Small Town News

Resort takes care of its own

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Blair Preston wants everyone in Sedona to know about the kindness his mother, Jean Preston, received at the hands of Diamond Resorts International.

His mom began working for the timeshare company many years ago when it was known as All Seasons.

In recent years it became Sunterra Resorts before being purchased in 2007 by Diamond Resorts, a privately-held company headed by Stephen J. Cloobeck.

The company employs 5,500 people worldwide, with 277 employees currently working in Sedona.

"The timeshare businesses in town can be pretty tough and hard to survive in," Preston said. "They are intensely result-oriented with no room for slackers."

Although his mother was still working in her 70s and not always in the best of health, he said she made up for that with pure stubbornness and grit.

"She loved her job more than anything and she wasn't afraid of anything except losing it," he explained. "One can't blame her -- not much from Social Security and not anyone anywhere who would ever hire her again. But, she was prone to getting sick and it wasn't for a day or two, it was for weeks, sometime months, in the hospital, then at Kachina Point getting rehab. And that happened a number of times over the last four or five years."

When she did recover, Preston said his mother would go right back to work, even though she sometimes couldn't walk from her car to her office.

"She'd honk her horn and someone would go out and get her every time," he said.

This spring she came down with pneumonia requiring a stay in the intensive care unit at the hospital.

While her son was at her side in the hospital, her boss, Mark Rosencrantz, walked in, carrying flowers.

Rosencrantz is specialty marketing manager for Arizona and California.

"Mark said to me, 'Your mother has nothing to worry about. I've met with my boss, Pamela Mikesell, and we want you to know that your mother is family. She'll have her job as long as she lives and that's a promise.'"

Jean returned to work a few weeks later, but then a serious car crash shattered her femur, sending her back to the hospital.

This time, the stress was too much and eight weeks later, she passed away on Aug, 11.

Although it sounds as if Mikesell and Rosencrantz were probably just two soft-hearted people who liked Jean, it turns out that wasn't the case.

Mikesell is regional director of marketing for Arizona, California and Hawaii and she knew Jean well.

"What's neat about the Sedona team is that Jean and other people I work with today have been here for years," Mikesell said. "More than 40 percent of our sales and marketing folks have been here longer than a decade and so we're able to continue the culture and also build on it. When new people come in, the existing employees bring them along. Jean was part of that culture."

Rosencrantz said he inherited Jean when he joined the company five years ago.

"She was a firecracker and she looked out for me the way I looked out for her," he said.

As a telemarketing agent, Jean spoke only to owners, a job that her boss and his boss said required a lot of sophistication since many of the owners have more than 20 years in their relationship with the company.

"You have to speak to them the right way, you have to be knowledgeable and you have to have a history with them," Mikesell said. "Jean kept their hearts and minds open to the company, getting them to come here year after year,"

According to Steve Bell, executive vice president of human resources, the family atmosphere in Sedona is not unusual and flows down from the chairman of the board.

"That's the culture we have and the one we want to continue," Bell said.

For Blair Preston, all that matters is how his mother was treated.

"Diamond, you have some jewels running your show, you are pure class and I will always appreciate what you have done," he said. "Sedona should be proud to have this caliber of business in town."

Susan Johnson can be reached at 282-7795, ext, 129, or e-mail sjohnson@larsonnewspapers.com



Copyright 2009 Sedona Red Rock News, Sedona, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 Sedona Red Rock News Sedona, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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