diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index ce188394..01874239 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ on:
       triggeredBy:
         description: 'Name of team member who is manually triggering this workflow'
         required: true
+        default: ''
 
 defaults:
   run:
@@ -28,10 +29,11 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
 
     steps:
-    - run: |
-        echo "This workflow was triggered by: $TRIGGER_PERSON"
+    - if: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy != '' }}
+      run: |
+        echo "This workflow was triggered by: $TEAM_MEMBER"
       env:
-        TRIGGER_PERSON: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy }}
+        TEAM_MEMBER: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy }}
     - run: echo "🎉 The job was automatically triggered by a ${{ github.event_name }} event."
     - run: echo "🐧 This job is now running on a ${{ runner.os }} server hosted by GitHub!"
     - run: echo "🔎 The name of your branch is ${{ github.ref }} and your repository is ${{ github.repository }}."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-to-dockerhub.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-to-dockerhub.yml
index b705f448..bc3bd6b4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-to-dockerhub.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-to-dockerhub.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ on:
       triggeredBy:
         description: 'Name of team member who is manually triggering this workflow'
         required: true
+        default: ''
 
 jobs:
 
@@ -31,12 +32,11 @@ jobs:
       attestations: write
       id-token: write
     steps:
-      - run: |
-          echo "This workflow was triggered by: $TRIGGER_PERSON"
+      - if: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy != '' }}
+        run: |
+          echo "This workflow was triggered by: $TEAM_MEMBER"
         env:
-          TRIGGER_PERSON: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy }}
-          IMAGE_NAME: hypernetx/hypernetx:latest
-
+          TEAM_MEMBER: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy }}
       - run: echo "🎉 The job was automatically triggered by a ${{ github.event_name }} event."
       - run: echo "🐧 This job is now running on a ${{ runner.os }} server hosted by GitHub!"
       - run: echo "🔎 The name of your branch is ${{ github.ref }} and your repository is ${{ github.repository }}."
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ jobs:
         id: push
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
         with:
-          tags: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
+          tags: hypernetx/hypernetx:latest
           push: true
 
       - name: Generate artifact attestation
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-to-pypi.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-to-pypi.yml
index d455b713..c87be78d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-to-pypi.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-to-pypi.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ on:
       triggeredBy:
         description: 'Name of team member who is manually triggering this workflow'
         required: true
+        default: ''
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -27,10 +28,11 @@ jobs:
   publish-to-pypi:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-    - run: |
-        echo "This workflow was triggered by: $TRIGGER_PERSON"
+    - if: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy != '' }}
+      run: |
+        echo "This workflow was triggered by: $TEAM_MEMBER"
       env:
-        TRIGGER_PERSON: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy }}
+        TEAM_MEMBER: ${{ inputs.triggeredBy }}
     - run: echo "🎉 The job was automatically triggered by a ${{ github.event_name }} event."
     - run: echo "🐧 This job is now running on a ${{ runner.os }} server hosted by GitHub!"
     - run: echo "🔎 The name of your branch is ${{ github.ref }} and your repository is ${{ github.repository }}."