Judy Van Dyck

Julie North 2/25/05 Director- Auxiliary Services Portland State University P.O. Box 751 Portland, Oregon 97207

Dear Ms. North,

I am writing today in support of Kristie Russell and Douglas Kenck-Crispin. These two Aramark employees have provided exemplary customer service for the two years I have worked with them. As managers of Aramark’s Catering Services, Kristie and Doug have provided catering for all events associated with a program I operate under the auspices of the Graduate School of Education- entitled Artsplash. Artsplash is a federally funded teacher development program that brings Portland Public School teachers to Portland State University five times a year for weekend seminars and trainings. Participation in this project is voluntary. Given their stressful work environment and the long hours they routinely spend in the classroom, Artsplash’s success relies on our ability to incent teachers to spend these five precious weekends at PSU. Frankly, one of the most compelling reasons (and survey data corroborates this) they’ve been successful is that these teachers feel they are being honored; providing catered meals and free parking is one of the tangible ways we do this. To provide these benefits, I have had to rely heavily on the expertise of professionals like Kristie and Doug. This year, the structure of Artsplash’s funding changed and I was required to process billing for services such as catering in a new way. This created a significant slowdown in the accounts payable process. In spite of this, Kristie and Doug were willing and able to work with me and went the “extra mile” to make sure my catering needs continued to be met. This was in spite of some unconscionably long waits for payment, and even when they were being pressed by their corporate offices for resolution on the Artsplash account. These problems have since been resolved and I do not anticipate additional payment problems, however other issues are sure to arise and when they do I know I can count on Kristie and Doug to work with me to find solutions. Now that Portland State University has accepted the Sodexho bid and we will soon be losing Kristie and Doug, I wanted to make certain that PSU managers were aware of just how important these two individuals have been to the smooth operation of the Catering Services. I also wanted you to have the information and support you need to help these two as they move on with Aramark. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me,

Sincerely,

Mark Wubbold

Graduate School of Education- Portland State University