What Comes After Retirement? A Chat with Peggy Collins, the First Employee to Retire from Explorance

It’s not every day someone retires, and when it does happen, we all feel the loss. Peggy Collins will be the first employee to retire from Explorance. After working as a Senior Consultant on the Professional Services team, Peggy officially retires on January 31st, 2021.

Peggy assumed her PS role in March 2018, after first working with Explorance as a client at Washington State University. During her tenure, she played a critical role in helping Higher Education Institutions successfully implement the Blue and Bluepulse software. As this new era in her life begins, we sat down with Peggy to talk about lessons learned, her time living in Montreal, and what’s the first thing she plans to do in retirement.

Q: In your journey with Explorance, what were some of the defining moments for you? What did you learn from them?

Of course, what I remember the most was my first client “go live” when we started collecting data using Blue. This defined for me that I could be successful at Explorance after many years working in higher education. I learned that listening to and establishing a trusted working relationship goes a long way towards success. You need to establish confidence that the client can move forward after your consultancy is complete.

Defining moments have been the feedback I have received from clients. In my last weeks, I received this from a client I had worked with for about a year, and I think it was one of the best notes I have ever received in my career.

“ You made a profound and lasting contribution to us here at this university, one we will benefit from and appreciate for years to come. Thank you. I’m so grateful we had the opportunity to work with you.”

It does not get any better than that for me.

Q: What was your first impression of Montreal when you moved there? What was your husband’s?

For both of us, how international the city was in feel, the architecture, the fashion, the restaurants, the murals on the buildings in our neighborhood, and what a pleasure it is that one can get around all over the city without ever having to use a car.

Q: Did you or your husband Steve pick up any French?

I picked up minimal French. It was much easier to understand what was being said in context. For example, at the grocery checkout, there are common phrases and questions. At first, I used to guess the answer to questions saying oui or non, getting it correct about 80 % of the time. As I lived in a predominantly French part of the city, I heard French spoken around me all the time. The one phrase that came in very handy was, Je ne parle pas français, en anglais s’il vous plait. Steve struggled with learning languages and only learned a few French words.

Q: What will you miss most about working at Explorance as you go forward?

The people, especially my teammates on the PS team. Being treated like family was the best part. Everyone at Explorance, especially the CEO Samer Saab, was warm and friendly to us from day one. The culture of Free Will that Samer endorses makes Explorance truly a great place to work. I will miss not implementing the next version of Blue for clients as there are some great changes ahead.

Q: Any important life lessons that have stayed with you throughout your career?

Integrity is the most important quality you can have. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it, and learn from it, and then move on. Be true to what you say and walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Q: What has influenced your career the most?

In one word, people.

My Explorance career was influenced the most by my early experiences using Blue as a client. My mentor and first PS consultant, Krimo Bouaou, taught me most of what I know about Blue. His guidance, judgments, and caring about my team’s success were a great model to follow. He always gave us the confidence that we could be successful. I learned what a great company Explorance was to work with during that time. 

An early boss in my IT career, Phil Scuderi, was also a big influence, not only being on his team but seeing how he treated and managed others. He was a mentor to me, giving me opportunities to lead and influencing my approach as a manager myself. I learned how you could contribute to a team’s success by the way you react to and treat people. He often said his job was not to tell us what or how to do something but to create an atmosphere in which we were comfortable and able to do our jobs.

Q: What advice would you give to other women in the same field?

As most of the teammates I have had in information technology over the years have been men, I would say do not be intimidated by gender. You can be just as strong voicing your views as your male counterparts. I would love to see more women rise higher into leadership positions at the same equal pay.

Q: What are you looking forward to most in retirement?

Waking up in the morning and not immediately thinking what time my meetings are. Of course, having fewer constraints on my time will be wonderful.

Q: Do you have any immediate plans? Perhaps something you’ve always wanted to do?

Birdwatching in the local area is in my near-term plans. Both Steve and I are avid bird watchers, and that seems safer in Covid times. We already enjoy the citizen science activity of feeder watch sponsored by the Cornell University lab for ornithology. I plan to finish reading a new book I bought this summer called “What it’s like to be a bird” by David Allen Sibley.

I am planning my garden and some landscaping for the spring. I want to build a patio and some flower boxes, with some help from Steve, of course. I have a nice, raised garden space, which I hope will yield many vegetables this summer.

Due to the virus, I will not be traveling much this year. I only have one trip to the oceanfront planned this year. I promised to take Steve to the Grand Canyon when I retired, but that will have to wait. I have been there three times, but he has never visited despite Steve growing up in the Los Angeles area. I had traveled extensively before I retired, including traveling to every province of Canada. I have lived in four different countries and visited twenty-two more across four continents. A visit back to Montreal, hopefully during the Jazz festival, is planned for 2022.

Q: If you could sum up your career in three words, what would they be?

Fulfilling. Successful. Evolving!