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Innovation & Servanthood Leadership
Innovation & Servanthood Leadership
BY ANNA DERBYSHIRE (‘90) Innovation in Business
SUSAN (VAN HOOK) RILEY (’97) has embraced innovation throughout her career, always grounded by fundamental lessons of Servant Leadership learned at Southern Nazarene University.
As a Freshman at SNU, Susan became part of SGA (Student Government Association) working alongside (future husband) Rod Riley. Through their shared SGA experience, Rod and Susan “remember many faculty and staff members who poured into us, taught us the importance of servant leadership, and helped to lay the foundation for how we viewed business going forward.... We will forever be thankful to them,” Susan said.
In 1997, Rod and Susan graduated from SNU, married, and headed to Nashville, TN, beginning careers in the Christian music industry. During that time, they saw a need for a label geared to a younger audience and started saving up money to launch Fervent Records in 1999.
The biggest hurdle was getting the first band to sign. “We had no experience and were so young ourselves,” Susan recalled. Finally, after persistence, By The Tree, a band out of Texas, signed. Big Daddy Weave signed in 2002, which put the label on the map, and many other bands followed suit. “Early on we had to be innovative as we ran on a shoestring budget. We had to come up with street level marketing plans and creative ways to compete with more established labels.” she said. “We built the label together with the bands, as many lived in our house and drove our cars on promotional tours, etc. Innovation and servant leadership were truly the foundation of Fervent Records,” said Susan.
Susan (‘97) and Rod Riley (‘97)
By 2005 all the bands were hitting their stride, and larger labels took notice of Fervent Records. During this time the digital age of music became a bigger part of innovation and the future of music. The Riley’s were on the forefront of a new era in music. That same year, Warner Music Group bought Fervent, and became part of Word Entertainment, the Christian arm of Warner. They hired Susan to run A&R (Artist and Repertoire) and Music Publishing for Word and brought Rod on to head up marketing and operations. Later, Rod became CEO and President of Word.
Sometime later, a friend who worked with Chick-fil-A corporate suggested that Susan apply for a Chick-fil-A franchise. Susan said, “I didn’t take it seriously at first, but, like everyone, I love Chick-fil-A, so I filled out the application, knowing full well that the odds were slim.” (In 2018, Chick-fil-A received over 80,000 applications and chose less than 100 applicants from that pool.)
Through the yearlong interview process, Susan came to deeply appreciate and respect the way the founders and owners of Chick-fil-A ran their business with intentionality, integrity, purpose, and a constant push toward innovation. And in the interview process one phrase was used over and over that resonated with her based on her years at SNU: Servant Leadership!
In 2019, Susan became the owner of a newly built drive-through-only Chick-fil-A in downtown Nashville, just a few miles from her home. Her location is on track to do over $9 million in sales and employs 130 team members.
When asked what her greatest success has been over the years, Susan answered that she was thankful for the years in the Christian music industry when she and her husband, Rod, were able to support so many ministries who brought hope, through music. They are now seeking to model servant leadership to their Chick-fil-A team members who will, hopefully, reflect their example in their service to guests and others throughout their lives.
