August 2020 Spotlight: Ed Ready

Ed Ready may be quiet but he gets the job done! Ed is a Senior Grants Accountant in LAYC’s business office. He has been described as LAYC’s “unsung hero.” Ed will be celebrating his 14 th year at LAYC in August. His reliable presence means that invoices keep going out come rain or shine or global pandemic.

Ed handles a large volume of grant invoicing, and works across many grants. To fully capture all of the expenses of a given program, he often has to compile detailed information from several sources to generate accurate invoices. He is fast, persistent and unrelenting when seeking critical financial information needed to get his billings done.

A program staff related how one day, when she was still new to LAYC, she struggled to understand the billable features of an OSSE grant. She immediately contacted Ed for assistance, Ed reserved some time on his calendar, opened the windows to ensure her allergies didn’t flare up, and patiently, line by line, explained the financials to her until she completely understood them.

Yet another remarked how, once Ed is comfortable with you, he will put you at ease by enlisting humor, and cracking jokes about some difficult funders they have worked with.

Something not everyone may be aware of is Ed’s collection of unique Jordan shoes, which he loves to wear on Fridays. A teammate called this trend ‘Eds Special Fridays.’ He also enjoys music and some days, can be heard humming softly to a song from a radio at his work station.

A lot of us may not fully grasp how crucial Ed’s role is. His efforts in partnership with his colleagues in the business office, ensures LAYC’s cash flow is steady and flowing so that we can meet both programmatic and operational expenses.

The next time you communicate with Ed, please take a moment to recognize his contributions and appreciate him.