March 19, 2025

Jenna Antos has been employed at UMB since 2021 as a Procurement Operations and Reporting Manager for Strategic Sourcing and Acquisition Services (SSAS).

What motivates you to volunteer your time for testing and providing feedback on systems and processes? My motivation to test and provide feedback on systems and processes stems from my drive to keep end-user experiences as seamless as possible. As a member of the SSAS (procurement) team, I know how critical the financial systems are in ensuring suppliers are registered correctly and Purchase Orders are issued promptly. Any system-wide issues will significantly impact the internal process and, therefore, negatively impact the end users' ability to purchase goods and services. Working at a research institution can directly impact research, so the work testers do to ensure systems function as anticipated can be critical.

What aspects of your job do you find most enjoyable? For me, it is in the quiet moments where I can enjoy feeling the success of my work. When I know I have worked to troubleshoot or make changes to a system or process, I can measure success when the pain points that used to be vocalized are no longer pain points. When things go smoothly for an end user, and they do not even realize that a process used to be slower or clunkier, I know then that I have made the permanent appropriate process improvement--and that makes my work enjoyable.

What hobbies or interests do you pursue outside of work? I enjoy building LEGO, making jewelry, and traveling!

Let us know if you would like to volunteer to be a systems tester.