Chrissy Cousins has a rare title in the Haskell enterprise: Manager of Business Administration – Automated Manufacturing Systems (AMS). More unique still is the background that enabled her to tackle that job in her native Atlanta.
“My role involves many different things every day,” Cousins said. “I work with about 60 mechanical engineers and with the various engineering disciplines in the Atlanta office, so every day is different. It’s good that it’s not the same thing every day. That helps me to enjoy my job and keeps me on my toes.”
Cousins joined Haskell five years ago and calls her position “the third and final of my career.” After graduating from the University of Georgia, she moved to Aspen, Colorado, to enjoy a mountain lifestyle and worked as the Operations Manager for a graphic design and marketing company for a decade. In 2001, she and her husband, Tim Odom, purchased the Hotel Poseidon in Jacó, Costa Rica, a small town on the Pacific coast known for its volcanic sand beaches, surfing culture and nightlife. The property had 14 rooms, three bars and a restaurant. That chapter of her life lasted nearly 17 years.
“It was the hardest job of my entire life, being in the hotel business in another country,” Cousins said. “We never stopped working. But it was also a great experience. Both our boys are dual citizens and are fluent in Spanish.”
The traits that helped her operate a hotel in Central America transferred seamlessly to Haskell’s Atlanta office, where she juggles numerous responsibilities with an unflappable spirit of service. So impressed were her fellow team members that they nominated her for Haskell’s Living the Values Award honor, given quarterly to team members who consistently display the company’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.
“Chrissy is the definition of a team player,” they said in their nomination letter. “She’s the glue that holds the Atlanta operations together and is dedicated to seeing everyone succeed. She goes above and beyond her job description, resolving issues simply because she has the knowledge and selflessness to be of service.”
Those duties include onboarding new employees, overseeing two office renovations, including finding space for table tennis and pool tables, keeping tabs on the AMS project financials and working with the various engineering groups in the Atlanta office.
She is so plugged in that it required a ploy to keep her nomination from her since she serves on the 15-person committee that chooses the quarterly Living the Values honorees. The group held a “fake meeting” to discuss finalists, and then a separate gathering, without Cousins, completed the Q1 2024 recipients. She said it was a “moment of shock and surprise” when the honor was announced.
“I work with incredibly smart and compassionate people,” she said. “In many big corporate environments, you might not get that caring for people. But we do have that here.”
Cousins’ older son, Tommy, received a Haskell Company Scholarship award in 2022 that he is using toward his college education. A younger son, Lukas, is now a high school sophomore and will aim to earn a similar scholarship in a couple of years.
And just when you think Cousins’ plate is full, note that she volunteers with her soccer-playing sons’ school booster club, attends games, volunteers for numerous charitable functions for Haskell, and finds time to play a mean game of pickleball four or five days per week.
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