Unlearning the Linear Career Path: Maureen Peters, Strategic Employee Experience Program Manager, MAVEN Co-Lead, and Veteran Advocate

Chris Spencer: You're listening to the Oracle Maven Podcast, where we bring people together from the veteran affiliated community to highlight employees, partners, organizations, and those who are continuing the mission to serve. Welcome to the Maven Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Spencer, and in this episode, I'm joined by Maureen Peters, strategic employee Experience Program Manager, Maven Codeshare, and military ally. In this episode, Maureen gets real about growing up constantly on the move, learning to roll with change, stay grounded, and find the good in every new chapter. Surrounded by family and friends who dedicated their lives to service, she reflects on what it really means to live with purpose and give back. Maureen also reminds us that careers and life rarely follow a straight line, and sometimes the best moments come from the

Co-host: plans we didn't make.

Chris Spencer: Tune in for an uplifting chat about resilience, purpose, and the beauty of embracing the unexpected. We, we have all we need to become the person we want to be. So let's remember how to connect with others with sincerity and genuine intent as we continue the mission to serve. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy this episode and please remember to check in on your buddies and family. Maureen's contact details are in the podcast description and you can always find me on LinkedIn.

Co-host: Maureen, what's going on?

Maureen Peters: Hey, Chris. What's up?

Co-host: Oh, not much.

Maureen Peters: What's.

Co-host: What's going on on your side?

Maureen Peters: You know, busy, busy life. That's a. Kind of the standard around here. Just dealing with having a kid away from home for the first time. That's always fun to. Big adjustment.

Co-host: Yeah, you get used to it, I guess. I hear. I don't know. Still working through it myself.

Maureen Peters: Yeah. Yeah, it's a big change. It's a. It's a big life transition. Uh, so that.

Co-host: Look at you inserting the terms.

Maureen Peters: Look at that.

Co-host: Yeah, nice. Well, that's good. So you got the fall background on your. I know the folks can't see this because it's audio, but the video background is fall. How's Nashville in the fall?

Maureen Peters: Um, it has been cold and rainy. Uh, but we are just getting the turning of the leaves on the trees, so it's great. I see all these trees and all this great color and everything else. It's really nice. It's a nice time of year. I just got back from Florida, uh, though spent a long weekend in Florida, so it was warmth and sunshine in the beach. So definitely hoping I can get back to that soon.

Co-host: Yeah, I bet. Yeah. It's a nice place to visit.

Maureen Peters: Yeah.

Co-host: Although summertime's probably not as moderate as now.

Maureen Peters: Yeah, I was gonna say that's why it's perfect. Fall, spring. Not too hot, gorgeous. Just what the Dr. Deegan ordered.

Co-host: So Maureen's here. Maureen has joined. Well, I'll let Maureen tell her story, but Maureen's, uh, here as the co chair of Maven, so our military affiliated, veteran employee network community inside of Oracle. And Maureen is an ally. And there, there are some connections that, again, I'll, I'll pass the mic over and she'll, she'll cover those things. But we're, we're talking to Maureen today because this is episode two of season four and we have a lot of things that are going on. As was indicated just as we started talking, we want to talk about the perspective that Maureen has, the skill sets that Maureen brings to her role here, as well as what the vision for Maven is moving forward. If you listen to episode one, Scott Paford briefly talked about what we were trying to achieve, some of the neat things we were working on. That's, uh, what he says in the Hopper. And so, you know, we'll take a, uh, perspective from Maureen. But before we do that, like we always do, Maureen, tell us a little bit about you.

Maureen Peters: Oh, well, I appreciate the opportunity to be here. And who in the heck can follow Scott's opening to season four?

Co-host: That was, like, pretty good, wasn't it?

Maureen Peters: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, who is Maureen? Gosh, Maureen is, um, you know, a wife and a mom. And, you know, I grew up in a normal household and, you know, I had friends and family who've served and everything else. And, uh, I met my husband similar to Scott. You know, he was saying that, you know, he was kind of not looking for the drama, the relationships or anything else. And then, bam, he found his wife. So it was kind of same thing for, for, for me in my world. You know, my husband. And I wasn't looking for that relationship or that drama, but I found, uh, my husband, he was recently transitioned out of the Marine Corps. You know, some people will say that I'm a military spouse, but the reality is is, uh, I don't deserve that honor. He was in and out of the Corps before. I mean, once a Marine, always a Marine. So, you know, I live with that, but I never had to deal with PCSing or deployments or anything else. I mean, my best friend deployed, uh, the last year that she was in the Air Force. So, you know, spent a lot of time with her family, supporting her family, sending her monthly care packages with themed holidays and, you know, just trying to get her all the Good stuff. And help her through that last, uh, that last year before she was ready to hit the button and leave the air force after 20 years. So I'm a wife, uh, obviously to my husband Sam. I hope that my husband would say that he's, he's a lucky man. I know I'm a lucky woman. We had two beautiful kids. As I mentioned at the beginning. Uh, my daughter, uh, just started at the University of Tennessee this fall. So go Vols. And I have a 16 year old son, uh, who's a junior in high school, just starting his wrestling season. So as you can imagine, you know, between work and life and you know, everything else, there's just a lot going on.

