DOR Employee of the Year Modernizes Permitting Website

Out of 38 Employees of the Month, only one could be crowned the Employee of the Year.

“It’s as hard as it sounds,” DOR Commissioner Bob Grennes said during the announcement at the All-Agency meeting in January. “Every single one of those individuals have made a significant contribution.”

In the end, Steph Vale (Barranco) received the honor mostly for her work on the ProMiles/Motor Carrier Services Oversize/Overweight Permitting System project, Grennes said. Turning this labor-intensive process into self service was a huge stride for the Motor Carrier Division of DOR.

Vale, who recently married, has worked for DOR for three years (with the State for seven) and is a senior project manager in the Business and Agency Support Services Division. Grennes said Steph is one of those employees who can be counted on when the job is difficult. That was the case with the ProMiles/MCS project which replaced Motor Carrier Services oversize/overweight permitting system that rolled out in early-2021.

“It’s a high-volume, high-complexity, high-risk, important project and we did a modernization project,” Grennes said of the project. “Steph stepped up and ran that project.”

“She was just a superstar,” he added.

Department Director Lori Kendall calls Vale a natural at project management.

“Steph does an extraordinary job of managing the plan, the people, and the cadence of a project,” Kendall said. “When challenges arise on projects, which they always do, Steph manages the issue and always brings the group and the project back into focus on the common goal.”

Bryce Willis, a two-time Employee of the Month recipient in 2021, said Vale is a delight to work with.

“She is friendly, driven and holds stakeholders accountable during the project lifecycle,” Willis said. “What Stephanie does best, though, is that she is always well researched and typically knows more about the subject matter than most of the other project participants.”

Along with the trophy and certificate, Vale was presented with a $1,000 bonus which she says will be used to buy tickets to Broadway shows on an upcoming birthday trip to New York City.

“We are going to see ‘Hadestown,’ ‘The Music Man,’ ‘Sixx,’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’,” she said.