Q&A BY GREG
DUTTER
DO THE RIGHT THINGS
J o r i M i l l e r S h e r e r, p r e s i d e n t o f M i n n e t o n k a , o n h o w s e v e r a l r e c e n t l y i n t r o d u c e d long-term, company-altering initiatives are already paying big dividends.
WHEN JORI MILLER SHERER was promoted to president of Minnetonka in December 2019 the world was quite a different place. In fact, the fourth-generation family member of the 75-year-old company joined her father, CEO David Miller, in the C-suite with a relatively modest initial goal: to meet with every employee individually to get the lay of the land. Miller Sherer wasn’t looking to reinvent the wheel. Former president Scott Sessa, the first non-family member in the company’s history to hold that position, had moved on after a successful run, and the new president wanted to focus first on what was working well (slippers) and getting everybody rowing together before formulating any strategic growth plans. There was no rush. Minnetonka’s business was solid. Life was good. Besides, Miller Sherer had plenty on her plate in those early weeks as president. Another busy selling season was fast approaching—one that would require her to attend the usual gauntlet of trade shows as well as meet with key accounts across the country. Just squeezing in meetings with the company’s approximately 90 employees (between the main office and warehouse) soon proved challenging. Nonetheless, Miller Sherer, a good multi-tasker who honed her skills during the previous decade working in the company’s sales and product divisions, made decent headway with her meetings as another long Minnesota winter wore on into March. Then the world changed. The Covid-19 pandemic hit and even the best-laid plans were put on hold as management went into crisis mode to keep the company operating amid a nationwide lockdown. The shock was all too real. “Who can even remember a time before Covid,” Miller Sherer says. “Overnight, retail basically just shut down and half of our sales evaporated.” But the company pulled together and responded to every curveball thrown its way, she says. “We completely changed how we do business—shifting to a hybrid work format, reorganizing our
warehouse so our employees could be safe and dealing with the ongoing global supply chain crisis,” she says. “For us, it’s absolutely been the most challenging two years in our history.” Dealing with the initial fallout from the pandemic was tough enough. Then, shortly into the crisis, George Floyd was murdered in Minnetonka’s backyard of
10 footwearplusmagazine.com • december 2021
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11/19/21 11:12 AM