At home in the Charlotte suburb of Mt. Holly, North Carolina, Vatronza Barbour frequently participates in service projects through her church. She loves tutoring underprivileged children and passing along her lifelong love of math.
“I have been led by servanthood since I was little,” Barbour said. “I raised my kids like that. Just give more.”
In her role as a Haskell Project Accounting Supervisor, she exudes servant leadership is a constant presence, even if it’s long distance. Her mentoring and counsel made such an impression on Dana Garcia, a member of her accounting team in the Jacksonville, Florida, headquarters, that she nominated Barbour for Haskell’s Living the Values Award, given quarterly to team members who exemplify the company’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.
“Whatever project or task Vatronza is involved in, her goal is to make it BETTER,” Garcia wrote. “Everything she does is to improve whatever it is she touches. She is beyond intelligent, helpful, insightful, encouraging and generous with her time and efforts. Vatronza is driven and even influential. She has certainly given me a new outlook on several things.”
Barbour said her love of mathematics dates to kindergarten and the ABEAKA Christian-based learning system, which emphasizes hands-on instruction and teaches mathematics using beads and wooden blocks. It would eventually lead to five college degrees – bachelor's degrees in Accounting and Business from Belmont Abbey College and master's degrees in Business Administration, Leadership and Accounting from Grand Canyon University – and now manifests in a deep understanding of Haskell project finances.
“I always loved doing things with my hands and figuring things out,” she said. “My father was good with numbers. I had a sixth-grade teacher who accelerated that. I liked to see the end results using equations – it gives me something to solve.”
She was a member of the accounting staff with Charlotte-based healthcare design firm FreemanWhite when it was acquired by Haskell in 2014. She made a seamless transition to the Haskell team and immediately appreciated the company’s values-based approach to its work and communities.
“I have found Haskell’s leaders to be actively engaged, actually doing what we all believe in,” Barbour said. “When I was in Jacksonville involved in a service project for a battered women’s shelter, we made these home baskets filled with lots of basic things to help them out. We collected tons of stuff. The leadership came in and didn’t just watch but stepped in with their shoulders down in boxes, helping make it happen.”
Now fully consolidated, Haskell Healthcare maintains the Charlotte office as its center of excellence and offers consulting, design and construction services, separately and in concert as warranted by each project. Barbour’s experience and expertise help ensure that clients receive world-class service and solutions.
“Vatronza is the heart and soul of the Design and Consulting Project Controls team, jumping in whenever a team member needs support or encouragement, learning new system processes and procedures as needed to support the entire organization, and leading the AP/AR process team with enthusiasm and a dedication to excellence,” said Leslie Gorman, Haskell Director of Business Systems and Facilities.
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