Meet Dea Simon
Like many in Ventas Consulting, Dea is a person of multiple skills–in addition to being an awesome admin and trainer for Salesforce. She’s been in Sales and Marketing operations for most of her career and worked in other CRM’s before Salesforce. But when she had an opportunity to work in Salesforce she was hooked.
Dea got her Salesforce Admin Certification in 2010 and is prepped to get her Advanced Admin and Sales Cloud Consultant certifications shortly. Still, she’s been working in Salesforce since 2007 when the startup she was working in decided to use Salesforce, and decided to let her figure it out, which she did. From that time on, she turned her focus to learning all about Salesforce.
Through the years, she has worked for several startups and “just enjoys helping them get organized.” Also when you work in a startup, you get to wear lots of hats. So Dea has become a consultant and trainer in many organizational areas. Just as she came to work with Ventas Consulting, she spent 8 weeks training 1800 New York Life agents (5 days/week, 40 students/class. Whew!)
She fits right into Ventas Consulting and our mission to mentor veterans as her husband, John, was an active duty Marine when she met him. They met in London then spent some years living in Japan while he was in the military. Now, 24 years later, John has his MBA and is a Senior Implementation Manager with Verifone (thank him when your charge goes right through at Costco).
She has three children; JP is studying mechanical engineering at CalMaritime Academy in Vallejo, CA. Clark is just 16, but has a plan to be a Software Engineer. And Katelynn at 12 intends to be a lawyer.
In 2015, Dea and John took a step back and thought about their future and goals, this resulted in uprooting from San Diego, and moving to Texas in the summer of 2016. Georgetown was their choice–near to Austin with its vibe similar to San Diego, great schools, perfect home right on a golf course, and…quiet.
New to Texas, Dea simply googled Salesforce in Austin, found Ventas Consulting and reached out to David Franklin. The match was good as it has some start-up aspects, Salesforce admin work, and a big need for a trainer for the Veterans of Vets2Cloud. It is her personal goal to work with Ventas Consulting to help the team achieve their goals, and to develop the training needed for both Ventas Consulting and Vets2Cloud veterans, staff and clients. Her motto is : “Have a good time and enjoy your work, the headaches of business don’t matter if you love what you’re doing.”
And on a personal note:
What are your hobbies? Dea enjoys quiet time for reading and meditation, and spending time with her family. Now I know Dea sounds like serious, meditating person, but another hobby of hers reveals a different side. She is an avid Disney fan–loving all things Disney, especially the animated movies. Quoting her, “The best day of my life..really the best day…is when Princess Leia was officially named a Disney Princess!”
What are you reading? Embarrassed laugh–a bit of fluff, Nora Robert’s Blood Magic. But she quickly added her second–Jen Sincero’s You Are a Badass.
What are you watching? Always Big Bang Theory! And recently 13 Reasons Why–a sobering look at teenager’s lives, good to see for a mother of teenagers.
Dea will have her hands full in the next year with her family, helping to mold Ventas Consulting, and creating a broad training program for Vets2Cloud and Ventas Consulting.