When you hire someone new, there’s usually a little trepidation, but when we first met Ann Zdilla, we were all in.

Jamie DiGregory, who’s been with us almost 10 years and has earned her way up to the position of Director of Operations, mentioned some years back she had an aunt looking for something new. Not only did Ann have significant customer service chops from years at AT&T, but from the moment we first spoke to her, her calm and capable demeanor was palpable and we knew those traits would be highly beneficial to our clients.

Ushering a closing transaction from start to finish usually involves a fair amount of stress and frustration. Sometimes when clients call they are upset but Ann really has this magic ability to talk to them, make them feel heard and, in the meantime, she’s reaching out to 10 people in the background to fix the particular issue at hand.  

“She’s like a duck paddling like crazy under water, but on the surface she is calm, graceful and efficient,” said Brook Zink, our Vice President of Operations. “She has an infinite amount of patience and wisdom and in the six years she’s been here, I’ve never seen her lose her cool – not even once.”

From the get-go, we were pretty sure Ann could juggle just about anything because not only did she have three young kids (at the time 6, 8 and 10 years old), but she was a preschool teacher. And was about to add a new layer to her already busy life.

Because we have dayside and nightside schedules to accommodate and quickly service our varied closing transaction needs as well as deal with different time zones and schedules, Ann can make all the pieces fit together. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. she’s on our clock, and again from 2 to 10 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Then, those three mornings a week, she runs into a phone booth, puts on her preschool superhero cape and teaches those babies.

Yep, Ann does that.

“I enjoy the kids because they’re so appreciative and definitely a change of pace,” Ann said. “All my own children went there, so it’s kind of like a second family… or third, when you count Cook & James. But yes, I sometimes have to remind them not to lick the glue…the kids, not the closers.”  

Today, six years later, Ann is still ducking in for quick superhero changes. Her boys, now 16 and 12, are into swimming, track and the older one has a job but no driver’s license yet. You know what that means…mom and dad shuttling him to his shifts. And her daughter is a 14-year-old teenage shopping aficionado…also requiring transportation to multiple malls and shops with her friend group.  

But Ann balances family and work and even finds ways to advance the closing process. She’s always got the customer in mind and because she’s so close to the day-in and day-out issues, she can spot ways to improve and better serve clients. In fact, we recently made a software update and IT system enhancement that allowed us to track more data and provide answers sooner and faster. That tweak was thanks to Ann.

“With Cook & James, sometimes you have to laugh to get through some of the days,” Ann smiled. “But then again with three kids running everywhere as well as feeding and spoiling Gimli, it’s just like an extension of this big, kooky family.”

(Gimli is Ann’s eight-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog named after the dwarf in Lord of the Rings.)

The busy family enjoys playing board games together like Monopoly and card games like Go Fish and Quarters, a poker game. They build puzzles and play video games like Olympics and Just Dance on the Xbox. And they go on vacation together every year with their extended family to the Nags Head, N.C. area.  

“This will be the 28th year we have gone to the Outer Banks and it’s just a wonderful family time of togetherness we all look forward to each year,” Ann said. “My husband’s family has been going for 35 years and we’ve only missed a couple of years with our kids because of hurricanes. We stay right on the beach so all the cousins – and the adults - have a big old time.”

At this writing, you can find Ann and her family vacationing in the Outer Banks. Gimli’s at home with the pet sitter.

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