Behind-the-scenes mastermind: Meet Rowena Dutton, office administrator

When many Manta Ray Consulting clients and industry colleagues think about our business, the first names that come to mind are those of our principals and consultants – the people delivering results for our clients on an everyday basis. Just as important, however, is someone who works behind the scenes to ensure that every MRC team member and client has exactly what they need to be successful: our office administrator Rowena Dutton.

“Rowena is the glue between our employees, our operations and internal initiatives, and our clients,” says Pamela Abela, Advisor at MRC. “She makes sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently on the administrative end of the business, so our employees can focus on their work and our clients have the information they need. She’s the calm in the chaos that helps MRC run effortlessly.”

Rowena engages with everyone at MRC, from employees to clients and vendors, and she’s no stranger to juggling a multitude of tasks. From her home office in Omaha, Nebraska, she manages accounts receivable and accounts payable, helps onboard employees and supports internal projects.

Though Rowena says that she’s “more of an artist and right-brain thinker” – outside of work, she can often be found painting with watercolors or acrylics or mentoring teenagers through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands – her favorite part of her job is weekly financial reporting. It challenges her, and she appreciates the trust and responsibility of reviewing the numbers and developing the report. She also loves seeing how the company operates and how the report translates into a healthy and productive workplace that motivates everyone to do their best.

Rowena also helps MRC refine its internal processes to be more effective and valuable. One of the best examples of this is the Contract Status Report she created. When Rowena joined the team five years ago, documentation and updates for each client contract were housed within their own individual reports. This made it difficult to track changes, and the data that MRC management needs to support its clients had to come from numerous reports. Rowena created a spreadsheet that tracks all of the critical information in a single place, enabling MRC management to quickly and easily see an overview via the dashboard or drill down to detailed information for each client contract.

“Seeing the support and genuine care that MRC has for its employees is so inspiring,” Rowena says. “The company’s leaders recognize my strengths and challenge me to do things I previously thought I wouldn’t be able to do. I’m proud to be part of a team that is as supportive as we are at MRC.”