Consultant Spotlight: Kari Bassett, Project Management Consultant
Does anyone ever think of IT as a soft skill? You might after meeting Kari Basset, a consultant for Collabry with over 20 years of IT experience.
Having held multiple roles in the information technology sector, including development, testing, business analysis, and business systems analysis, Kari can IT with the best of them. For instance, she recently used her experience with JIRA and Atlassian products to manage and scale the reporting of a backlog of over 200 status updates spread across more than a dozen sub-tracks while tracking the overlap with a second high-profile initiative. In doing so, she added efficiency to the status reporting by closing high-priority tasks within a specific timeframe, making it easier to highlight key achievements.
That’s some major tech wizardry right there.
Yet it’s not just Kari’s extensive experience providing a kaleidoscope of corporate technology solutions that make her a force in the field. Clients especially appreciate her unique ability to empathize and communicate with a variety of stakeholders. Her end goal is to ensure that all team members feel heard and see their contributions integrated into the best possible outcomes.
“My top five Gallup strengths are individualization, empathy, learning, input, and development,” Kari explains. “Individualization and empathy help me understand why a stakeholder's requirements are important. Learning and input means I have great capacity to come up to speed quickly—to understand the client's current state, plus all the pieces needed to get to the desired future state.”
Kari’s strengths in empathy and learning extend to her pursuits in the off-work hours. She serves as a parent volunteer at Crossroads Park Elementary School, as a Grinnell College Alumni volunteer, and as an event committee member for SistaSoulFest, Iowa’s largest Black women-led vendor event. She is also the founder and board president of the Iowa Black History Research Collective. While this nonprofit organization is focused on securing historic recognition for Black churches, its website also reports on ongoing incidents of systemic racism. Check out Kari’s intriguing post, where she discusses a surprising feature she found on Newspapers.com, which allows users to “Hide Enslavements” when searching the archives.
Kari lives in Des Moines, Iowa, where she loves going to the downtown farmers market and dining at various locally owned restaurants. Another aspect Kari appreciates about her locale: Des Moines is a “20-minute city.” Sure, it’s a thriving metropolis, but never overwhelming. You can drive from one side to the other in 20 minutes or less.