Alumni Family First: Business Life is More than Numbers Kevin Kimball ‘05 Kevin Kimball “used to be all about going into the office.” After coaching the football team at Menlo while simultaneously earning a business degree, Kevin worked for the Oakland Raiders, then established himself in the gaming industry at Sony Playstation. He believed his 90-minute commute was a small sacrifice to make to do the work he wanted to do. Once the pandemic started, Kevin began working remotely; the experience altered his perspective on spending time at – and travelling to – the office. His favorite part of working from home? “I play with my kids at lunch and talk with them, we give each other hugs when we take breaks.” When a small gaming start-up, Striking Distance Studios, approached him in mid-2020 to become their VP of Marketing, in addition to the challenge of the role, the 7-minute commute was instantly appealing. “The pandemic allowed me to entertain accepting this new position. I felt stable at Playstation - I knew how they operated. But I took the opportunity to be with my kids,” Kimball says. These days he is hiring new remote team members, one in Texas, and another in Washington, and everything is done online. “Now I’m open to the idea that working from home can be productive - maybe even more productive.” Kevin credits Menlo with helping him to see the human side of business. He gives a specific shout out to Dr. Donna Little, Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance (now Emerita) for showing him there was more to business than numbers, which prepared him to lead his team effectively: “I’ve seen my role shift - I have more one-to-one meetings and I ask my team, ‘How are you doing?’ not ‘What are you doing?’”
Charles Jordan ’70 Learned to Think Globally at Menlo College
By Jessica Berger, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Experience From his home in Buenos Aires, Charles Jordan ‘70 remembers Menlo College as having wellprepared him to lead multinational organizations. Through the personalized education, small classes, and individual coaching from professors, as well as the broad educational curriculum, he came to understand the expansive social underpinnings behind organizational success: “Courses I took included the history of California, U.S. history, world geography, Western civilization, and physics. ... A wider picture is good, instead of just a narrow vision of a particular area.”
Following graduation, Jordan began working in the oil and gas industry, and then moved to banking, mainly as a senior executive for international corporations like Banco Frances (now part of JPMorgan Chase), American Express Bank, and the Bank of New York. Jordan credits Menlo with introducing him to American corporate culture: “During those years [at] Menlo I learned much about the country and in hindsight that probably steered me to working with American companies - because I understood and adhered to their philosophies and work ethics,” he says. Jordan retired in 2004 to focus on his other interests, such as family, friends, and travel. Reflecting on how times have changed, and speculating on how the world will emerge from the pandemic, he sees a need to balance between new technological advancements with other meaningful ways of doing business: “As we learn to work from home - maybe not full-time but part-time - people will use more of the internet and websites to communicate and to do business…but the face-to-face is still very important. For my first job at Exxon they sent me to New Jersey for six weeks to learn the computer systems for auditing. … [and] I always loved going to annual conferences around the world that I was invited to.” He views that kind of personal contact as essential to maintaining connections. For Jordan, that includes his connection to Menlo. “It’s never too late to restart or revisit, and appreciate what one has received in the way of education from Menlo. I think it’s very important to keep in contact, and hopefully someday go back for a visit.” 51 SUMMER 2021
