Meet the Team: The Trio Behind Every Invoice, Order and Paycheck
Whether you call our main line or walk through the front door at Univex, Mal is the first person you meet. She is the voice on the phone and the face in the vestibule, greeting visitors and fielding calls before anything else happens. When those calls become accounting, HR or IT queries, Deb and Ayla are next in line.
Mal Keeps Every Order Moving
Mal sits at the center of it. As the team’s order entry specialist, she takes every sales order from the moment it lands and carries it through shipping. Mal is the one coordinating logistics, confirming freight timing, and relaying updates to the sales team. “I wear a lot of hats,” Mal said, “Everyday brings a different challenge or opportunity and it keeps things interesting. ” She has been with Univex for 20 years, since she was 18 years old, and describes the company as the place where she grew into the person she is today. “I basically had my whole adult life that I grew up here,” she said.
Deb Keeps the Invoices on Track
From Mal’s desk, orders flow to Deb, who handles accounts receivable. Deb makes sure every order is invoiced correctly before it goes out the door. Deb’s system of checks and balances ensures orders are settled in a timely manner because, after all, that will greatly affect those pre-determined shipping timelines. Deb has been with the company for 18 years. “I just have to make sure the sales orders are invoiced correctly before they go out,” she said, “and then making sure people are paying their invoices within a reasonable time of their terms.”
Ayla Closes the Loop
Managing nearly three different titles at a time, Ayla oversees the company’s financials and P&Ls, and on top of her accounting responsibilities. The other two titles? Add HR and IT to her list of unsung skills. She keeps everything in check with checklists and a deliberately clutter free desk. “How do you eat an elephant?” she said. “It’s all one bite at a time.” Every month, the three of them run a commission process that depends entirely on the handoff between them:
- Mal tracks which sales rep gets credit for each order, including the split commissions that occur when two reps share a deal.
- Next comes Deb. within the first few days of the month, she reconciles it against her own records
- Ayla processes and pays it out to the reps.
Freight billing works the same way, passing from Mal’s shipping coordination to Deb’s outgoing freight charges to Ayla’s incoming freight and final payment. These three professionals, although have seperate functions, all rely on each other from step-to-step
Communication Without the Meetings
Constant, informal communication is key for keeping the operation running. “There’s an abundance of communication that helps us,” Ayla said. “Everything’s changing day to day.” Mal put it more simply: “If you aren’t communicating, then no one knows what’s going on.”
A Team Built on Trust
That trust shows up in how the team covers for each other. If Deb is out, order questions can route through Ayla, and Mal steps in wherever needed. It also shows up in the relationships built over nearly two decades of shared deadlines, month end closes and year end crunches. Asked what she would want the team to know if Univex closed its doors tomorrow, Ayla did not separate herself from the group. “I hope your time here was fun, and I hope that you learned a lot,” she said. “Whether you realize it or not, you probably grew a lot. That’s something you can bring moving forward.”
For Deb, Ayla and Mal, that growth has come from three very different jobs pointed at the same goal: making sure every order, every invoice and every commission check lands exactly where it needs to, on time.
