerson Expert series. I’m Jim Cahill, and today, I’m joined by Kris Lescinsky. Kris is a project technical leader, managing collaboration across Emerson business units and world areas in our Lifecycle Services organization. After achieving a degree in economics and political science, Kris received an MBA and is pursuing an enterprise architecture certificate, currently, as her career has progressed. Welcome, Kris.
Kris: Thanks, Jim. It’s great to be here.
Jim: Well, it’s great having you today. Let’s start out by asking, what made you decide to pursue a STEM-based career?
Kris: Well, Jim, I didn’t get there on the straight path. I went to college thinking that I was going to be an attorney when I graduated, and I was pre-Law until my sophomore year. And as I was exposed to more things in college, I started becoming more interested in computers, but I didn’t want to slow down my graduation because college is expensive. So, I graduated in three and a half years with my double major and got a job in finance at a bank, and progressed through the finance organization until a virus hit. And, suddenly, we had a problem that needed solved, and I had a crazy idea that we could maybe create a web server, and link some things together, and do something that didn’t require macros. And my career in technology grew out of the Melissa virus.
Jim: Oh, that’s a fascinating story there. So, from that time, from, you know, in the finance world with a bank, what led you to a career in the field of process automation?
Kris: So, I’ve worked in a number of industries. I started in banking and financial services, and then I went to a government agency and worked as an IT contractor at the Department of Energy. That job led me to a role in Power and Water Solutions with Emerson, and I’ve moved along ever since, becoming more involved in process automation and the technology that supports the people who actually do the process automation.
Jim: Well, that’s a nice path going there. So, I guess, now that you’re kind of steeped in our world of process automation, tell us about a recent challenge that you’ve been working on to solve.
Kris: Sure. So, one of my challenges is supporting the Global Lifecycle Services organization. We have service engineers and managers all over the globe, with multiple business units, who speak a variety of languages. One of my challenges is to get them accurate information in a timely manner and allow them to collaborate with each other to get quick answers to questions, so when they’re on a customer site, they can quickly reach out to other Emerson experts and get the right answer quickly for our customers.
Jim: Okay. That’s a lot of what we do in our Emerson Exchange 365 community externally for customers, peer-to-peer, working with each other, so that’s really cool that you’re kind of driving that process internally to allow our service engineers to be more responsive to our customers. So, when you kind of walk out the door on a Friday afternoon, or, you know, have done your week around here, advancing the cause in there, what do you like to do in your spare time?
Kris: Well, most people who know me would laugh at the idea of me having spare time because I’m involved in everything. I’m pursuing a graduate certificate in enterprise architecture, which is where business vision and strategy meets technology. That takes a significant investment of time. I’m also well-known around the office for baking. In fact, I am chairing the cookie swap here at Emerson this week. And, I’m a gifted quilter and embroiderer. So, I’m always creating something.
Jim: Oh, that’s excellent. I can’t wait for the cookies coming up here in a little bit. That will be great. And, I guess, to wrap it up, our five questions here, what advice would you have for someone new coming into our world of process automation?
Kris: I would tell them to be open-minded, and every opportunity and every project you get assigned to is an opportunity to grow and advance your career. Just because you don’t have a specific degree in a subject doesn’t mean that your career can’t evolve. Mine has grown and evolved over these last… Well, let’s not say how many years. And I’ve been able to find my way in using advancing technology, and some of the problems and challenges at Emerson, to advance my career and contribute to the organization.
Jim: And do really valuable things as part of that Lifecycle Services organization. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Kris.
Kris: Thanks for having me, Jim.
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You can connect and interact with Lifecycle Services experts in the Operate & Maintain group in the Emerson Exchange 365 community.
The post 5 Questions for Lifecycle Services Project Technical Leader Kris Lescinsky appeared first on the Emerson Process Experts blog.