Transitioning into this position felt natural, as I was already devoting most of my time to growing Walker and finding ways to provide the company's expertise in new markets around the world.I spend about 50% of my time creating, building, and training the custom converting team so we have the internal capacity to handle new growth — the right equipment, people, training and development, procedures and performance measures, and communication systems to be sure work gets done how, when, and as it should.About 30% of my time is spent more creatively, building and maintaining relationships that are critical to Walker's success. With key vendors, I ensure that we have access to, understand, and can best take advantage of their products in ways and at prices that serve our customers, breaking down artificial geographic vendor boundaries in the process. With potential customers, I help identify areas where our expertise can help improve their business practices or products and add to their bottom lines.Another 10% of my time is devoted to professional growth and development. It is vital that I maintain focus on evolving and acquiring skills necessary for my next leadership role.The rest of my time is committed to high-level problem solving. When a vendor or customer has a novel or challenging converting issue, I'm here. I am a skilled negotiator and work to ensure all parties are satisfied. I'm also the person at Walker with the most hands-on converting experience. As a result, I'm in a unique position to think creatively and act innovatively to solve vendor or customer problems.The tape universe is growing all the time. I am dedicated to expanding my expertise so we will always be able to provide customers with personalized, high-quality, and cost-effective products, service, and solutions. And I see a future where custom converting becomes Walker's largest business unit and the key to the company’s sustainable growth for years to come.

When I was named Vice President of Product Development at Walker, the company's existing domestic and international business was humming along and periodic improvements to our products and processes were being built into the Walker culture. It felt like a natural progression for me to come out of product development and begin thinking longer-term and focusing more on Walker’s growth. In considering what came next, we tried to think creatively and expansively and settled on a strategy of looking at other industries in which adhesive tape is used and for which our custom converting might be a solution to many existing problems.In this role, and with our CEO's blessing, I explored opportunities in different industries and developed relationships with vendors to best position us to be effective in those industries. We ultimately identified four industries of initial focus and worked with our vendors to get exposure to new and different tapes and price points that would facilitate our ability to secure new business in the identified industries.I also dedicated time to developing a new business plan, describing the existing state of competition in our markets and identifying areas in which Walker had strategic advantages and could begin building its new business.This was an exhilarating time — the beginning of a period of essentially making something of nothing, entering new industries where we felt we could help, and figuring out how to make that happen, from beginning to end. The successes I experienced throughout this period led directly to a new job title and new responsibilities, which I was happy to embrace.

Throughout my time with Walker, as I was learning the custom adhesive tape converting business and Walker's customers inside and out, I was also thinking about ways to improve our products and processes. This aspect of my work was formalized as I took on the role of Director of Product Development and spent approximately a year focused on structures and systems within the company to identify, develop, and execute new product (and process) ideas.This provided another opportunity for me to view what Walker does and how we do it — from the perspective of our customers — as I considered how best to position the company to serve them.

As Walker was growing domestically, we started thinking about what it would take to grow internationally. After 10 years as Production Manager, I was enthusiastic about transitioning to a new position at Walker and anxious to demonstrate my effectiveness in a more outward-facing role.As International Business Manager, I continued to be responsible for purchasing and inventory management. I spent much of my time reviewing and renegotiating contracts, securing better prices. As I took over the international side of the business, I recognized almost immediately that we faced limitations in terms of growth because of the high costs of shipping. So for the first year in this position I focused on negotiating far more competitive international rates. The effort was hugely successful, partially because lower prices ultimately made Walker a more accessible and affordable converter for smaller domestic and international firms seeking our level of expertise.In this position, I learned the art of negotiation and discovered that I had a good feel for working with a variety of people and companies and a real flair for "getting to yes" in a negotiating situation. My toolbox of skills — and confidence in my ability to best serve Walker and its customers — expanded again.

When I was offered the full-time position of Production Manager, I was faced with a decision — leave Walker to complete my bachelor's degree in law or accept the offer from Walker's founders to step fully into a career with their fantastic company. It was a decision I did not have to think twice about. I was eager to have the chance to implement my production ideas while participating in executive meetings and learning firsthand how to operate a business. It was a unique opportunity for me that arrived at a very young age and I took it.In this position, I oversaw Walker's production and production teams. But when I say oversaw, I really mean that I spent time learning about the full capabilities of our existing machines, the complete operations of our new machines, and how everything on the floor worked — and worked together. With this knowledge and the expertise of our production teams, I oversaw a period in which we were able to increase our efficiency, expand both our capacity and our capabilities, and, ultimately, grow our business — almost tenfold in 10 years.While pleased to have been part of such a successful stretch for Walker, I was equally happy to have honed my skills as a problem solver. With an intimate knowledge of production based on my hands-on experience as manager, I found that I could often handle a new tape or a new converting challenge almost intuitively. If intuition failed, I could rely on understanding and experience to work through the process, to determine how best to make things work to achieve a satisfying solution for the customer. I saw these problem-solving skills as critical to my being able to serve both Walker and its customers in years to come.

I started working part-time at Walker during my first year of college. As a production worker, I got firsthand experience learning and operating converting machines across all areas of production, including die-cutting, sheeting, lamination, and slitting.It was during this first year of being part of the Walker family that I developed a basic understanding of the adhesive tape converting business. I also discovered that I had an innate ability to understand the converting machinery, quickly moving beyond merely operating the machines to being able to fix them on the spot or tweak them over time for better production efficiency. This was the year I fell in love with both the company and the converting aspect of the business.