Teamwork makes the dream work!
Real people. Real advocates for YOUR success! These Champion profiles demonstrate how Together with VIAVI, you can Command the network.
Name: Will Kelly
Job Title: Manufacturing Supervisor
Country: United States
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your current role at VIAVI?
Rochester, New York is where I call home. I’m happily married to my beautiful wife Melissa. We have two boys, Justin (11), and Tyler (6). I have been in the photonics industry for just over 10 years. In case you are wondering what “photonics” is … it’s the science of generating, controlling and detecting light.
My role as Manufacturing Supervisor at VIAVI has been the most inspiring so far in my career. Each day I face an array of challenges that I’ve found brings out the best version of me. A typical day begins with greeting my team as they head to their work cells. Often, my morning motivation comes from the quick collaborative discussions we share. Further collaboration takes place during our plant “Morning huddle” that I moderate. This short meeting brings key players in the plant up to speed on topics such as Facilities, Safety, Quality, and Delivery for that day. From there, it is the hustle and bustle of manufacturing the remainder of my day. This includes meetings, material processing, team guidance, and inventory management. At times I may not be fully equipped to handle every task or challenge alone, but I can count on the support of, not only the local teams, but those of the organization to obtain a positive outcome. I credit my team for many of my own successes and I believe that, although cliche, “teamwork makes the dream work”!
Tell us about your favorite hobby and what skills or qualities it enables you to bring to your role at VIAVI.
I have been a youth football coach for the past 6 years. Coaching encompasses many of the skill sets that I love such as teamwork, strategy and leadership. The fact that I am coaching and mentoring youth athletes helps me build patience skills as well. All of these skills directly transfer and I leverage every day in my role at VIAVI. I am proud to bring these qualities to the table in my daily communications and problem solving at work.
Name something that VIAVI offers that would be exciting for early-in-career employees.
Something that I think is very important for early-in-career employees is that they always find ways to stay on top of the latest trends and professional training when they can. VIAVI offers great career development tools such as LinkedIn Learning to all employees.
You can read more about VIAVI Customer and Partner Champions on the “Together with VIAVI” website.
