Office of Communications: Personnel
Stephanie Rittenberry
Stephanie Rittenberry may well be the most highly respected employee in the Office of Communications. Just ask her coworkers. That respect comes in part from her strong work ethic. It also comes from the fact that she controls the paychecks, travel reimbursements and office supplies.
Stephanie is the business manager for the Office of Communications. She manages all OC accounts, as well as those for the Athens Conference Office. She defines her job as "anything that has to do with money."
In short, she processes the unit's payroll, serves as the HR representative for the unit, sends through travel requests and reimbursements, orders and receives supplies and manages Cooperative Extension for-sale publication accounts. She also leads the OC auxiliary services team. "I call them 'the doers'," she says with a laugh. (The unit's other teams include the public affairs team, the graphics team and the Web team.)
Stephanie joined OC in March of 2007, but she's no newcomer to the University of Georgia. Her career at UGA began in 1992. She spent four years with the physical plant doing accounting work before moving to Milledgeville with her family.
She returned in 1999 to parking services where she managed customer service representatives and performed accounting duties. Stephanie joined the CAES in 2004 when she became a senior accounting assistant in the business office.
Now, she keeps the books straight for the OC. Her favorite part of her job: balancing.
"I love when both sides equal," she said. "Account status reports, sales tax reports – making sure the report balances to be what it should be. I know it's weird, but I am a math person."
When she's not crunching numbers, Stephanie likes to spend time with her family.
She and her children, Jamal and Keyera, recently returned from Mexico. They have also taken trips to Jamaica and the Bahamas.
"I like the Caribbean-style destinations," she said. "I really just like doing something different."
Aside from lavish vacations, one of the family's favorite past times is boxing on a Nintendo Wii. "I have beaten everyone in the house, repeatedly," she said. "I've got the best jab in the business."
Born in Baltimore, Md., Stephanie made Georgia her home in 1980. Almost 20 years later, she watched her son graduate from her alma mater, Clarke Central High School. Jamal will enter Georgia State University in the fall as a freshman. Keyera is a rising senior at Clarke Central.