Co-host: It's always busy, always busy, Always. Now you're not, you're not originally from Tennessee.

Maureen Peters: I am not. I'm ah, one of the California transplants that the Tennesseans love so much. Um, I left California, we left California about three and a half years ago. But I'm not a California born and raised either. I actually moved to California from Michigan. Let's see, I would have been almost 11 years old when I moved to California. My dad was on contract at Apple back before Apple was super cool. And he had been commuting back and forth for about a year and a half. And so when they asked him to extend his contract he said, well, only if you move my family out to California. So we moved to California in January of 89 and uh, it was amazing. I mean going from, you know, Michigan, cold winter to California in January and it was like 50 degrees outside. We were running around in our shorts and T shirts and everybody thought we were nuts. Uh, so when his contract ended, we had the opportunity to either stay in California or move back to Michigan. And who wouldn't want to stay in California? There's a reason that it is the Golden State. It is beautiful.

Co-host: It is, yes. And it always will be. So uh, around 11 you said that you came from Michigan to California and what was it like moving from the Midwest into the West Coast?

Maureen Peters: Yeah, you know, that's, that's hard. It's a hard transition. My parents both grew up in Cleveland and, or outskirts of Cleveland, Rocky river and uh, Lakewood for my mom. And my dad went to U of D. So that's what you know, brought us to, brought him to Michigan. So it was really hard. I, we had no family west of the Mississippi. Uh, all of my parents, siblings and family members were all in the Illinois, Ohio, you know, Indiana, Michigan area. So it was really hard. It was A new start for us. But, um, you know, church and school and sports got us our own little network of people that have become our family.

Co-host: Nice. And whereabouts in California. You don't have to be specific. Was it Northern California, or where exactly were you?

Maureen Peters: Yes, absolutely. Northern. So, you know, Silicon Valley. My dad worked at Apple and he worked at Tandem. Both my parents worked for Cisco. I worked for Cisco. My brother worked for Cisco. Uh, we all kind of had our little tenure there at one point in time. So we were in the Bay Area. And about a year or so, I think after my husband and I got married, we moved up to northeast of the Sacramento area. So, uh, and as expansion kept getting, you know, more and more and everything was growing, we just kept moving further and further out to kind of get away from it all. And, um, you know, so we loved it. Absolutely loved it there, but it was just too busy. And so when we. After Covid and everything else, we decided that we were going to move. You know, we were trying to figure out where we wanted to go. And Maureen was not about to move back to Michigan. I did not want gray and dreary weather from November until April. So we were kind of figuring out where we wanted to land. And, uh, I had been traveling to Tennessee when I was working with Cisco. Uh, you know, they had an office in Franklin, which is just south of Nashville. And so I had been traveling there, you know, fairly regularly and loved, uh, it. You beat Nashville. Live music on lower Broadway, which is totally my jam. So it was just one of the places it was a little. Little south of, you know, where the family was closer to them, but not nearly as south as Florida and the heat. Although I really do miss the water. Having lived in Northern California, being about an hour from North Shore and being, you know, like an hour and a half, two hours from San Francisco. You had the best of all the worlds, right? I could go to the beach, I could go to the mountains, you know. Now I'm kind of landlocked in Tennessee. Love it here. Great. I'm in a rural community. Um, so I am, um. I'm like an hour north of Nashville, so just shy of the Kentucky border. And it's beautiful, beautiful here. I absolutely love it. But I do miss my water.

Co-host: Yep. So north, you said? North Shore. Is that Tahoe? Lake Tahoe, yeah.

Maureen Peters: Yeah. I mean, we spent most of our time, honestly, in South Lake Tahoe. That was kind of my little happy place. And, um, you know, it's kind of the same, you know, as I. As we drive to Eastern Tennessee and kind of hit that plateau. We start to climb those hills and you know, get those Rockies, like, you know, that, that hits home, that I'm, uh, like, oh, I really love this part of the state. It's just gorgeous.

