Senior Registered Legal Executive Pam Harliwich recently won the Kevin Hickman Award, the most prestigious prize of the 2021 Ryman Awards.
Nominees are selected for best demonstrating Kevin’s founding values of kindness, excellence, leadership, care, and who are role models to their teammates.
“Just to be a finalist was pretty special,” said Pam.
Pam, who works in the Ryman Christchurch office, received many nominations for the award.
“Pam is always there and willing to help any member of staff. She is very kind and listens to everyone. Pam drops everything to help anyone with either work or personal issues, even if it means then working into the wee hours to get her own work done,” said Contracts Coordinator Leanne Stewart.
“She always does a fantastic job with our sales teams, I really appreciate her help and assistance and when I do make the odd stuff-up she is always pretty nice about correcting me,” said Area Sales Manager Tracy McLeod.
“She is exceptional at what she does, she finds time to volunteer for every single charity event we hold, she is kind and supportive, she does everything without needing constant praise and attention, yet she absolutely should get some! She is so important to the sales process and a very loyal and important member of the team. I love working with Pam,” said New Zealand Sales and Community Relations Manager Bernadette Forsdyke.
On the night of the awards, Ryman’s team of 6,000 gathered online for the celebration. Pam was at her home, where a party was underway with some enthusiastic supporters.
When she won, the room erupted with cheers and applause.
“I think they were even more excited than I was!” says Pam.
“It was really nice to have the team there, and my son was there, and my other son was watching from Wellington.”
All the finalists had a prize box delivered to them, to stay unopened until the award was announced, and Pam had received hers several days before the awards night. However, she had no idea that the trophy was sitting in her spare room all that time.
“It’s funny, we were weighing the box and noticed it was heavy in one corner, but we thought that could be a bottle of wine,” she said.
Pam’s family were also watching the awards online. Her father passed away a year ago, and when she won, her sister said, “Dad would have been so proud.”
“I know he would have been,” said Pam.
