Sandy Hillman has a zest for life ? and her work.
The chief executive officer of Trahan, Burden & Charles, Hillman takes an energetic and dynamic approach to everything she does. Working at TBC, she oversees a Baltimore-based public relations and advertising firm that has clients located anywhere from across the country to right in the city. But a demanding leadership role is nothing new for Hillman, who served for 14 years as the executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts under former Mayor Donald Schaefer.
And that experience has helped her develop her workplace today.
“We want to create a collegial environment where people feel like working and are appreciated,” Hillman said. “We have to recognize the successes not just individually but in the context of the peer environment.
Hillman has her hands in many pots at once, but she also manages to specialize. One minute she may be on a conference call with clients from the West Coast, the next she might help to approve a proposed campaign or interview a potential employee. Regardless of where Hillman’s day takes her, however, she works to create the most positive and upbeat working environment possible.
Sometimes this means hard decisions have to be made. As a leader, it is her job to make sure that employees are treated properly and with respect. One of the toughest decisions that Hillman told The Examiner she had to make was to let go a client who was abusive to her employees.
But that decision shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
“Our greatest asset is our employees and we have to look at it that way,” Hillman said.
Graduating from Pennsylvania State University in 1962, Hillman bounced around, working at a magazine company and as a public relations worker before she and her husband settled in the Baltimore region.
Following several smaller jobs, Hillman joined Schaefer’s staff, and served with the four-term mayor for more than a decade, before latching on with TBC in 1984.
Most importantly, peers say Hillman has never lost her flair.
“There’s no job that anyone does who works for her that she hasn’t done herself of that she wouldn’t do herself to get the job done,” said Mike Morrill, director of public affairs at TBC.
SANDY HILLMAN
» First job: Volunteer fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
» Education/credentials: English and chemistry degrees from Pennsylvania State University.
» Best job perk: Working with people.
» Daily e-mails received: Hundreds
» Daily voice mails received: Fewer and fewer
» Career objective: Continue to build a company where people feel its fun and rewarding to come to work every day.
» Favorite gadget: Treo
» Hometown: Chester, Pa.
» Birth date: April 24, 1941
» Original aspiration: To be a U.S. Senator
» Sports/hobbies: Skiing, water color painting and spending time with my four grandchildren.