Co-host: Nice.

Maureen Peters: But, uh, there's something to be said about the fact that I pretty much drive two lane country roads everywhere and you get stuck behind a tractor and you're like, okay, you just sit behind the farm equipment, it's all right. You know, it's a slower pace of life. Sit on the front porch or the back porch, drink some bourbon. That's a big change too. You know, uh, wine country and everything else was so close in California and there's no wine in Tennessee, uh, unless you're like strawberry or BlackBerry wine. So became bourbon drinkers.

Co-host: Okay.

Maureen Peters: Yeah.

Co-host: So the change, the change in the adaptation then, I guess is something that you're familiar with. What are some of the things that stand out as kind of the prominent considerations of when you're getting ready to make those types of decisions?

Maureen Peters: Um, family first, you know, honestly, like, what's going to be best for, for my kids, that's, you know, they are the driving force behind pretty much everything I do. Um, I lost both my parents before I was 40, so they are, they are my everything. You know, it was what's going to be good for them, what's going to be healthy for them. You know, how do we make sure that they're going to be set up for success?

Co-host: So was there a lot of planning going into it before? I mean, you're talking about coming out of the pandemic, just trying to figure out what you're going to do and then you decide that you're going to, you're going to relocate.

Maureen Peters: Yeah. You know, it's funny, my husband was born and raised in the Bay Area, and, um, so he joined the corps because he wanted to travel and see the world and he didn't get very far and stayed, uh, in California. So. So for him it was really nice because when we go back to visit family, it gave him an opportunity to see a different part of the country. It's so different outside of California. Uh, so he had always wanted to move. Uh, but like I said, my parents, you know, both had their cancers. They, we struggled, you know, through their, their trials and tribulations. And so it was never something I was going to do or leave. Uh, just, you know, so after a while we just kind of decided through the pandemic, why are we still here? You know, what, where could we be. That suits us. And um, after my dad passed, my parents had had this trip plan where my. Okay, in the family, everybody has to get all 50 states. That is a, that is a goal that everybody in our family has, uh, you know, tried to achieve. And you can't, you know, can't be in an airport that doesn't count. Your feet aren't on real ground. That's airport ground. And you can't fly over it. So you gotta actually like touch the land. And um, so my mom was trying to get her last seven states when my dad passed unexpectedly. And so they had this big trip planned and um, we, we had told her that we would go on the trip with her. So we did a five week road trip in a minivan and my kids and my husband racked up 26 states. So that's, that was kind of our thing is we're driving this five week road trip. Where do you want to go? What do you like? What are you seeing that, you know, speaks to you? Uh, Nashville or. Well, Tennessee was one of the, one of the states. Tennessee, South Carolina, we really like the South.

Co-host: And so what specifically or explicitly got you to decide on Tennessee? Did work have any influence on that?

Maureen Peters: Work did not have any influence actually. And maybe this will go into the kind of conversation that we've got today. But I have worked remote since my son was an infant and I was in mergers and acquisitions for a little over a decade, both here at Oracle and at, uh, Cisco Systems. And so, I mean, the conversations I'm into due diligence. You can't sit in a cubicle and ask questions and, you know, do the things that you're supposed to do when you're under NDA. So my role had always been remote. Um, my kids learned from a very early age to walk silently into my office and to not be anywhere where they could potentially show up on camera. Um, so, yeah, so work didn't have any play in it, but huge value add and benefit that Oracle was going to be moving into Nashville. So I got here and the office was brand new. And by office we are leasing an office at the moment. So when I came to Nashville, we, I think we occupied one floor and we have slowly taken over, uh, pretty much every floor in that building and acquired space in a building a block away. So, uh, I love to go down when I can, when we've got events to do, especially with Maven. I'm an owl leader in Nashville as well. I go down, I try to be down there at least you know, once or twice a month. But, uh, that commute over the ridge is not something that. Something I want to do every, every day, kind of like everywhere else. Traffic in those big cities is no joke.

Co-host: Yep.

Maureen Peters: I got better things to do with my time, man.

Co-host: Yes, you do. And we're going to talk about those things here shortly. What is owl?

Maureen Peters: OWL is Oracle's Women's leadership. It is another erg that Oracle has, is focused on women's leadership. OWL is like all the other ergs, is open to everyone and to all the allies. So it's not just women. We have men that come and attend it as well. Right. When you're talking about leadership development, it shouldn't make a difference whether it's male or female. Right. It doesn't have any bearing on it. Um, it's all about who you are and what you're trying to do and achieve. And so we have a lot of early and career people in Nashville that are sales development reps and whatnot that are in office. It's been really wonderful to be a leader to help mentor these young ladies, uh, through their tech journey.

