MOVING TO CARMEL: THAT’S A WRAP
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE NEXT ISSUE Stay tuned for the summer issue of Themis, which will feature pictures of the new International Office!
By Christy Marx Barber, Staff Writer Imagine a family of 36 living in the same home for 24 years. Each family member has a space he or she has decorated and filled with personal items and computer equipment. The home has closets and rooms stuffed to the brim with some really important and valuable items and some outdated things that could stand to be replaced. Now imagine that family moving to a new home in the depths of a Midwestern winter. What could possibly go wrong? In the real life story of Zeta Tau Alpha’s International Office moving from 3450 Founders Road in Indianapolis to 1036 S. Rangeline Road in Carmel, Indiana, what went wrong was a snow and ice storm. What went right was the organization and flexibility of the IO staff that produced a nearly seamless move. “The IO staff supports everything we do in ZTA. They are like family,” Fraternity Housing Corporation President Julia Marthaler Hill said. “Their excitement, understanding and cooperation was fabulous during every phase of the moving process.” ZTA announced plans to move to Carmel in July 2015. The FHC found a building to renovate in a perfect location in December 2016. When the FHC sold 3450 Founders Road to the American Legion Auxiliary in October 2017, the move was on. In September 2017, Executive Director Meghan Vicinus Parker appointed the staff moving leadership team: Senior 36 · THEMIS · Fraternity Housing Corporation News
Director of Operations & Personnel Carrie Armentrout Hoffeditz, Archivist Patti Cords Levitte and Director of Properties Suzanne Brittain. “We were very intentional about choosing the leadership team,” Mrs. Parker said. “Based on their staff roles it made sense, but they were also clearly qualified based on their individual experiences.” Carrie, a former Leadership Consultant, started working at IO in 2010 and knew the building and its operations inside and out. Patti had a clear understanding of what needed to be saved for historical purposes, and she worked in moving and logistics for a major retailer in the past. Suzanne previously worked for Delta Delta Delta Fraternity during its move to a new office. Having been hired by ZTA in April 2017, she saw office operations with fresh eyes and could ask, “Do we need to keep that?” The team met every Friday for planning, purging and packing. “We first went through every closet, every cabinet and every drawer, assessing functionality,” Carrie said. “As we did, we tried to improve office processes.” Two vendors also assisted the team: Crown/Wheaton Moving and Promethius Consulting.
PICTURED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Carrie Armentrout Hoffeditz, Meghan Vicinus Parker, Patti Cords Levitte and Suzanne Brittain were instrumental in orchestrating the move of International Office.
“We loved that the moving company had Crown in its name,” Suzanne said, “but we chose them because they promised to deliver a smooth transition with a crate tracking system.” Promethius handled the moving of technology. Employees received bags, labeled with their new office room numbers, for their phones, keyboards, monitors and computers. The office was without internet or phone access for just one day—Friday, Jan. 12. But no one could control the weather. “On that morning, we had an ice and snow storm,” Mrs. Parker recalled. “We would have closed the office if we weren’t moving that day. But everyone showed up, got all their things packed and got out early before the snow started again.” The weather posed the biggest problem for Patti, who was responsible for moving ZTA’s most cherished items—the Founders’ belongings, historic photos and documents, gowns belonging to 12