Rhonda Rodriguez has “accountability for operational integrity.”

‘Managing is about hard work, dedication and integrity – believing in what you do,” says Rhonda Rodriguez. Rodriguez works in the Houston, TX office of IT integration and services company Getronics (Billerica, MA), where she’s program director for the British Petroleum (BP) account in all of North America.

“BP is the largest account in Getronics’ enterprise managed services division,” Rodriguez says with pride. “I have overall accountability for the program from an operational integrity perspective.”

She oversees 270 Getronics employees, all of them performing services that support BP’s IT infrastructure – helpdesk, back office, desktop, consultancy, change management, Extranet, project and LAN management and more. Her team operates in every BP North American location, from platforms off the coast of Texas to offices across the U.S., including the Alaskan North Slope.

Fires and plans
“I’m dealing with day-to-day fires as well as making long-term plans. You have to stay ahead of the game – or at least keep up with the other players,” she declares with a smile.

“But the other part of my job is dealing with people. When you’re responsible for that many people, just keeping track of everyone gets difficult. They’re all different people with different needs.”

Growth and expansion
Rodriguez is also responsible for growth and expansion of the business. Her team wrote the proposal that earned Getronics an extended contract to support BP’s systems through 2006. Since Rodriguez joined the BP team four years ago, Getronics has steadily increased its involvement with BP’s systems. The company now manages business that used to be shared among several different IT contractors.

Last year, Rodriguez’ team won an award for innovation that recognized her leadership and guidance. The award didn’t come from Getronics, but from the company she serves. It was the first time BP had ever given its Helios award to a contractor.

“My team and I put together a new process to handle desktop services that saved more than a million dollars annually,” she explains. “We implemented a remote management model that solves about 85 percent of laptop and desktop hardware and software problems.”

The prize-winning process is called an enhanced desktop model. It utilizes available resources while improving service and reducing costs, Rodriguez says proudly.

Getting there
Rodriguez grew up in Houston, TX. “My dad is Hispanic and my mother is Caucasian,” she says. “But it was more important that we were a solid family than who we were or what heritage. We are a very close family.”

Although neither of her parents has a college degree, her father has been successful as a construction engineer and her mother is a VP of a large bank. “I grew up believing that hard work and dedication can take you anywhere,” Rodriguez remembers.

Into management
Rodriguez majored in management at the University of Houston and earned her BA in 1982. She started working at Boeing Aerospace in 1978 while she was still a student and continued on after graduation, quickly moving up to proposal development.

By 1994 she was in charge of configuration management teams in the shuttle program at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). Then she left Boeing but stayed on at JSC, working in IS contracts for Northrop Grumman.

“It was the same kind of work I do now for Getronics,” she says. “I managed IT operational services – helpdesk, LAN, and so on – for about 14,000 users at JSC.”

“I started young,” Rodriguez reflects. “I was managing large groups with Northrop Grumman very early on.” It was not her gender but her youth that occasionally caused comment. “But I’m a results-oriented person. I dealt with it by delivering results – making a commitment and delivering on it,” she says.

About four years ago Rodriguez decided to leave government-focused work and move into more commercial applications. A friend at Getronics recommended her for an open position, and Rodriguez made the switch.

Tough but fair
Rodriguez believes that her management style is tough but fair. “I expect a lot, but I don’t expect anybody to do anything that I wouldn’t do.

“As I came up, my mentors were always there, doing the same things they asked me to do. It made me want to work harder.

“I’ve tried to do that for the people who work for me,” she says. “I love my work, and I’m extremely passionate about supporting my people.”

After work, Rodriguez finds time to golf and garden. “I’m a pretty driven person. I push myself more than the job does. So I like to get out and do these therapeutic things,” she explains.

D/C

– Kate Colborn & Abbi Perets