New Business Operations Specialist: Glendolyn Neumann

Not only is English's new Business Operations Specialist Glendolyn "Glynn" Neumann highly skilled in accounts and budgets, she is also an expert marksman and a connoisseur of Asian culture.

Neumann, a certified payroll professional (American Payroll Association), holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of the State of New York (branch campus on McCord Air Force Base). Needless to say: she is a wiz with spreadsheets. Her current Department of English responsibilities include purchase reimbursements, independent contractor payments, deposits, account reconciliation, DTA, Foundation scholarships, and PCard purchases. Even though it's been a challenge learning a new accounting system and ASU procedures, she loves her job—especially her coworkers. "They're a wonderful group of people," she says. "I really enjoy the teamwork concept."

Neumann is also a veteran of the Vietnam War, though she did not serve overseas. She married her high school sweetheart who had joined the Army and who became a Green Beret with the Fifth Special Forces Group. When Neumann turned 18, she joined Headquarters, Fifth Special Forces Group, where she served as a Military Intelligence Analyst, and was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. At that time, women were not allowed in combat. As Specialist Fourth Class for the U.S. Army, she handled top-secret documents during the war and processed security clearances. Neumann earned an Army Commendation Medal (ARCM) for her service.

A typical day in the army for her began at 5:30 a.m. (“zero dark thirty") for calisthenics, an optical course, and a 5-mile run through the woods. She would don "dress greens" (Class A Uniform) or camouflage khakis, depending on her duties. During this time, Neumann qualified as an expert marksman and was given the nickname "Annie Oakley." 

“One day I went to the range to qualify with an M-16. I was quite a sight with my waist length hair in a ponytail, helmet, cammies, army boots, and my large orange Tupperware bowl of brownies. The brownies were to reward the guys that helped me get sandbags to put in my foxhole, so I could stand on them to see out. A six-foot deep foxhole and a 5’5” woman don’t mix."

She continued: "One time during night fire on the rifle range, I loaded one magazine with all tracers, fired them off on automatic, and lit the paper target on fire. Normally, you load one tracer every fifth round, but I was tired, bored, and wanted to go home so I had some fun. My range partner and I just rounded to the next target lane and pretended we knew nothing. It was fun to watch the Range Masters scramble to put out the fire and announce over the loud speaker the proper way to load tracers.”

Neumann served in the Army for two-and-one-half years and left when she had her first child. Her career path since then has been based in several U.S. states and waterways. In Washington, she worked for a municipal government for several years. Amidst this, she took three years off from administrative work to run her own yacht business, owning and living aboard a 45' DeFever Trawler that she moored at a yacht club. "It was a wonderful time to be able to sit in my office and look out at Liberty Bay and watch the seals and whales swim," she said.

Neumann also worked in Alaska with the Water Resources Institute at the University of Alaska and later in Georgia for the University of Columbus as an executive assistant to the V.P. of Business and Finance. Nebraska-born and raised, she is blessed with a daughter, a son, and six grandchildren. Since her husband had been stationed in several countries, she was able to travel to Korea, Japan, Thailand, and in the U.S., to Hawaii, which imbued in her a deep interest in and love of Asian culture.

“I have a small rock garden in my backyard with two Asian dragons, two pagoda lantern sculptures, an Asian water girl, a dragon wrapped around a bamboo water fountain, two Foo dogs (guardian lions) to protect my home (the male guards the structure of the home, while the female guards the family inside), and lots of rocks, big and small,” says Neumann, who also loves to read mysteries and grow roses.

After a long day of wrangling numbers and solving budget problems, the garden is a peaceful place for Neumann to recharge.

Sheila Luna

Photo is courtesy of Glendolyn Neumann