Chapter 5: The Lady at the Office Helm

Throughout the 30-year history of CapTrade, there has been one constant: Viviene at the helm, steering our band of economists, accountants, data processors and dilettantes through the rocky seas of consulting. Viviene actually was our office assistant before we started Capital Trade. She came to us in our final months with ICF, where we had gone through several office assistants in the three years we spent at that firm. Dan’s wife, Susan, had recommended her to us. We interviewed Viviene and hired her almost immediately.

What we didn’t know then was that our time at ICF was soon to end, and our new adventure as an independent consulting firm was about to begin. Viviene has told us that she was shocked when she heard that we were leaving ICF – she had just gotten the job and dreaded the prospect of being unemployed again and heading out into the labor market once more.

She needn’t have worried. Our intention all along was to ask Viviene to go with us, to serve as our first office manager. In the short time that we had worked with Viviene at ICF, we sensed that she had the sense of humor we desired, as well as the people skills and knack for organization needed to get a start-up going.

Viv as seen in the early days of CapTrade. Her bright smile is still the same!

We were not wrong. Viviene excelled at doing the countless administrative and management tasks needed to create an “office” from scratch. We found that she was particularly good at haggling with potential vendors – the purveyors of photocopiers, telephone equipment, and office furniture that must be dealt with constantly in the early months of start-up. She always found the vendors that were willing to give us the best price. And then Viviene, in her sweet but firm manner, would ask for an additional discount, and usually get it.

She would get us through two more moves in the next thirty years; first, from 1420 K Street to our brand-new office at 18th and M; and second, moving across the elevator lobby while our 18th and M space was rebuilt. In both instances, we shut down the old and were up and running in the new in an incredibly short period of time.

She also managed us through the flood of 2012, when the temporary roof over the Ring Building failed and the waters came pouring through the ceiling tiles. For days, she moved fans and de-humidifiers, sorted wet boxes, and helped clean up the mess.

Always great at managing inventory, one would be hard pressed to recall any shortage of paper, pens, paper clips, post-it stickies, mouses, and batteries in the office supply drawers. And in the olden days, floppy discs, CDs, and stamps.

Viviene has also been a strong force for positive morale in our little world. She is very good at on-boarding new people, and is always the first to get to know them personally. She keeps in contact with our alums. And, perhaps most importantly, she knows how to put on a party. Viviene, you see, is not only our office manager, she is the de facto head of the party committee – an even more important position at CapTrade.

Thirty years is a long time to work at one place. We know all of Viviene’s picadilloes, such as her strange string sneezes and her aversion to cats. She knows all of ours, too. But that is what happens when you work with someone for thirty plus years. Thanks, Viviene, for being our lady at the office helm.

Next up: Chapter 6: Finding our First Permanent Home: A Tale of Shoes, Skills, and Smokes