The Jefferson County Library system has a new finance and human resources manager – Lindsay Winkler.
She replaced Debby Byron, former assistant director of business and finance, who retired in October after 31 years with the Library system.
Winkler, 42, of Imperial, who works out of the Central Services office at 5678 Hwy. PP in High Ridge, officially assumed her new role in October but was hired in January and trained under Byron for the past several months.
Winkler said she enjoys the job so far and is grateful for the opportunity to be useful to her community.
“I’m loving the challenge every day, and I love that I’m having an impact on the community because serving my community is something that is important to me,” she said.
Winkler said she oversees the finances for all three of the Library branches – the Arnold Branch, the Northwest Branch in High Ridge and the Windsor Branch in Barnhart.
She said her main duties include reviewing accounts payable and accounts receivable, viewing purchases and invoices, supervising the accounting staff, handling human resources and conducting regular reviews of the library’s investments in search of financial opportunities.
“It’s certainly a challenge,” she said. “Debby did this for more than 30 years, and she did a wonderful, wonderful job. She left me with some pretty big shoes to fill.”
Tony Benningfield, director of the Library system, said Winkler is excelling in her new job.
“Lindsay has been doing very well here since she began onboarding earlier this year,” he said. “She is a great fit and has been doing exceptionally well. Debby had a tremendous impact on the library district over her 31-year career. She’s one of the main reasons that the library is financially stable and secure after many lean years. She will be missed, but we are in very good hands looking toward the future.”
Winkler said working for the Library still feels new, but she is no stranger to the world of finance or running an office, working in the field for almost 20 years.
She said she spent her early years in Perryville before her family moved to High Ridge in 1987. Winkler graduated from Northwest High School in 1999 and attended Webster University. After graduating in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in business management, she was hired by Ginger Bay Salon and Spa in Kirkwood as an administrative assistant. Later, she was promoted to executive assistant to the CEO. She did that for about two years before moving on.
“I became interested in finance because of my father,” she said. “He was an entrepreneur who ran his own business, and that was an influence. When looking at my own career, I knew I did not want to be an entrepreneur myself, but I did want to help run a business.”
Her parents, Bill and Pam Richardet of High Ridge, own Bi-State Landscape Supply, 3112 Pleasant View Drive, in High Ridge, and Winkler worked 16 years for them as the business general manager.
During that time, she also met and married her husband, Adam, 43, a fire technician. Together, they have two children: a daughter, Raegan, 13, and a son, Keegan, 10.
Winkler said spending time with her husband and children is important to her.
“We love to have family game nights. We love to travel. We love to watch movies and attend the kids’ sporting events. We just love to have family time,” she said.
Winkler said she and her children are big readers and have enjoyed being involved with the Jefferson County Library.
“I have always been a strong supporter of our libraries and I regularly use our libraries for myself and my children,” she said.
Winkler also will be involved in the operation of the satellite branch in Cedar Hill the Library plans to open.
Benningfield said an exact opening date has not yet been set, but he hopes to see it up and running sometime this month or early in January.