Honoring our working parents.

For the past 21 years, Verizon has been a proud recipient of Seramount’s (previously known as Working Mother Media) Top 100 Best Companies list, which scores companies annually and focuses on inclusive benefits for families, including gender-neutral leave, gradual phase-back after parental leave, and accessible, affordable childcare.

Seramount also honors a Working Mom and Working Dad of the Year from each of the 100 Best Companies. This year, we invited our 10 employee resource groups (ERGs) to help identify our special Verizon Working Moms and Dads of the Year!

How it worked.

The most inspirational Working Mom and Dad nominations that fit the selection committee’s criteria -- the nominee had to be seen as someone moving the world forward for all -- were selected for a company-wide exercise. The entire V Team was invited to vote for the Working Mom and Dad of the year. 

While every story is unique and the impact of each nomination cannot be “scored” or compared, we could only choose one Working Mom and one Working Dad to be honored at the Seramount events.

Without further adieu, meet our top 2021 Working Mom and Dad vote-getters and our 8 other finalists.

2021 Verizon Working Mom: Crystal Jones.

Resilience and fortitude are the best words to describe 15-year V Teamer and Finance Transformation Manager Crystal Jones. She directly felt the impact of these unprecedented times when she lost her husband, and fellow Verizon employee, to COVID-19. 

After a brief leave of absence, she returned to the office with the same hard-working integrity and dedication that she exhibited prior to this unfortunate heartbreak. He wouldn’t have wanted her to do it any other way.

Now a single mom and raising two small children while working full time, she continues to produce quality work, all while balancing her personal life. Crystal handles it effortlessly and with the dedication to meeting her work deliverables and timelines. She continues to be a team player, coaching and helping others, sharing her years of expertise and Verizon knowledge. 

Crystal is an inspiration to our V Team as demonstrated by her bravery during a time of extreme sadness with her strength and perseverance when she was at a weak point in her life. Bravo to her for being the strong, caring and dedicated employee and mom that we are proud to call a V Teamer.

2021 Verizon Working Dad - Scott Diep.

Scott Diep has done a commendable job keeping his work and personal life in balance. And here’s why. As a business development pro in Verizon Business Group, Scott has been with the V Team for 13+ years supporting the PMO as well as managing Public Sector technology partners and channel solutions. 

During the pandemic, Scott’s team nearly doubled. Since then, he’s taken the time to mentor new employees, including interns and military fellows, and helped them quickly understand Verizon’s business, sales strategies, and internal processes. 

But “Super Scott’s” story doesn’t end there. In addition to working, he has also been caring for a parent, hybrid-schooling two young children with his supportive wife.
Despite everything on his plate, Scott begins each day with a smile and treats everyone with respect and integrity. If that weren’t enough, Scott is also dedicated to brightening the world around him through volunteering. 

During the 2020 holiday season, he partnered with a local Washington, DC food kitchen to prepare and deliver over 350 sandwiches to the city’s most vulnerable populations. He also collected over 1,000 coats for those needed to keep warm during the winter months. 

Congrats to Crystal and Scott on being named our Verizon 2021 Working Mom and Working Dad of the Year! 

Now read the eight additional nominations from our Working Mom and Dad finalists. You’ll understand why it was so difficult to vote -- they’re all deserving of this honor.

Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and finalists! 

Learn more about Verizon’s empowering culture.