This Acadian Alumni Association spotlight checks in on a recent retiree, who says Acadian always treated her like family.

This past summer, after 38 years with Acadian, Sheila Hebert retired from the SMS business office. 

Sheila started her career with Acadian right after graduating from Northside High School. She was hired to work on the company’s membership drives. “The drives were a big deal back then. [Acadian Chairman & CEO Richard Zuschlag and his wife Elaine] would come out and cook for us, and I loved the family environment,” Sheila recalled. 

From there, Sheila moved into the business office, which had a staff of only ten people for the entire company. She eventually moved through various departments within the company, from insurance and collections to medical records and the medical support center.

In 2002, Sheila made the jump to SMS, where she worked as the supervisor of payroll and billing. She eventually became the manager. When she retired, there were nearly 20 people in the business department of SMS alone. 

“I grew up at Acadian. I always joke that Richard raised me and my family. Our cars, our home, our meals—they were all from Acadian,” Sheila explained. “These people became my family. I’ve made some lifelong best friends at Acadian.”

When asked what advice she’d give to a new employee, Sheila didn’t hesitate to say, “Join the ESOP now! Be patient and work hard. I was an Acadian employee for 7-8 years before I got my first promotion. Stick around, be patient, and your time will come.”

Now that she’s retired, Sheila has plans to take care of her health and enjoy several trips she has planned.

         

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