Please join us in celebrating Alison McCarthy, March 2020’s Compass Star!
After teaching for nearly 15 years, Alison was hired as a part-time, special event cashier in 2013 to supplement her salary. She was promoted to a supervisor in the Fall of 2013 and decided to work as a substitute teacher and explore possibilities in a new career. In 2014 she was again promoted to an assistant facility manager and in 2015 made an official career change and accepted the facility manager for special events position. In 2018 Alison was promoted to the position she currently holds, Senior Manager.
Alison McCarthy is currently a Senior Manager for SP+ and operates parking on “The Banks” in downtown Cincinnati for Hamilton County. She explains, “We are a multi-use facility and have over 7,000 parking spaces along the riverfront. “
“In being a multi-use facility, I would have to say that I do not have a typical day as no two days are alike. We have daily transient parkers as well as monthly parkers, we have night time parkers for the bars and restaurants located above our Central Riverfront Garage, and we have special event parkers, as we are the official parking for The Cincinnati Reds, The Cincinnati Bengals, and Heritage Bank Center (Entertainment Venue). Each day brings something new and exciting.”
Did you know Alison is a talented basketball player? She has played or coached for over 30 years! “Many of my philosophies in the workplace stem from experiences with basketball. There are many similarities between sport and business.” The philosophies include:
Leadership: “Leadership is not being in charge, it is about taking care of people in your charge.” This hangs in my office. I always want to make sure that those people who are committed to what we do willingly want to come to work. I believe you get more productivity from employees who feel noticed and appreciated. “
Integrity: “Do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, even when no one is watching. This is a core value that my father taught me at a very young age.”
Teamwork: “We work together at our location, to meet the needs of our customers and our client. There are some days my staff and I will attend a meeting in the morning and clean up an oil spill together in the afternoon. No task is too big or too small if we are all willing to help.”
It is no wonder that Alison’s favorite quote is, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Alison is the proud mother of 8 and is passionate about giving back to the youth of Cincinnati. She finds happiness in coaching basketball in the Cincinnati Public School system. “It brings me great joy to watch how resilient many of our kids are as they overcome challenges and grow into productive adults.”
We are grateful to have Alison McCarthy as a valued member of the Women’s Advisory Forum.