Co-host: What are some of the things that you do for OWL that stands out as probably something that you look forward to doing most?

Maureen Peters: Oh, so last year I created this, what we call Munch and Learn, because we didn't know if it was going to be breakfast or lunch or happy hour or something along that line. So we have a. We have a quarterly Munch and Learn that we do. So it's a lot of things. Like last year's programming, we started off with mentoring, then the importance of mentoring. Then we moved to, um, your brand and knowing what your brand, brand is. And, uh, from there we moved to strategic networking and about how to, you know, network and meet the right people and grow that network and how wonderful your network can be for you in helping you throughout your career journey. And then our last one was about kind, um, of internal mobility. Like, how do you navigate what that looks like? You know, again, a lot of them are early in career, so this is their first, first job right out of college. And, you know, they maybe didn't go to school to be in sales. You know, uh, one of my mentees went to be, you know, uh, supply chain management. I was like, well, how do you, how do you pivot your career from sales to supply chain management? And Oracle is a huge, vast company. And I'd like to think that I've, you know, I've got a lot of connections throughout all the different, you know, Lines of businesses being in mergers and acquisitions, we were acquiring like mad. Um, the first time I was at Oracle, I mean I think I worked on, not all of them came to fruition, but I think I worked on 42 acquisitions in the two and a half years that I was at Oracle the first time because I am a boomerang. So I was here, um, 2011 through 2013. Those were our big acquisitions like Taleo and RightNow and Eloqua and everything else. Uh, it was chaotic and fun and everything else, but there's a lot. And I think people, you know, they come in and they have their, their role and they know their role but they don't really know how big Oracle is and where they can go. I mean, you know, I had a, um, one of my favorite VPs that I worked for, Susan, uh, poser, she just retired, spent uh, 25 years at Oracle. Uh, had been in, you know, marketing and sales and finance and operations and I mean there's just so many different places that you can go. You don't have to have a linear career path. Uh, you know, you can have a non linear career path and you know, experience so much and you don't even have to leave the company to do it.

Co-host: So uh, second that. Yeah, I like that.

Maureen Peters: You've been here forever too.

Co-host: Almost forever.

Maureen Peters: I was like, we won't date you don't do that. No, no.

Co-host: Gotta leave some, some mystery to the experience. So M and A. So you said you joined in 2011, stayed in 2013.

Maureen Peters: Yep.

Co-host: And during that time with all of that activity around M and A, what was the common theme amongst all that change that was occurring from people that were coming into Oracle as a result of an M and A?

Maureen Peters: Yeah, it was really hard. The hard thing about M and A, I think what people don't, don't realize is that ah, people, people and talent, to me that's the most important thing. Right. Um, but there's a lot of redundancy. So I was specifically focused on sales go to market, um, and incentive compensation, which is always just such a touchy topic anyway, you know, so you want your salespeople to come over because it's going to take time for your Oracle reps to, you know, learn the product, the technology and how to sell it and position it. They have their own finance people, they have their own HR people. When you're acquiring them and integrating them into a line of business that already has HR support and you know, finance support and ops support and things like that, there's a redundancy in jobs. And, um, so. So that was hard. That was very hard on me. That weighed heavy on my heart and in a lot of ways, because, you know, well, you don't know everybody. You know, you can't keep everybody. And so that makes it a little challenging.

Co-host: So with that and you're talking about roles and how you're going to integrate roles into what already exists, does any of your experience help with how you're going to manage those things that people are thinking or, uh, what they're wondering about as they're coming into the company and the unknowns?

Maureen Peters: I think that that's kind of what drove me. I'm. Yeah, innately just, you know, I want to help everybody. And, uh, I don't like to say no. And, you know, I want to make it easier for people do their thing. And so I think that's kind of how I ended up in, you know, the strategic employee experience world. I want people to have a good experience. That's why I mentor so many people. Because, you know, as. As hard as it is to navigate your career and everything else, it's. It's hard to do it alone. So, you know, I try to do everything that I can to take on as many mentees and share my knowledge and my wisdom and, you know, just help people through it. Because at the end of the day, it's the people that matter.

Co-host: So you left?

