The WRIGHT STUFF

Driven, forthright, passionate and inspirational – that’s Beth Wright. And highly successful in whatever role she has fulfilled in her long career in the business supplies industry

Beth Wright, Chief Commercial Officer at Fellowes Brands, could easily be described as one of the most present and influential women in the business supplies space today. And she certainly likes a challenge. There are few individuals, for example, who have swapped continents in their career paths and been resoundingly successful in all their professional endeavours.

Long-time friend and OPI CEO Steve Hilleard caught up with Wright in January, to chat about her career path and what it takes to break through the glass ceiling against the backdrop of a male-dominated sector.

OPI: Beth, you and I have known each other for over 25 years. But your involvement in this industry goes back much further still. What’s led to your completely ingrained knowledge of all things OP?

Beth Wright: I’ve been exposed to it pretty much all my life. My parents bought an independent dealership when I was 13 years old. My dad basically left the corporate world and bought a dealer in South Boston, Virginia.

As a result, as a child around the dinner table, we talked about revenue growth and gross profit, about office supplies and furniture, rather than the weather and the sports I played at school. It set a firm foundation to build upon.

OPI: What are your overriding memories of your parents’ business?

BW: That they built this dealership with an amazing community around them and a lot of hard work. They served this small town with great service and a good portfolio of products. I saw it all happen and have, to this day, continued to support the independent dealer channel (IDC) through my various roles in our industry. The business is still around and run by a General Manager, Mickey Thomas. Small business created the entrepreneur in me.

Very specifically, my earliest memory is probably in the back of our printing department where my brother and I, over the summer, had to manually staple thousands of fair catalogues my parents then delivered to a big customer. I recall us yelling at each other that the staples didn’t line up. Another recollection is delivering a HON chair to a school district with my dad.

OPI: How did you go from working in the family firm in the summer to a full-blown career in this industry?

BW: I never thought I would join this sector after college, but during a National Office Buyers show, I met Jim Powell from Daisytek and he said: “We have this awesome college recruit programme at Daisytek in Dallas. We’re looking for strong sales and marketing candidates – would you be interested?”

Within two weeks, I had an offer letter to move to Dallas – that’s where it started. Daisytek’s recruitment programme was known for attracting exceptional talent out of the university system, mostly from within Texas, so it was cool Jim was talking to somebody from North Carolina.

We were thrown into this fast-growing, tech-orientated business which, at the time, was doubling in sales every few months. It was an amazing opportunity.

OPI: This was when Jim was SVP of Sales & Marketing I guess?

BW: Exactly. I went through the programme, was promoted quickly and had some great mentors – Jim as well as a couple of strong females who really took me under their wing. At the end, you were given a lot of responsibility very quickly and told to run with it. If you were successful and could handle the work, more promotions would follow.

I was actually the first outside salesperson and strategic account manager Daisytek ever had who would physically call on the likes of Boise, BT Office Products, Office Depot and Staples, as well as all the various buying groups in the IDC.

OPI: That’s when we first met I believe. I can vividly remember the building we were in and the exact meeting room where I interviewed you.

BW: I don’t recall the finer details Steve, but I do remember you’ve been taking credit for my whole career since then.

OPI: And I will continue to do so.

BW: (laughs) As you should.

OPI: How did it all play out for you at Daisytek which, of course, met with a sorry ending some years later?

BW: Yes, luckily I left before the collapse. My now husband and I were commuting between the East Coast and Dallas at the time.

In 2000, we decided we wanted to build a family together. We picked South Florida and moved there. I left the industry for a few years and was Director of Sales for ERP consulting company Neoris down in Miami, which is owned by Cemex. I hated the long sales cycles of the business, but those years taught me a lot about the tech world and how to operate in that space.

I was lured back by OP manufacturer Cardinal Brands which, having been bought by private equity, was building out a new team. I ran the national accounts team there for over four years. At some stage, the CEO at Cardinal and I went over to Portugal to try and expand our business in visual communications, anticipating that paper-based products were going to continue to decline. We were looking for products, partnerships with other companies and acquisitions.

While in Portugal, we talked to the Vasconcelos family – the owners of Bi-silque. The numbers and the M&A didn’t work out with Cardinal, but my relationship with the organisation started back then. The family contacted me soon after, with the idea of me launching the vendor’s North America business. This was in 2007.

