Moreton & Company Blog

Susan Stoddard is currently Moreton & Company’s Corporate Secretary, responsible for a little bit of everything—as well as maintaining the IT department’s Agency Management Database.

1. When did you start working for the firm?
   I started with Moreton in December 1975.
2. What was the company like when you started?
   The company was very small—about 21 employees. There weren’t any Account Managers (CSRs). The sales people completed all their own applications by hand and then two of us that typed everything from the handwritten forms. The two of us also answered the telephones.
3. In what ways has the company changed since you started?
   The positions are more specialized now. Technology has obviously changed the way we do business. In 1975, we did not have a computer system so we typed all the invoices (in triplicate) and sent copies to an outside company to enter into a computer system from which we got our month-end reports and key-punch cards for each invoice processed during the month. When a payment check was received from the client, the key-punch card for that invoice was pulled out of the open accounts receivable box and put in the closed A/R box to be processed at the end of the month as being paid. After I had been at Moreton for about a year, we purchased an IBM Selectric typewriter for the person that did the dictation for all of the sales people. Everyone else still had electric typewriters with the movable carriage rather than the Selectric typing ball.
4. What have been some of the highlights of your career here?
   Since the agency has grown, we have moved into new office spaces several times in 1975. When I first started we occupied half of a small building on South Temple. We then expanded in that same building to occupy the full building. Next, we moved next door into a larger two-story building. We then moved some of the employees back into the small one-story building next door. The most exciting project that I was directly involved in was moving all of our employees to a much larger building a block east on South Temple. I got to be involved in designing and decorating the interior on the new office space and coordinated the actual move into the new building.
5. What’s been one of the best things about working at Moreton?
   I have made some great friends at Moreton. The Moreton family is very loyal to their employees, and as a result I have always wanted to do my best at whatever I was asked to do.
6. What positions have you held at Moreton?
   I started as a clerk-typist/receptionist. I then became one of the first CSRs working directly with a sales executive and began really learning about insurance. I was then promoted to be the Operations Supervisor for the Public Entity Dept. In the early ‘80s, I was made the first Office Manager, which included all HR functions as well as ordering all supplies. I also was involved in some accounting functions. As the company grew, my job functions were split between several people, and I moved into Accounting/IT, where I am now the Corporate Secretary.
7. What is the most enjoyable part of your job?
   I like the challenge of writing reports that are requested by various employees. I like figures and detail work and making sure that data is accurate.
8. What is something most people wouldn’t know about you?
   I major in music at college; however, I decided that teaching music for a living took all the fun out of music. Since music is actually very mathematical, I think my music talents have helped me in the accounting work I do. Also, my father was a mortician. I grew up living in an apartment above the mortuary. My first job was cleaning up and vacuuming after a funeral and also answering the telephone at the mortuary if my dad had to run an errand. This is where I got my first experience as a receptionist and taking accurate messages.