Maureen Peters: I did leave. I went to. I went to Cisco Systems. I was there for about five years. That's a whole nother story. And, uh, so Cisco was doing a lot of layoffs and, you know, I got impacted and, uh, it ended up being a blessing in disguise. You know, my mom was. I'd already lost my dad at that point in time. He had retired from Cisco and passed away six months to the day that he retired from Francisco. And, uh, my mom was, uh, ill and, um, you know, so that time away, I took time. I got laid off, I think in end of October maybe. And so I was like, well, I'm not going to even attempt to look for a job until the beginning of the new year. Having been in HR and recruiting in the past, like, it's a tough. It's a tough time in November, December to be looking for a job. So I was just going to take the. The severance that I had and just enjoy my time. And, you know, funny, I had my. My great oracle M and A people that I had worked with, like, knocking on my door, hey, you should come back. I was like, nope, nope. I. I Don't know that I want to come back to Oracle. And look at me now. I've been here from back for, uh, seven years, so. Well, I'm a boomerang. And the way that Oracle calculates their, um, you know, time and service, I think I'll hit my 10 years, uh, in January. Nice.

Co-host: Yeah, congrats. Yeah, that's a pretty good. So let's stay there for a minute and talk about an anti. An anticipated change, life change, prioritization and then goals. I mean, you had unplanned changing career and then clearly you had the mindset to, to look at it from a perspective of an opportunity to do something else and focus on something else, which is your family. And you said that early on. Family first.

Maureen Peters: Yeah.

Co-host: What's interesting is you gave yourself a time. Help us understand how did that go down to where you decided that I'm gonna do this until I don't want to. And, and you, you gave yourself an end state of when you wanted to go back and continue on your career.

Maureen Peters: You know, I don't know that I, I don't know that I really put a lot of time, I mean, like, a lot of thought into it. I just, I had, I've worked for people in the past. That taught me a lot and, you know, good relationships and unhealthy, uh, toxic manager relationships. So I knew when I left Cisco that it was time to allow myself to be picky about who I wanted to work for. When you get bounced around from manager to manager to manager and it's not your choice, it doesn't feel good all the time. And, uh, I'm a big believer in people and personalities. And if I were to think about my five cliftonstrengths, positivity, um, is one of mine. Shocking, right?

Co-host: Blows my mind. Didn't see that coming.

Maureen Peters: Arranger, achiever, positivity, individualization, uh, what in the world is my other activator? So, yes, probably no surprise whatsoever. So individualization is one of my strengths. I always see the good, I always look for the upside in people and I always try to find something that I can relate to them with, like, how can we connect together? Because connectedness is very important. So I knew I wasn't going to just work for anybody. I wasn't going to just take a job to take a job. Um, I had done that before. I've been down that road. Ah. So when Oracle came knocking again, my coworkers, they were like, it's really different. You should think about it. So I came back to Oracle In April of 2018, I think I was back for not even a whole month, I think. And my mom was told she had about three weeks to live. And so I looked at my boss and I was like, I'm sorry, but, you know, I've gotta, I gotta spend some time. And they were like, do what you need to do. Take. Take as much time as you need. And that was a huge change from an Oracle perspective. Um, I was not expecting that. I was thinking, how am I going to manage this? And, um. So, yeah, so it's gone a long way. I had some really great, really great managers, uh, being back at Oracle.

Co-host: So let's talk about that culture selection. You decided things leading up. And then for painting the picture for everybody that's listening, you know, the story, the reason why we talk about an individual and we ask for a little bit of backstory so we can see things develop and look where the true, true heart of someone is sitting when decisions are being made. And of course, contributions to things that are for the greater good or bigger than one individual, where it comes from. So how, how did that make you feel when you came back and sorry for your loss on both your mom and your dad? And when you're now faced with a new situation in your career and what you heard the news about your mom and you were allowed now to take the time that you needed, what did that do for you?

Maureen Peters: Yeah, I think it just took one of those many balls in the air that I have to figure out how to juggle every day. Just took it out. I didn't have to worry about it. And let me be clear, like, I mean, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 17 years. Yes, 17 years old. Um, you know, she'd lived for 23 years battling this. You know, my dad had his cancer. My parents. I think one of the things that I learned that one of the best things I learned from my parents was like, life is short. Live it to the max. So when I say that my parents struggled with their cancer. Sure, absolutely. But did they still travel the world? Did they still act semi retired while they were still working? Yes, because they knew, they didn't know how long they were going to have. And that's one of the things that I've really tried to instill in my children and in my family. Life is too short. You've got to do the things that you're interested in doing. You can't wait until you're financially stable to have babies, and you can't wait until you know you're this old to be able to travel. No, go live life. I mean, don't put yourself into debt by any means, because, you know, I'm definitely fiscally responsible. But, you know, there's. There's something to be said. You know, go out to dinner, go have the laughs, go do the fun things. And, uh, that's kind of how I live my life. You know, I don't live to work, but I, you know, I don't necessarily work to live either. You know, you have to.