OPI: I recall that you grew the subsidiary fairly aggressively.

BW: Well, we started it from scratch because we didn’t have a footprint in North America at all. We had to create a supply chain and a brand which was different to the European one. It was the beginning of Bi-silque North America and the MasterVision brand.

We built the North American entity from the ground up – in terms of customer set-up, assortment, marketing, etc etc – and reached over $30 million in revenue in under five years.

At some stage, in 2012 or 2013, our Head of Europe left Bi-silque and when it came to filling the role I said: “Why not me?” I was up for the challenge and really wanted to expand my career into Europe. Long story short, I took on the Chief Commercial Officer role at Bi-silque and was responsible for sales, customer service and marketing, as well as our German and UK subsidiaries.

OPI: I guess the answer to “why not me” could have been, “well, you live in South Florida where you have a husband and children”. I would imagine it was quite a big leap of faith for both parties. BW: It certainly was. But I knew what was in front of us, the growth path the company could achieve, and I thought I was the best person to lead these developments.

The Europeans adopted me in a really special way and I’m still somewhat surprised that a loud American from North Carolina could come into the market and be accepted. I adapted my style and was flexible in changing what I needed to change to fit in. I also worked hard to understand how this market, fragmented as it was, did business, and how we could add value to our customers.

We were ‘only’ a very small Portuguese manufacturer. Yes, Bi-silque was on the rise, no doubt, but we were definitely punching above our weight in the marketplace.

OPI: You were the recipient of the Professional of the Year award at the European Office Products Awards (EOPA) in 2017. To this day, I believe you’re the only non-European ever to win this award.

BW: It was a huge honour. It’s not just an award which is special and coveted in the industry, it’s also one voted on by customers and peers. For me, to have had the chance to make an impact in a firm and a market that I had never operated in before and to then get rewarded for it like this was really gratifying.

To this day, I still feel a lot of connectivity to European customers and often miss my time there. Luckily, I have a terrific counterpart in Michel van Beek who runs Fellowes Brands’ European business and we talk a lot.

OPI: Speaking of Fellowes, this was your next change, of course.

BW: Yes, it was decision time again. By 2018, I had been commuting between Europe and the US every two weeks. I had also lived in Portugal with my children for nine months. It was time for a new challenge, and the phone call I made was to Jamie and John Fellowes.

I had watched Fellowes Brands continue to evolve the business over the years. And I saw the evolution and the changes John was implementing. I thought this family firm could really move the needle in our industry and alter the way some things were done. I was hoping I could be a valuable asset in this process.

As I said, I made the call but there wasn’t a role at the time, so John found a position for me as VP of Strategic Growth, working on new categories, expansion and M&A. Soon after, the Head of Sales parted ways with Fellowes, and John slid me into that role. It was right in the middle of my comfort zone.

We were going through a shift in the business at the time. 2018 and 2019 were an interesting couple of years. I was able to bring a fresh perspective to our customer strategies and was fortunate to have an executive team which helped me be successful really quickly.

In March 2022 – a year ago – John asked me to take over as Chief Commercial Officer, charged with optimising our commercial strategy and growth plans. Fellowes’ valued customers and channel partners are at the centre of my role.

BW: Growth is something everybody wants, but it’s hard to achieve, especially in many traditional, paper-based categories. My mentality, no matter what company I’ve been with, is that if you put the customer at the centre of the plan, you usually get it right.

What do customers value in the relationship? Instead of thinking about what your numbers are, or what you’re trying to achieve as a firm, how do you make them more successful? And how do you make their jobs easier?

It’s not brain surgery, but many organisations miss it because they have their own objectives and don’t put the customer in the centre. Once you have the right mentality, it’s often momentum that carries you. Make decisions and be confident in those decisions; learn as you go and build a team to execute the plan.

OPI: When you talk about putting the customer in the centre, are you referring to the ultimate consumer of your products or your trade reseller partners? Or both?

BW: We’d love to say we influence the end user at all times and I’m certain Fellowes has a strong reputation, but we are a reseller-focused company. As such, I’m talking about our reseller partners in the trade we have to make successful because they are the conduit to selling our products into the end user.

