From Sports to Service: Meet Adrienne Hillesheim
After working in sports—doing everything from overseeing catering events and arranging and managing tradeshows to fundraising and managing contractual agreements—Adrienne Hillesheim decided it was time for a change.
In 2018, she joined CEC as a monitoring accounts coordinator. In this role, many of her skills transferred over as she managed monitoring accounts and made sure customers could rely on CEC for life safety system monitoring.
After learning the ins and outs of the business, Adrienne transitioned into a service sales executive role to build relationships with clients who needed help with life safety compliance.
In 2021, she was named our executive director of service sales, overseeing a team committed to connecting CEC clients with test and inspect services, preventive maintenance, and central station monitoring to reduce liability and improve safety.
Meet CEC’s Executive Director of Service Sales Adrienne Hillesheim!
Q: What did you do before joining CEC?
Before coming to CEC in 2018, I worked in sports. The first part of my career was spent in Michigan in marketing and the fan experience for NASCAR. I helped coordinate events like driver appearances and autograph signings. The best was Victory Lane! Lots of confetti and hats. Then I moved to Wisconsin, and I was fortunate to work at Lambeau Field in special events. I was involved in anything that wasn’t associated with football. My largest event was a group of 1,500 people. Even though I no longer work in sports, I’m still a big sports fan!
Q: What makes you most excited about working at CEC?
The future—for sure! The potential of this company is endless. The changes I’ve seen in the last few years have been amazing. These shifts just show me that CEC is open to trying new things—whether it’s trying out new technology or revamping internal processes. We’re ready to take on the future and be at the leading edge of what we do so we can better help our customers.
Q: What do you enjoy most about what you're doing right now?
I oversee the service sales team for the entire company, and I really enjoy my team (I like to call us the “service squad”!). The energy they bring to the table every day is contagious. We all feed off each other as we continue to grow. Being able to watch them connect the dots and take the next steps in their sales careers is extremely exciting and rewarding.
Q: How does a typical day play out for you at CEC? What are you responsible for?
Each day is completely different. Depending on the day, I could be at a customer meeting with one of my team members. Or I could be sitting in the office strategizing or be part of an internal meeting.
My team consists of fabulous individuals spread out among Wisconsin and Iowa. We work together to bring in new service agreements, whether that be agreements for test and inspect services, SystemsCare, monitoring, or something else.
Q: What’s a fun/interesting fact about you that most people don’t know?
I’m from Lower Michigan, born and raised in a small town outside of Ann Arbor. For all you Badger and Hawkeye fans, GO BLUE!
Q: How do you spend your free time?
It depends on the season. In the summer, my husband (Chris), our two dogs, and I enjoy spending time at our cottage on the water or golfing. If it’s fall, then you can catch me in a tree stand chasing whitetail. If it’s winter, then I’m hibernating because I hate the cold. Just kidding! I love to snowshoe. In the spring, we enjoy thawing out, enjoying the outdoors, and hitting up a golf course to knock off the dust.
Q: If you could do one other job at CEC for a day, what would it be?
I just really like where I am. 😊
Technologies:
Fire and Security
