Each month Santa Rosa Junior College recognizes excellence on campus with an Employee of the Month Award.
Visit the Employee of the Month Nominations page to find out how to nominate someone you feel deserves this distinction.
Here is a list of past EOM recipients.
Previous recipient: Erick Fernandez Bonilla - August 2025
September 2025 - Lisa Hotchkiss
Congratulations to Lisa Hotchkiss, our September 2025 Employee of the Month! Lisa serves as a Payroll Analyst in the Payroll Department, where her reliability, precision, and warmth shine through on a daily basis.
Lisa was born in San Rafael and grew up in Novato, where she graduated from Novato High School. She earned her associate degree at San Diego Mesa College, bringing more than 15 years of experience in payroll and accounting when she first joined SRJC as a Payroll Specialist in 2002. She was promoted to Payroll Analyst in October 2013 and has held that role since.
Lisa manages retirement reporting, overseeing STRS, PERS, and voluntary TSA regulations. She answers employees’ retirement questions, processes audits, and leads payroll functions, including stepping in for colleagues as needed.
In response to sweeping IRS changes to 403(b)/457 plans in 2009, Lisa and her colleague, Deepa, opted to administer the plan in-house, rather than outsourcing. This was a seamless transition that she has continued to lead. Lisa also played a key role in two major payroll software conversions, ensuring uninterrupted, accurate pay and retirement reporting.
Her nominator and supervisor, Katie Jimenez-Tuscano, Manager, Payroll, said, “Lisa is an asset to the payroll team; a great sounding board, a great communicator, extremely knowledgeable, and a great teacher not only to me as a new leader but to anyone who comes across our office. She is kind, thoughtful, empathetic, funny, and extremely hard-working.” Katie adds that Lisa often drops everything to help any colleague who walks in or calls, never letting on how busy she is.
Lisa says what she values most about her job is helping staff understand their pay and retirement, topics that can be overwhelming. She especially treasures the appreciation she hears: “They are often grateful for my help navigating the process.”
Outside of work, Lisa enjoys gardening, reading, and spending time with her children; Emily, who is in medical school, and Austin, who is married to Eriko; both are proud SRJC graduates.
When told she'd been selected as Employee of the Month, Lisa responded with surprise, followed by lots of laughter!
Congratulations to Lisa Hotchkiss, a dedicated professional, compassionate colleague, and bedrock of the Payroll Department. We’re proud to shine a light on her contributions this month, and not ready for her retirement next year!