Chris Spencer: To.

Maureen Peters: You got to find all of that balance. And coming back to Oracle has been. Has been a great thing for me. It's really allowed me, uh, the space to just explore what I'm interested in doing. So I came back doing M and A, and I had a manager that was very supportive and was like, hey, are you doing what you want to be doing? Are you happy with what you're doing? And having a manager that says, hey, get involved. I mean, that's how I met you. You. You ended up in our organization. I found out about Maven. I was like, what is this organization? How do I get involved? Actually, I think. I'm pretty sure you said to me, you need to come be involved. But, um, you know, I was, you

Co-host: know, something like that.

Maureen Peters: Something like that, hey, we need you. You come be part of our team. Uh, and. And it was like the minute I joined Maven, the minute that I came aboard, it was like coming home. It was. It was familiar. It was, you know, people that just have the same m, you know, mentality and that, you know, love of other people and camaraderie and teamwork and support and, you know, we're all going through different things and different stages in our lives, but, you know, that's how we connect. That's how we, you know, pull together as a group and support each other. So it was like coming home and having that sense of belonging has been, I mean, tremendous.

Co-host: No, thanks for that and thanks for sharing that. That the perspective is. Is nice one, to hear and, um, two, to make the correlation between, uh, the, you know, of the multiple sides there could be in one's life. You know, there's the. The personal and professional, and when you find alignment in seeking opportunity, and it seems like with your enthusiasm, of all your strengths, as you mentioned, no surprise that when you. When you look at things, you see things a certain way and opportunistic is. Is one way of saying, well, that looks like something I want to get involved in, and then you do it. Um, that is in fact, if you haven't yet met Maureen, that is her M.O. you know, she sees something, it, it seems to be aligned ah, with what needs to occur and she'll drive it. And there's a lot of excitement that will come out of that from, from the people around her too. And so that, that energy is not only appreciated, but it's um, necessary in sometimes when. And you know, we're trying to boost people up, keep them moving, things like that. So, so around 20, 21, ish, 22, you got involved and you started to do things, talk about some of the things that were happening back then and where things are now. One, two in two areas. One, your career and then two, with Maven.

Maureen Peters: Yeah, I think I was still working in M and A when I joined Maven, but I think I really quickly transitioned into a new role. Um, my VP that I was telling you about, Susan Poser, she had posted in the Women's OWL channel, um, that she had a role open, focused on customer and employee experience. And I read the job description, I went, ooh, that sounds amazing. Right? If I have the ability to like, you know, touch the employee experience and make that something that can be so much better and so much grander, uh, and, and help our customers, you know, at the same time, that would be a huge shift. And again, I worked at M and A, so, you know, was never in the depth of an organization, you know, like a sales organization. I supported them, I helped them from an operational perspective and everything else, but had never actually been in the business. So that was a big change and uh, I really enjoyed that. I. It was a lot of fun and uh, you know, for an org to actually put some people and money behind having an experience at work, not just here to make your number, but we want to, we want to look at you holistically as an employee. We want to look at. We designed, um, a program called living your best life. And it had five pillars focused on career development, on continuous learning, social, uh, um, getting involved and everything else. Giving, um, and wellness. Because all of those things are what make up people and the things that make them happy and feel fulfilled. And we wanted our, you know, our employees to feel like they're, you know, they were valued and that, you know, we cared and that we encouraged them to go learn, we encouraged them to pursue, you know, careers. Uh, so we wanted it to be like this destination designation, location in, within Oracle to say, you've got all of this opportunity to, you know, to be who you are, bring your authentic self and you know, that spoke to me because that's how I live my life. I'm 100 authentic. And, you know, some people like it, some people. It might be a little much for, you know, sometimes Maureen get a little crazy with her energy. I'm pretty sure there's somebody sitting across the microphone. Microphone for me who's like, hey, I need you to tone that down a little.

Co-host: Some dosage, right? Moderation.

