Farewell, Courtney...

It's never fun when a co-worker moves on - even less so when said co-worker is as terrific a person as Courtney Sullivan, Midwestern University's Director of Marketing.

I haven't known Courtney very long, but that time has been quality time. In the six months that we have worked together, I've come to appreciate her keen grasp of her responsibilities, her inspired solutions to her job's challenges, her absolute willingness to engage people, and her wonderfully sardonic sense of humor.

There are plenty of things I could reminisce about from the brief period where her career intersected my own, but one of my fondest memories that will stick with me the most actually happened during my interviewing process at Midwestern.

Part of the process for my "callback" interview was to sit down with everyone in the Office of Communications to let them gauge whether or not I would be a good candidate for the job. Everyone approached me in different ways based on their personality, whereas I approached everyone based on nervousness and the dearly-held hope that I would not sweat through my shirt.

When I sat down with Courtney in her office, though, it was clear that on many levels we were very much alike. We ended up talking for nearly a half hour, and I felt myself relaxing for the first time in the whole process. I discovered that the strained politeness that always marks interactions between people who have barely met was almost totally absent; much of that has to do with Courtney's innate ability to put other people at ease, which is why she's so good at what she does.

But the best part was when our conversation finally ended. She posed a final question to me: "I have to ask," she said, "Disney? Or Warner Brothers?"

Now, I like Disney, especially the Pixar movies, but I was a child of Saturday mornings glued to the TV and laughing my head off at Wile E. Coyote plummeting into a canyon or Daffy Duck playing Robin Hood. So I blurted out, "Warner Brothers. Absolutely."

Courtney cleared her throat and motioned with her head to the framed posters on the wall. All Disney. Gulp. For a brief moment I thought I had blown it, and then I noticed an impish smile on Courtney's face and a wicked gleam in her eye. It was right then that I thought, "I'm really going to like working with this lady."

I guess if I had to summarize our working relationship over the past half-year in a sentence, I'd say, "It was fun" - and for me, that's one of my highest professional - and personal - compliments.

Thankfully, Courtney won't be going too far away - I'll still be able to ask her advice about my TiVos if I need to - but it will be a different office without her here.

Good luck, Courtney... we'll miss you!