A personal visit to North Carolina gives Chief Services Officer Ken Konkol and returning VMS employee Billie Kindschuh a chance to connect beyond the day-to-day work of supporting federal customers. Their conversation reflects the relationships, communication, and flexibility that help make a remote workforce feel like a team.
Sometimes, the strongest professional relationships are reinforced away from the office, around a dinner table.
During a personal trip to North Carolina with his son, Veterans Management Services (VMS) Chief Services Officer (CSO) Ken Konkol made time to meet with VMS employee Billie Kindschuh at a local bistro. For two colleagues accustomed to connecting by phone and email, dinner offered an opportunity to catch up in person and talk about more than their day-to-day responsibilities.
For Ken, the visit reflected an important part of his leadership approach: staying connected to the people supporting VMS customers, wherever their assignments are located.
Putting a Face to the Name
Billie is a returning VMS employee and a member of the company’s VA NCO 7 support team. Like many VMS professionals, she works remotely, where opportunities to meet company leaders and colleagues face to face can be limited.
Ken makes a point of maintaining those connections by sharing company updates, being available to answer questions, and checking in with employees beyond their immediate contract responsibilities. That accessibility has made a difference for Billie.
“Ken makes everything easy,” Billie shared, describing his knowledge, responsiveness, and willingness to provide guidance. When questions come up, she knows she can reach out and receive support.
For Ken, feedback reinforces the value of consistent communication. Employees working at customer sites or remotely should feel just as connected to VMS leadership as those who regularly visit the corporate office.
When Remote Work Still Feels Personal
The conversation also touched on the responsibility’s employees balance outside of work. Billie is a mother and grandmother helping raise her granddaughter in North Carolina. Having an employer that understands family commitments is especially meaningful to her.
Billie appreciates Ken’s willingness to listen and work with her when family obligations arise. Combined with regular communication, that flexibility helps her feel recognized as a person—not simply as a name assigned to a contract.
“It is not just about money,” Billie explained. “What matters is feeling cared for, heard, and included.”
That sentiment speaks to the culture Ken works to reinforce as CSO: maintaining high expectations for customer service while treating employees with understanding and respect. Supporting employees as people helps them remain engaged in the missions they serve.
Connections That Last Beyond a Contract
Billie also spoke about relationships she has maintained with people from previous projects, including former colleagues who would welcome the opportunity to return to VMS. Those lasting connections are a reminder that an employee’s experience with a company is shaped by everyday interactions, not just by the contract on which they work.
Whether through a conversation, a timely answer to a question, or a company tradition such as birthday celebrations, small gestures can make remote employees feel included. For Ken, those moments are part of building trust across VMS’s distributed workforce.
More Than Work. More Like Family.
Dinner in North Carolina was a simple occasion, but it reflected a larger commitment. VMS teams may support different agencies, work in different states, and rarely see one another in person. Strong relationships still grow when leaders make time to listen, communicate, and show employees that their contributions matter.
Ken’s visit with Billie highlighted the importance of those personal connections, while Billie’s experience showed how they can make a real difference for someone working remotely. VMS is proud of employees like Billie, whose experience and dedication strengthen the customers and missions the company supports.
At VMS, the contracts define the work. The people, and the relationships they build, define the team.