Sylvia Margaret Arnold
Sylvia Margaret Arnold, 65, of Burnet died Aug. 5, 2011. Born June 14, 1946, in Crockett, she was the daughter of Benjamin and Norma (Taylor) Woelfley.
She was a recognized expert in the utility-customer service industry. She was a sought-after speaker on topics such as payment processing, human resource issues and SAP conversions.
In 1998, when Houston industries acquired Arkla Inc. and began its consolidation of customer-service facilities in a four-state area, she was hired to oversee that operation.
She built a successful call center in Shreveport, La., and shepherded its expansion from 18 operators serving northwest Louisiana to more than 100 serving Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and parts of Texas. From 1998 to 2003, Sylvia guided the Customer Service Call Center through two corporate reincarnations as well as deregulation in Texas.
Perhaps her most dramatic accomplishment in Shreveport was the total conversion from a mainframe platform to a fully integrated SAP system, under the watchful eye of gas regulators from four different states.
When she joined City Public Service of San Antonio in 2003, she inherited a recent conversion to SAP and a fairly stable customer-service center. For the next seven years she managed an annual budget in the tens of millions of dollars, while she instituted one improvement project after another, streamlining operations and realigning personnel to make the most of their talents.
As the director of customer service, she led a staff of more than 400 representatives, billing personnel and meter readers with the same integrity and discipline she applied to her personal life. She left a legacy of accountability and innovation that will survive for years.
Survivors include daughters Jamie and husband Jack Moran of Bertram, and Robin Arnold of Burnet; sisters and brothers-in-law Renee and Bert Van Natter of Liberty Hill and Rose Mary and Robert Owles of Waco; and grandchildren Lee Moran, Holley Moran, Margaret Rose Martin and Emily Jo Moran.
A memorial service was Aug. 8 at Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home, 306 Texas 29 East in Burnet, (512) 756-2222.