OPI: This interview is appearing in the same issue as our inaugural Influential Women feature (see page 30). We put together a list of 50 of these individuals. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be, but it was certainly more difficult than trying to find 50 men. Why do you think you are one of the relatively few C-level female leaders in this sector? What does the industry need to do to improve the current imbalance? BW: Good question which could actually take a few hours to answer. I’ll try to keep it brief. Let me start with example and representation – they matter.

OPI: You mention growth. How have you brought that to the companies you’ve worked for in an industry some would say often lacks growth?

When you come in as a young salesperson, marketing associate, junior engineer or accountant, what do you see in front of you from a mid-level manager perspective? What do you see at the top? It’s important. If there are not enough women at the top, a female recruit sees nothing that would make her believe she could get there.

It’s a simplified view, but those organisations which have really learned to value diversity in all its forms – including in senior leadership – retain more diverse talent. We see this impacting the business with strong performance. The more diverse the view, the better we all are – and I don’t mean diversity for just diversity’s sake. Having strong female leaders who continue to grow the business is critical to having more of them. It’s quite simple.

OPI: Are the two major companies you’ve worked for good examples of this theory?

BW: I think so. One of the reasons I joined Bi-silque was because of Aida Vasconcelos, the co-founder of the company – and a powerhouse of energy I might add – who relentlessly pushed the business forward. Aida and her husband Virgilio made a great, powerful team, with her having been the ‘front of house’ driving force.

Fellowes is different but the same, if that makes sense. Yes, it has a male leader –fourth-generation John Fellowes – but it has a senior leadership team which includes four women. Out of our six senior leaders, four are female and we’re really proud of that.

I don’t think it’s intentional as in, like I said before, diversity for diversity’s sake, but John employed people who he thought were highly capable of advancing the organisation. It’s an example for the next leaders to come – there are roles and it is possible.

You have to be quite careful here of one-size-fits-all generalisation. My own perspective is to become the best example of a strong leader in this industry. Full stop, regardless of gender or anything else. But I also want to be someone females can look up to and say: “Wow, she did it. So can I.” Visibility is key. But you also need advocates who assist you along the way – it’s essential. I’ve been very fortunate in that regard. Whether it’s co-workers, customers, business partners or indeed a platform like OPI – they’ve all helped me enormously to get where I was headed.

OPI: How have you brought your own style and vision to the firms you’ve worked for?

BW: Be true to yourself is probably the simple answer, corny as it sounds. People who know me realise I’m the same every day – not always everybody’s cup of tea, which is obviously fine, but authentic. I am who I am, what you see is what you get, and I don’t try to change that. Of course, I regularly try to adapt my style to fit a customer, a team, a market and the situation I’m in, but all the while still being my authentic self.

I would also say I’m not afraid to get in the dirt. I’m willing to push down boundaries when needed – for myself and my team.

OPI: Whenever I see you, you’re typically running through an airport, to a conference or dinner, madly busy and with “so much to do”. Is there a calm side your team sees or is it always hurricane Beth?

BW: Calm is rare, to be frank. I believe one of the things which makes me a bit different is my energy and enthusiasm. When I walk into a room, I want to bring the energy up and exude optimism. In a sector that can be quite negative at times, I like to bring a bit of levity; I want people to be happier because I’m in the room. I view it as a positive, it’s definitely what I bring to the table with our customers. They see my passion for the company and the products we’re selling. But they also see I want them to do well and that my team and I will do everything we can to make it happen. Hurricane Beth? Maybe some days. I’m certainly a busy lady.

OPI: You’ve smashed your way through the glass ceiling. What are the barriers in front of females with leadership aspirations?

BW: When I’ve done some speaking engagements to female leaders, one of the questions that always come up is: can you have it all? The short answer is: yes, you can, but not all at the same time – it’s not possible. Especially for working mothers, it’s a constant – and I really mean this – balancing act and trade-off. I am incredibly fortunate to have a husband of 21 years who is a true partner. He allows me to do what I do, to be hurricane Beth, if you will. He very much has his own career too, but we both flex and build our family and life as real partners. It’s all about compromise and balance.

BW: During the pandemic, no – it was probably the toughest on women because everyone was home and you quite literally had to manage everything, all at the same time. Now kids are fully back in school and whatever normality is has resumed, I do believe it will help as long as we continue to stay in this type of hybrid scenario that provides more flexibility. But I have a feeling most of us will be back in the office in a few years, which is a positive for our industry.

OPI: What else can business leaders do to support and empower the women in their organisations to get them looking a bit more like, say, Fellowes?

