Gray Manufacturing Office Manager Donna Campbell Becomes Compass Precision Employee of the Month
Gray Manufacturing Technologies has been going through a lot of changes lately.
The Compass Precision operating company promoted Evan Grose to Operations Manager and then hired Jacob Trahan as General Manager and Ricky Goins as Quality Manager in August. Gray has also continued expanding its capabilities this year, specifically adding a new Zeiss CMM in May.
But there’s been one constant through Gray’s eight-year history — Donna Campbell. To celebrate her contributions, Compass Precision has named Donna its Employee of the Month for October.
She is the third Employee of the Month selected at Gray since Compass acquired the company in Aug. 2020. Evan Grose was the most recent recepient of the honor from Gray, becoming Employee of the Month in February.
Donna has served as office manager at Gray Manufacturing Technologies since the company’s founding in 2013. She is one of only two original employees left from when the company started, and she’s the only employee who has remained at Gray throughout its eight years of existence.
“It’s been great to see [Gray] grow from this small business [where] we mostly did work for Curtis-Wright and race teams,” said Donna. “Then for it to progress into space has really been amazing.”
Donna began working for Gray’s previous owner Johnny Gray at Gray Motorsports in 2011. It was her first job in quite some time. Donna stopped working after she began having kids and remained at home until her youngest daughter started kindergarten.
She began as a part-time employee at Gray Motorsports, which enabled her to be home for her young children after school. But when the opportunity for her to switch into a full-time position arose, Donna seized the chance.
Then in 2013, the company moved her down the street to their new CNC machining business — Gray Manufacturing Technologies.
Other employees have come and gone. Others have left and returned. Donna has remained to provide friendly assistance in any way she can.
“She helps every single person daily,” Jacob explained. “She makes sure Gray has everything it needs daily to function at its greatest capacity. Donna is always on top of her work and is only quick to respond when someone needs assistance with a task.”
Jacob has worked with Donna for only a few weeks, but Evan Grose, who has been with Donna at Gray for several years, shared a lot of the same feelings about the company’s office manager.
“Donna, from day one, when I started, went out of her way to make me feel welcome. She has always been there to assist in any way possible from ordering tooling to anything HR related,” Evan explained. “She is always on top of things and is quick to remind me if I have forgotten something.
“I hope she remains with us for many years to come.”
Before leaving the workforce for her family, Donna worked at a CPA firm in Mooresville for eight years. She received her accounting training from the CPA firm while performing personal and corporate tax returns along with bookkeeping.
At Gray, she delivers in whatever way the office demands — accounting, payroll, human resources, and reception.
She didn’t have any machining in her background prior to 2013, but she’s learned to love the products Gray Manufacturing produces.
“It’s neat to see all the parts come through and know what they are for,” Donna said. “Developing friends with the guys in the back has been really good too.”
A native of North Carolina, Donna grew up in Shelby, which is about an hour’s drive west of Charlotte. Donna married her husband, Kelly, in 1999. Donna has three children, Cole, Kate and Caroline, and a stepson named Clint.
In her freetime, Donna enjoys reading suspense thrillers, working out at the gym, and spending time with her family at Lake Norman. She is also into attending Caroline’s travel volleyball matches.