Maureen Peters: So I know I can be a little much. And that's. And that's cool. Um, but, you know, it gave us. It, it really just, it allowed us to focus on so many different things, you know, and when you can plan quarterly giving events, you know, things where we are, you know, for example, we created, um, these volunteer projects that we would run across, you know, eight major locations, right? So imagine the, imagine the lift of trying to get people to help you because you're not boots on the ground in those locations to run these volunteer projects. We did a lot of the lift ourselves so that they just had to, you know, make it happen on the ground. But, you know, get our remote employees to use an Amazon wish list to donate school supplies, get the peoples in the hubs to fill the backpacks, and then to give them to our customers to give out to their customers. We did it with, uh, chemo goodie bags. We, uh, did the same thing. So, yeah, so we were able to bless our customers with items that our employees were donating, you know, the goodness of their own hearts to want to contribute to these projects. And, and we had, uh, John Hopkins and Vanderbilt and Stanford, and we were able to say, hey, we've made these hundred chemo goodie bags. We care about your patients to help them while they sit in a chair for four hours and get an infusion. Um, so we did volunteer projects. We did Heart Healthy Bingo in February. We get our employees, hey, get up. Go be active. We do the same with Maven, right? Hey, Maven Olympics coming up. We want people to be out there. Go do something. If that's meditating, go. That's fantastic. It's all about, you know, your mental wellness and your. And your health well being and everything else. And so it was really, really impactful for a line of business to have employees that were driving these programs. You know, so I try to do the same. I try to try to do that with Maven. I try to do that with Owl. Um, you know, try to, you know, where we can make sure that people understand we're not just looking for you to be the little worker bee and not care about anything else. We really do want you to have that exceptional employee experience, and that's important work.

Co-host: And the thing. The thing that I was looking at around the time that you're talking about, where these things started to become more prominent in our work workplace, it was a little confusing at times because there's a separation from work and personal activity at times where people are like, I just want to come to work, you know, but if you think about the majority of the time that you One spends with their mind on work and then being at work, you know, these things, you had to unravel how you felt about this stuff because you did find value once you participated in these things. It was a nice break in the monotony of. Of a concentrated effort to do, uh, what was required of you in your role in the workplace. And these breaks allowed you to distribute your focus. The relationships evolve in different capacities, you know, explore different ways of doing what you do. Whoever you are and whatever it is that you were doing, it was. It's important work. And so the volunteering component is as important as the work itself because of the things that you talked about, the philanthropic outcomes and the benefits and those types of things of whoever's receiving these things. But you feel good, you know, and you feel like you're doing things that are personally adding to who you are and who you want to be. So that's in essence of continuing the mission to serve. Right. It's. It's not just service in the military or in that sphere. You know, the military, uh, affiliated community is, you know, your service to people is the service to self. And some of those things, you become selfless, and you do things for other people. You feel good, you're helping other people feel good, and then you're bringing harmony and unity in.

Maureen Peters: In.

Co-host: In the sphere of where you are, your circle.

Maureen Peters: Yeah.

Co-host: So you. When you came in to Maven, you were helping in key areas, and then you, uh, moved into an operational role where you drove a lot of activity. There was a spurt there. So a couple years ago, we were doing a lot of events.

Maureen Peters: Yeah.

Co-host: And, you know, coming out of COVID Man, I was just gonna say, yeah,

Maureen Peters: people wanted that interaction. They were, you know, craving that engagement, you know, so the timing was really great between both me joining Maven and me joining the sales organization. And, you know, because people were. They were hungry for that, you know, that ability to connect and, you know, do things and. And maybe, you know, with as many people as they are remote, you know, you can still Engage people and, and do amazing things together even though you're remote.

Co-host: Yeah, it changed the whole dynamic of what, what connectedness means. Right. And adapting to the new way of doing it, the new style of connectedness through remote or uh, virtual engagement, you know, and reintegrating face to face interactions became equally important. So now you have that balance and so we've done pretty well in, in managing that. You've been a key part of that. Having you move into the co chair role and helping lead the vision and the strategy and not just the operational functions where you, you're now kind of the trifecta, the triple threat. Right. So you have the experience and the passion and the purpose deep inside your heart of wanting to do this, as demonstrated through what you just talked about. For years you've been doing these types of things with M and A activity, bringing on new employees from an acquisition and high stress, getting them assimilated in and integrated inside now their workplace, making them feel like they're a part of something, which is a huge challenge. And then, you know, you moved into a role where that was your job, which is amazing. And then now it's an all volunteer environment to where it's, it's not even a hobby, it's a passion where all of those things meet each other. Talk a little bit about what you're doing now in that space as, as a CO lead and then the strategy and the vision for what's to come.