BW: We have to attract new females to our industry, that’s for sure. It goes back to the representation I mentioned earlier. People join firms where they see potential and success. We also need to support organisations which provide networking and growth opportunities for women – Office Products Women in Leadership (OPWIL) in the business products channel and Hygieia in the jan/san space are good examples.

OPI: I wasn’t that familiar with Hygieia until the recent ISSA event – it’s huge. Yet OPWIL, which I believe you are a founding member of, along with OPI’s very own Janet Bell – doesn’t appear to have quite the same sort of traction. Why is that?

BW: In essence, OPWIL has always needed – and lacked – significant sponsorship and support at a high level from the nationals, whether it’s an Office Depot, S.P. Richards or Staples/Essendant. The group has largely been focused on the IDC without an endorsement from the big boys. Perhaps it’s why it hasn’t made the jump to become a more powerful, all-encompassing entity.

So, to come to your barriers: the old-fashioned stereotypes and role definitions of males and females have evolved, no doubt, but not fast enough for women. If you want to be a progressive leader in your space and have a strong family life, that stereotype barrier needs to be removed completely.

OPI: The pandemic and this new era of flexible and hybrid working have had huge ramifications for our industry and many products within it. Has it been an enabler for women in terms of career progression?

Maybe when I retire I’ll take that on. I do think we can grow OPWIL, but we need the larger companies to really get behind it. That’s what Hygieia has done – all of the large, key jan/san manufacturers and customers are a part of this network, and a lot of the senior women in this space have been big supporters, often later in their careers when they had the time and capacity to comprehensively get involved.

OPI: We haven’t spoken much about your company, but it would be remiss not to. I’m aware of some big things taking place in Q2 this year. What can you share about what’s going on at Fellowes Brands?

BW: It’s an exciting year to be at Fellowes. We are going through the next generational evolution of the company and are right in the middle of it now. It includes four major product launches – one in air purification, the others in the furniture and ergonomics space – and upgrades to many of our technology and manufacturing platforms to position us well for the future.

Overall, there are several facets of our business we are overhauling and investing in to catapult growth. It’s all culminating in a new customer experience centre that will open in June at 800 Fulton Market in Chicago.

As part of this project, we are also reorganising our sales force. This is to make it more efficient and effective and enable our resellers to take advantage of new products and growth opportunities.

OPI: I hear a rebrand is on the cards as well. Is that a tweak or a big overhaul?

BW: It’s definitely a big overhaul in our contract interiors space. The ESI and Trendway brands will go away and it will be ‘One Fellowes’ across all channels of business as we prepare to ‘Unleash WorkLife Potential’.

OPI: What are your thoughts on the state of the broader industry? The IDC is obviously close to your heart for a number of reasons. How do you view the health of that channel and also the closely related wholesale space?

BW: The IDC has done a really good job surviving anything that’s thrown at it. Getting past the pandemic was a feat in itself.

Thankfully, dealers had government financial support and many were very successful with us, notably in the air

Below left: Beth Wright (with Steve Hilleard) winning the Professional of the Year award at the 2017 EOPA and, right, at a speaking engagement in Chicago purification segment. There have also been plenty of jan/san opportunities, of course.

Despite the naysayers, plenty of dealers are still doing pretty well. They provide a level of service the big boys just cannot match in the SMB market. Everybody wants to go after that middle market, but nobody does it as well as the independent dealer, so I think those out there with a strong balance sheet and a solid succession plan will continue to thrive. We know it’s going to be a rough road for the ones without those attributes.

The wholesalers are still evolving and resetting what and where their value is to the channel. Following the recent S.P. Richards sale, 2023 should be an interesting evolution for those operators.

OPI: Finally, what would be your top advice to any females reading this interview who are in the relatively early stages of their careers but are aiming high?

BW: First, say yes to opportunities that come to you, even if you’re not fully ready. Take the role, project or lean into that exposure to leadership. Even if you have self-doubt in a particular area, say yes. Get the experience, make mistakes and push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Second, find an advocate. This person doesn’t have to be female, but someone who is committed to helping you along in your journey. Call it a mentor or coach – someone in your business who can assist you in progressing in your capability set. That’s it, my pearls of wisdom for what they’re worth.

OPI: And a good way to finish, so that’s a wrap – many thanks Beth.