Love in the Time of Naylor

Naylor’s 50 years hasn’t been all business and no fun. Many people who have worked for Naylor have found love in addition to a career, or have found a great place to work as an already-established family. Here are the stories of some of our favorite Naylor couples:

Dave and Jamie Evans

“Jamie started in the June 2008 sales training class in Atlanta; I had started in February. At the time, the training room and the kitchen in the Atlanta office shared a wide doorway and the trainer, Raymond, would often leave the doors open. Initially, Jamie’s red hair caught my eye. The fact that she was feisty enough to put me in my place held my attention. The first thing I ever said to her was something like, “Good cake, Red,” because she had brought a cake to work one day. We went to group happy hours at Wild Wing Café a few times before going on our first official date to a Mexican restaurant. I liked mostly everything about Jamie, especially her smile, laugh, contagious enthusiasm, and zest for life. She liked my work ethic, my character, and the fact that I try to act tough to hide my really huge heart. We married on a rainy April 24, 2010 and have three children – two of which have gone before us, but we’ll see them again. I like everything about Jamie more with each passing day and am amazed at what an incredible wife and mother she has been to me and our children over almost a decade of marriage. For fun, we manage a small farm of 12 goats (with more on the way), 12 chickens, three ducks, three miniature pigs, three dogs and one cat, plus the occasional date night.”

Erik and Lisa Henson

“My wife Lisa and I met because she was my original boss at Naylor! I was on the Budget Busters sales team in the late 1990s, and she was our sales manager. We started dating after Lisa transitioned into Naylor’s marketing department. I proposed to her with a poem over a picnic of sushi at the Baughman Center, and we got married on March 27, 2004 in Key West, Fla. I love Lisa because she’s beautiful, smart, caring, and a great mom to our two daughters, Elle, 14 and Raelyn, 11. We enjoy traveling and have taken some wonderful trips together to the Turks & Caicos, Bermuda, Hawaii, Prague and Italy.”

SaraCatherine and Ray Goodwin

“Naylor introduced me to my hubby Ray eight years ago. He had recently relocated to the Atlanta office from Gainesville where he had lived his whole life. I wanted to help him meet new people, so I invited him to my tacky sweater party and to play on my kickball team. Fast forward three years later, and we were married on March 30, 2013. Now we spend our time chasing our 3-year-old, Kayden. Although Ray no longer works at Naylor, it’s nice to still be able to talk shop with him about all I do, and to put his 14 years of history and knowledge about managing projects with Naylor to the test! Naylor was the first job out of college for both of us. It’s crazy to see where those paths led us to today.”

Heather and Shaun Greyling

“Shaun would tell you we met when I stole a sale to one of his one-contacts, but we were both part of the first Naylor SEAL training team which worked together to strategize about various member communication projects. That’s my first memory of him. I initially liked Shaun because he’s tall, handsome, and has a stunning accent, but once I got to know him I uncovered someone with great values, a strong work ethic, and a passion for taking care of people close to him. Shaun’s worldview is from a place of abundance and confidence, instead of scarcity. That was a very intriguing trait for someone as young as him to possess. Plus, he knows how to have fun! We dated for six years before we got married on June 6, 2012 in Mexico in front of a small group of close friends. Shaun, knowing that I’m awful at remembering dates or timelines, often laughingly comments how he wanted to keep it simple for me and therefore deliberately picked 6/6/12 (6+6=12)! Our son Jake, 14, is from my prior marriage but Shaun has been an amazing and supportive father to Jake since he was 2. Shaun knew I always wanted a little girl, too, and we were blessed to have our daughter Khloe four years ago. Khloe has completed our family very nicely and is a true Daddy’s girl. Naylor and the friends we’ve met here have played a huge part in our lives. We’re still friends with several people we met 18 years ago at this company. Some were at our wedding, we’ve enjoyed vacations with others, and we’ve had kids together over the years. For fun, we enjoy vacations, quality time with family, kids and friends, being on or by the water, and tackling crazy renovation and investment projects on our farm and rental properties.”

Craig and Deborah Judt

“People say you should be friends with your spouse first. Craig and I were friends for 22 years before we started dating! We met when I was 6 and Craig was 8. His family moved from the north end of Winnipeg to the Charleswood neighborhood two weeks after my family moved there from Alberta. Our families joined the same neighborhood church, and we grew up together. As teenagers and young adults, we were each other’s plus-one for parties and weddings if one of us wasn’t dating someone. Then one holiday season, we stopped by my grandfather’s house for a visit before going to a party. My father had told my grandfather that I was bringing Craig by, though as my date for the evening and not my boyfriend. Craig’s grandfather was a Lutheran minister who baptized my grandfather in Rhein, Saskatchewan in 1912, so my grandfather knew Craig’s family. “He’s the type of person you want to marry!” my grandfather told me. “You really need to think about this!” He was giving us his blessing before we were even a couple! I insisted Craig was just a friend, but began thinking about what my grandpa said. Several months later, we went on our first date to the Rainbow Stage with another couple, and about a year later, on October 9, 1993, we were married. We celebrated 25 years of marriage last year!

“Today, we have two grown sons with whom we’re very close. As a family, we enjoy traveling with our 32-foot fifth wheel and golfing. Craig is a huge hockey fan and has season tickets to the Jets, while I love ballet and have season tickets to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. We’ve never not worked together, and we love it. Who wouldn’t want to spend the majority of their waking hours with their best friend? We ran a consulting firm together when we were first married: Craig did IT consulting, while I provided admin and accounting/collections services. When Naylor decided to move its collections department from Baltimore to Winnipeg, a friend of mine who worked for Naylor asked if I could help set up the new department in the Sutherland office. I came back periodically on a contract basis before being hired to work at Naylor part-time in 1996. Craig had also been consulting for Naylor and was hired on full-time in 1998. On Sutherland, our offices were right next door to each other, and on Ness Avenue, they were across the hall. Now we’re on opposite ends of the office. We don’t have much interaction during the day, but as we drive home together, I like that we can talk about our day and understand exactly what the other means. I don’t know what life is like without Craig and, really, I don’t want it any other way.”

Christina O’Connor and Ken Janssens

“I started at Naylor in 2001 as an ad designer. Ken started here in 2005. He was in the proofreading department and would correct my spelling. For our first date, we went to the wedding social of a coworker! We were married on February 24, 2008, so that’s 11 years this month! We now have a 15-month-old daughter named Finley. I love how creative Ken is and how supportive he is of me and Finley. He’s a wonderful father, and we love being parents. Together, we enjoy trying new restaurants, seeing movies, and curling on a recreational team.”