“What you see in my fellow graduates is a strong work ethic and a good education. The values that these individuals hold and how they carry themselves manifest to others that they can take more responsibility,” Madsen says. “People know they are going to give a straight answer, and in a crunch they will help get things done.”
In a handful of years, Collective Brands has promoted five BYU alums to become vice presidents—a position where there previously were none.
The Collective Brands vice presidents from BYU, Darren Haddock, Neil Hansen, Todd Averett, Gary Madsen, and Dave Nielsen, represent the evolution of a consistent pipeline between Collective Brands, which includes Payless ShoeSource and The Stride Rite Corporation, and the Marriott School. During the last decade Payless has hired one or two Marriott grads every year.
“What attracted me then and keeps me here now is that we’re big enough to have all of the functions of a large company, but we are small enough to have the opportunity to do many things,” says Madsen, VP, treasury, who joined Payless in 1995 after earning an MBA from the Marriott School.
It’s a place one employee can make a difference, yet large enough to matter in the business world with $3.5 billion in annual revenue. Collective also provides employees opportunities to move around and grow into a career—and all five vice presidents have done just that. Haddock, VP, real estate strategy and analysis, graduated from the Marriott School with an MBA in 1996 and joined Payless when the company had just gone public.
Haddock says Payless, based in Topeka, Kansas, has a climate conducive to parlaying a BYU education into corporate success and that BYU alums have built a strong reputation for themselves.
“It’s a well-grounded company with Midwestern values and a Midwestern work ethic, and that fits us well,” Haddock says.
Hansen, VP, business planning and analysis, MBA class of ’96, adds that he has enjoyed the family-friendly nature of the community and company, saying he felt comfortable joining Payless and adapting to a culture that understood the importance of work-life balance.
The group says that Collective Brands has a relatively flat structure; they not only regularly join forces on projects—they are close friends outside the workplace. And while all five have moved around within the organization and carved their own niches, Madsen says each has a similar foundation.
