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Employee Spotlight � Lori Kauniste
Customer
service is close to senior compensation analyst Lori Kauniste�s
heart. Like all of us at UH, her days are full of ringing phones
and deadlines, but she makes an effort to be respectful with
everyone she encounters. �We all have bad moments, especially
during stressful times making it difficult to remain patient,�
she said, �I don�t want to be that �bad moment� person when
someone calls me.�
Described by supervisor Sara Chelette as �a terrific analyst and
a consummate professional,� Lori conducts salary reviews,
creates new job descriptions, analyzes employee job fit and
provides employee data to business administrators across the UH
campus. It is a job that requires as much art as skill, since
accuracy and tact are needed in equal measure.
�I believe in hard work and dedication which I learned from my
mother, a Chinese immigrant, who grew up mostly in Da Nang
Vietnam. She was the first of her immediate family to come to
America in 1969. She is an amazing role model who worked
extremely hard to overcome many obstacles to achieve great
success in her career and build a life for her and her family
here in America. I attribute all my successes to mom, including
being the first in my family to obtain a Bachelor�s degree, and
eventually a master�s.�
Although Lori is relatively new to UH HR, she is no stranger to
Human Resources. She began her HR career with Lockheed Martin in
1998. At that time, she was already a familiar face at the
company. �My high school partnered with Lockheed Martin offering
a Voc-Ed program where I attended school for four hours in the
morning and worked four hours each afternoon. This program
afforded me the opportunity to build a working relationship with
Lockheed Martin allowing me to return each summer while I was in
college. Upon graduating from the University of Texas at Austin,
Lockheed Martin offered me a full-time job in Benefits in 1997.
This was the start of a long-term career in HR.�
Lori quickly climbed the corporate ladder, eventually becoming a
senior HR business partner with responsibilities that crossed
all areas of HR. In 2008, she moved to Enbridge Energy to focus
on compensation, gaining the skills that made her the top
candidate at UH when she applied to be a senior compensation
analyst.
Going from the corporate environment into higher education isn�t
an obvious career move for many, but Lori was ready for a change
and had the skills UH was looking for.
�Lori came to UH with a background in compensation and HR
analysis,� said Sara Chelette, who needed not just an
experienced analyst but an expert in PeopleSoft HR. Lori also
having her SPHR certification and an understanding of benefits,
employment law and other aspects of human resources was a bonus.
�During her first year, she formed wonderful relationships with
her customers; many of whom regularly tell me how much they
appreciate everything that she does for them.�
A big believer in the importance of teamwork, Lori believes in
helping out wherever she is needed. Her family life is also
team-oriented, where she is a dedicated Little League mom,
cheering her son to success in the Pearland Little League Minor
Division and on the All Stars� team. She also enjoys watching
her 10 year old play football and her 7 year old play soccer and
basketball. As her boys get older, she hopes to interest them in
one of the passions that first brought her and her husband
together: golf. �My husband and I golfed a lot when we dated but
stopped after we had children. Now the boys are older,� she
said, �so we are now introducing them to the game of golf. It is
a great way to spend quality time together and I hope it will be
something we can start doing regularly as a family.�
Lori believes in the importance of being happy in your chosen
career. �I started college on an accounting scholarship but
quickly changed my focus after working in a CPA�s office one
summer. I was also a candidate for a clothing buyer job at
Foley�s, but I�m not a fashionista so decided against that path
as well.�
With the same patience she shows her customers, Lori was patient
with herself until the right career path became clear. �I�m
happy to be here,� she said, and her customers across the UH
campus are happy she�s here, too.
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