STEFFES SPOTLIGHT: JENNIFER QUIGLEY
Jennifer Quigley joined the Steffes team more than three years ago as a Technical Support Technician and has loved every minute of it! “The culture at Steffes is great – people are really friendly,” she said. “To me, having fun and being able to smile when you walk into the building is amazing. It’s not just a job you’re coming in for. You feel your worth and value here, not just to your group, but to the company as a whole!”
A North Dakota native, Jenn relocated to Utah to pursue a formal education in auto mechanics, specializing in transmissions. After she completed the technical program, she moved back to North Dakota. She worked in the automotive and environmental services fields for many years before experiencing a layoff from a job she truly enjoyed.
After some encouragement from a good friend, Jenn decided to give Steffes a shot – and we are so glad she did! “I had always heard that Steffes was a great company to work for,” she said. “I was told it is a very family-oriented organization, which means a lot to me in an employer. It’s a big deal.” So, when the opportunity came along to join the Electric Thermal Storage (ETS) division, she applied right away.
Electric thermal storage technology itself is a bit complex. For the sake of time (and word count), we’ll give you a very brief overview. In a nutshell, ETS residential and commercial systems generate and store vast amounts of heat for long periods within high-density ceramic bricks using electric heating elements. These heaters are environmentally friendly, save homeowners money on utility bills, and help make electrical grids more efficient.
“There was obviously a big learning curve to the role,” said Jenn. “I didn’t know much about heaters or electric thermal storage before I worked here, and I had a lot to learn with the vast array of products we have.”
Thank goodness that is part of what she enjoys most about her job! Having the opportunity to learn about our products and being involved in the new product development that our engineers are working on has been a highlight of her time at Steffes.
“It’s so fun to learn about new products and see the solutions and technologies the lab is working on. They come up with some pretty cool things, and it’s fun to see and participate in their excitement.”
In her day-to-day role, Jenn is responsible for assisting contractors as they troubleshoot Steffes ETS heating systems during installations and repairs. She is also available to help homeowners understand how their heaters operate. She does this while ensuring ETS documentation and troubleshooting information is up to date.
One of her favorite projects in the last three years has been developing and improving the Steffes Technical Resource Library, an online catalog of documentation available for contractors to troubleshoot and install heaters and their controls.
“Collaborating with the ETS team has definitely helped me gain confidence in my role. I love working with the people in the ETS department and learning from them every day,” she said. “It’s not just the people who are right around you that you work with every day, but everyone here is so friendly. They’re always smiling and really seem to enjoy what they do.”
Jenn enjoys scrapbooking, crafts, decorating, and reading in her spare time. If you have ever seen one of Steffes’s Christmas Trees at Dickinson’s Festival of Trees event, she is absolutely the brains and the talent behind the operation!
In addition to serving the Southwest Disaster Coalition and on the Eldercare/Public Transit board, Jenn has a brand new grandson named Ted, who keeps her very busy – though she insists she is far too young to be a grandmother!