Page 51 - Lighting Magazine March 2019

hall of femme
When the opportunity arose shortly a er gradu- ation to join a builder with a real estate business who was expanding into Virginia, Hayes was happy to leave the cold weather of New York for a warmer climate. There, she ran the o ce and handled P.O.s, estimates, plus administrative tasks before being promoted to eld administrator. “At that time, there were very few females in the eld working with sub-contractors, inspectors, and conducting walk- throughs and while I was younger than most and female, gender didn’t seem as much of a factor.”
Several years later, she was hired by a larger, private builder in northern Virginia. “That’s where I really learned about home building,” Hayes states. “I loved it! I felt like I was having an impact. I was promoted to assistant superintendent and enjoyed keeping everything [all the moving parts of a con- struction business] organized.”
leadership styles,” she states.
When Ferguson broke the immense corporate
business into segments, Hayes was one of the rst selected for the Residential Business Group team for Showroom & Builder. At rst, Lighting, Fireplac- es & Appliances was one division, but eventually they were broken o individually. “I was o ered an opportunity to grow the Lighting business,” she explains. “I didn’t know a thing about Lighting ex- cept for what I bought and sold in my builder days. I didn’t know lighting like a specialist would — and that became my goal. I called up Joe Rey-Barreau (the renowned educator with the American Light- ing Association) and took his Lighting Specialist classes, which gave me the con dence I needed to take it on.”
Before long, she was named the National Busi- ness Manager for the Lighting division at Ferguson
“At that time, there were very few females in the eld working with sub-contractors, inspectors, and conducting walk-throughs and while I was younger than most and female, gender didn’t seem as much of a factor.”
She married, started a family, and took a job with Long & Foster, a well-known real estate company in the Mid-Atlantic region. An acquaintance asked her to meet with Ferguson Enterprises, headquartered in nearby Newport News, which was looking for an executive assistant to the two VPs of the Executive team. While it wasn’t the sort of position that initial- ly a racted Hayes, she found herself engrossed in conversation with them and by the time she drove home, Ferguson had called to o er the job. For the next 17 years, Hayes became an integral part of the team. “I learned a lot there, working with the people who made the company what it is today by listen- ing and learning their decision-making process and
and grew the category by double digits. When the Recession hit in 2007-2008, it was up to Hayes to tighten the corporate belt in her category. “I had to slice [the department and programs] down and made those hard calls,” she comments.
It was around that time that Ferguson acquired Build.com and online shopping became increas- ingly popular. With information now available to the public, Hayes says she knew some things had to change (more retail customers, pricing, etc.). “I was taking bullets,” she states. The analytical skills she learned in business school and working with her business team, however, came to the fore- front as Hayes examined margins. By drilling down
March 2019 | enLIGHTenment Magazine 47