Terri Chenault retires on April 29th after 45 years
When you think of 45 years, what comes to mind? For Terri Chenault, 45 years, 7 months, and 18 days equals retirement. 
On April 29th, Mrs. Chenault will walk out of bioventus as an employee for the last time. What started out as a 90-day temporary assignment turned into a career helping others.
“It’s been my work family,” Mrs. Chenault said. “I have always loved what I do. I enjoy helping people and helping those that receive our products.”
Mrs. Chenault started with Smith & Nephew, Bioventus’ parent company, on September 13, 1976 as a manufacturing clerk.
“A full-time job opened up 4 days later and I was hired to manually update the production orders,” she said. “After that I was promoted to a position in Accounts Receivables where we posted payments using these huge carousel tub files with computer punch cards. I later became group leader over that area.”
From here, she moved to R&D where she worked with development engineers and manufacturing production to manage the order process for customer orthopaedic products and soft goods.
“That area later turned into Special and customer products where I worked for over 25+ years that included managing the production control and customer service processes for special products as well as prototype manufacturing, orthopaedic instrument repairs, and customer returns,” Mrs. Chenault explained.
Then came an opportunity to work with Exogen, specifically bringing its manufacturing to Memphis and managing the assembly operations and servicing.
“From there I moved over to help with the Exogen HQAA certification for a short period before transferring to manage the Clinical Therapies and Exogen customer service department,” she said. “I have worked on multiple operational platforms from the AS400, to BPCS, to SAP and have been a SAP superuser and tester since SAP began many years ago.”
One of her most proud moments as an employee was “helping to bring Exogen manufacturing to Memphis and getting our first FDA approval,” Mrs. Chenault explained.
“My experience with the company has given me knowledge for nearly all the processes from dock to stock and everything after that,” she said. “I love to share my knowledge for those that need help or need a second set of eyes on an issue. I have always enjoyed being that go to person for help to resolve orders or inventory issues.”
Until almost 2 years ago, Mrs. Chenault said she managed the AHT Customer Service Department before moving into her current role managing the MDM-Customer Master Team.
Parallel to her career at bioventus, Mrs. Chenault said she has earned her Associate of Applied Science in Mid-Management from Southwest Tennessee Community College, graduating with a 4.0 GPA, an Academic Excellence Award, and a member of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Her career at Bioventus allowed her to provide for her family and work with awesome products and people.
“I will miss my work family, and all the great relationships and friends I have made along the way,” she said.
But Mrs. Chenault is not leaving Bioventus without having left a positive impact on the organization.
“I feel that my SAP knowledge has helped resolved a multitude of issues,” she said. “I was on many conversion teams to bring products to the company, like the Surgical product line and Exogen. I was on the SAP team to break off from S&N to Bioventus as well as helping with all the involvement and testing in bringing up Millstone as our 3PL shipping vendor.”
Mrs. Chenault’s retirement won’t be too quiet. Her plans include spending time with her family and continuing to help others.
“I plan to spend my time visiting my 2 grandkids and 2 great-grand-babies in Charleston, SC, 2 grand-daughters Murfreesboro, TN, and my new great niece that was just born here in Memphis,” she said. “I have a brother in Palm Springs, CA that I plan to visit soon.
“My husband and I love to golf so hopefully, now, we will have more time for that,” Mrs. Chenault continued. “I want to be able to do some volunteer work and just enjoy life.”
As Mrs. Chenault counts down to her last day before retirement, she said has some advice for individuals who are new to Bioventus.
“Learn all that you can, get involved with projects, help coworkers, share your knowledge, and enjoy the opportunities provided,” she said.