The first ‘Customer Spotlight’ of 2022 shines on fraud management and Protector expert Mary Hochheimer. We first had the pleasure of working with Mary in 2000. Fun fact: Mary helped beta test the first commercially available Protector system and still remembers when alert notifications came in the form of printouts! Since then, she’s been a mainstay at the Protector User Group Meeting (spoiler alert: she’s participated in 19 of them!), has helped shape the fraud management landscape in countless ways, and is an absolute rockstar within the Equinox community.
Mary launched her telecom career in 1989 with a part-time job at the company where her mother worked. She’s experienced many changes in both fraud methods/trends and the telecom industry in those 33 years. Mary’s also had the unique opportunity to use five different iterations of Protector plus one stint with TeleLink in that time. She’s quick to point out that “despite the vast differences in those Protector configurations, they were so very much alike due to flexibility and ability to tailor to target specific needs, for example, monitoring for wholesale, enterprise, or residential accounts.”
In her current role as Fraud Manager, Mary is responsible for the fraud operations team, who communicates with customers for any potential fraud event and investigates any non-Protector event, such as robocalling, ANI spoofing, or scams. Her team heavily relies on Protector and is in the system daily to investigate, document, and resolve cases. Mary explains, “THE best thing about Protector is automation. The automated notices and automatic blocking offer protection for both the company and our customers at all times, even when we’re not in the office!”
You’ve likely met Mary if you’ve been to a Protector User Group Meeting (PUGM); with the exception of 2014 and 2019, she’s been to every one we’ve hosted since 2001. According to Mary, “There are so many good parts about PUGM! From the very first minute, I feel welcomed and at home, like a family reunion. I have made so many friends who helped me do my job better. Everyone shares insight about using Protector differently, I learn new features, and I’m able to bounce ideas off these colleagues and friends long after the event ends.”
Mary says, “My relationship with Equinox is very different than with most vendors…I know who will answer the phone and who I’m working with…it’s a friendship on top of the business relationship. Also, the support team is always responsive and always knowledgeable. Of course, those cookies are awesome and appreciated.”
Originally hailing from Rochester, NY, Mary still resides there with her husband Mike. They are thrilled their three adult children all recently purchased homes nearby and still enjoy spending time with them at football games and outings to breweries. Besides visiting family and friends, Mary is a voracious reader in her spare time.
Equinox is so grateful for Mary’s friendship and innumerable contributions to the entire user community. She is not only a fraud management expert, but she is also the undisputed PUGM queen! Thanks, Mary!