Maureen Peters: You know, I still suffer, you know, from this imposter syndrome. Like how am I the co chair? Why am I the co chair? There's got to be other people who are, well, more suited for this. And you know, I didn't serve. I mean I've got so many friends and family that have served. Uh, but I didn't. And um, you know, so that it's been a little bit, uh, challenging. But I, I think about it, uh, from the people mind mindset, what do they need? What are they looking for? I uh, know Scott talked about servant leadership and everything else. So I feel like that's definitely a huge play in what I do and why I'm here and everything else. Um, because it is about giving back and is about touching those people and the things that we can bestow upon them and bless them with. And it's not even tangible things. It's the time, it's the support, it's, it's the energy and those types of things. So that's kind of what I think of when I'm thinking about, oh my gosh how did I end up in this position? Why am I in this, in this role? Because I do. I have such an innate love for people who are serving our country and who have served our country. I mean, I have an immense pride in our country. I have an immense pride in the people that do this. It's very honorable. And I know that there are so many veterans that I talk to regularly that are like, I don't need you to thank me for my service, you know, or, um, I say things like, they selflessly are serving our country. And they're like, no, I was selfish. I did it because I wanted the benefits. I'm like, nope. I'm, uh, pretty sure you put yourself, uh, you know, on that line that, you know, and you probably know a whole lot more about the statistics behind how many people actually serve. We've got law enforcement, you know, our first responders and the military. And I think that is just huge. And, you know, Maven and what we're trying to achieve from a Maven perspective, I mean, I fell in love with the mission, you know, that ability to continue to serve. Am I the person that's going to show up and take on a tough job and totally say one, uh, hundred percent, you know, hard work? I love that. I love that about our community. I love that, you know, that is a driving force. So my message is to hiring managers and to companies that they, uh, the people that they can get, you know, that you can talk about talent and you can talk about smart people and, you know, everything else but those soft skills, that resilience. You can't tell me a military spouse, I mean, those spouses go through so much, right? They are managing so much. And I think that that's just. We have to, we have to ask, advocate for them. We have to, you know, do everything that we can to keep these military spouses employed to, you know, that when they change stations, they shouldn't have to give up their entire world. Oracle's very lucky. We have that flexibility. Uh, so why are we not doing everything and shouting from the rooftops, uh, you know, about the things that we can do to, you know, support more military spouses through these, in these changes. You know, definitely.

Co-host: No, that's good and very specific and intentional. So thanks for, thanks for revealing yourself to that part and how important it is obvious. So as we wrap this up, what's big coming up that Maven is going to help support and drive. Yeah.

Maureen Peters: So I think it's really about how do we support our military spouses, how do we get our word out and advocate and talk to people about transitioning out of service and coming into Oracle and what that looks like? And I think that's going to be a huge thing. We're hiring right now like mad for data center technicians. This is a great opportunity for people that are transitioning out of the service to come in and take those types of roles. Right. They've got the skill set, they know what it's like, spend a couple years and you go and you learn the skill and the trade and everything else, and then you see where it takes you from there. So I think that's, that's a lot of what we're going to be focusing on is, you know, how do we, you know, how do we support those that are transitioning out of service? How do we make Oracle a place that they want to come to, and how do we support our military spouses and offer them, you know, flexible employment?

Chris Spencer: Yep.

Co-host: No, I, uh, got you. And thanks for that. So, Maureen, thank you for being consistent with who you've been and then bringing those traits and values inside what you do for others. And again, you know, the mindset of looking at what other people are going through and considering, you know, where their, their minds are set under pressure on change. You know, whether it's a merger and an acquisition, where your professional career is up in the air based off of things that are uncontrollable, settling into what you need to focus on and having you as, as a representative, along with the others that do this kind of work, have them settle into some norms that they can wrap their head around and focus on, maybe be distracted by until things are worked out and a little bit more concrete. Change is tough. You demonstrated the experience by choosing to go through change in, in your relocation and of course, the, the things that go along with family and, and the unfortunate realities of what goes along with family as well. There's a lot of things that you're doing that you're paying it forward to those coming up behind us. And so we're grateful for that, grateful for your support.

Maureen Peters: Final comments yeah, so, you know, as, as we're talking about it and as I think about it, you know, that linear career path is something I think that those that are in the service are so used to. Uh, and, you know, you climb those ranks and, you know, and at Oracle, you don't have to have a linear career path. You have the flexibility, you have the ability to change, you know, different lines of businesses, different job functions. There's so many different things that you can do and try your hand at. And, um, you know, I think it just provides a lot of opportunity for people to, um, grow in whatever areas they're looking to. To grow themselves. So I'm blessed, you know, I'm. I'm blessed to be here. I'm blessed to be a part of Oracle. I'm blessed to be. Be a part of Maimon. There's something to be said about finding joy in all the things and, and finding joy in your work and, and Maven is if it's another full time job, I feel like. Right. Um, but I love it. I absolutely love it when you're. When your heart is happy and your heart is full, um, there's no better way to live.

Co-host: And we will leave it there already one. Keep moving forward.