The Soft Pitch

Today was cool. Our queen of employee morale here in PHX is Lisa and she rented out two Tempe theatres for over 500 employees and family members to attend the new Indy movie. Great to see him back on the silver screen and also to know I lived long enough to see it. The matinee tickets were paid by employees…with only a portion paid by Avnet. It was great feeling to see so many smiling folks. Lisa does a great job of running sporting events, getting discount tickets and other programs to enhance our company culture, pride and employee experience/engagement.

Oh by the way: I enjoyed the flick but was expecting a bit more…bottom-line go see it. Another good day here.

When I think of the movies I think of one our key Avnet family members, Jon Avnet. Jon is the grandson of our founder. He is a well known producer of quite a few movies; Fried Green Tomatos, Risky Business and award winner with Broadway hit Spamalot. I had the pleasure to meet him and his family at dinner a few years ago when he came for our 50th anniversary event. An excellent story teller but what impressed me most was that he was not a name dropper… we had to drag out stories out of him about the Hollywood crowd. Then as the big day unfolded his passion for his family legacy and apprecaution that we kept the Avnet brand going (we didn’t screw it up) and successfully was very apparent..more good times here. He would be worth interviewing as a past employee who made assemblies, maybe he will make a movie about us one day.

Now that most of us have accepted that we need to do something to save energy, reduce greenhouse emissions and basically save the planet for future generations, “green iniatives” are popping up everywhere.  As much as everyone talks, of course there’s still much to be done and change isn’t always quick to come when there are sacrifices to be made.  Many CFO’s just can’t justify the money to “go green” when in the short run additional expense will negatively impact profits.

As promised in my last post I wanted to update you all on some of the activities by our employees to support the relief effort In China. In Asia I know our team has raised approx $40,000 and this will support a few families of employees who were affected. Globally we our supporting American Red Cross through their online website we worked with them to setup for us. Isn’t technology great! Avnet will be matching funds up to $100,000. If you would like to join us please do: http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=wkpl_Employee_China_Only_0508_PUBLIC&s_company=avnet-emp&s_src=FZZWGW00&s_subsrc=avnet-emp&s_match=no&JServSessionIdr007=dhat7y0v41.app196b 

Questions or if this does not work please contact Jennifer.lintner@avnet.com

I will tell u down the line what we raise, but every dollar/yen/euro/etc is appreciated.

Just got back from our Singapore quarterly update meeting with our Global Executive Committee…unless I missed something it’s not hard to see that growth for Avnet will be significant in the Asian region. When I joined the comapny approx. 9 years ago I believe our revenue in the region was $100 million. Co-president of EM then Brian Hilton (retired) lead the charge and now EM is heading to the $3 billion mark! Organic opportunities and mergers and acquistions are both on tap for the EM and TS groups…Journalists if your looking for a good story, William Chu the leader that came with our 2007 acqusition of Azure Technologies 13 months ago has successfully executed plans to increase sales in IT value added space in Singapore and Malaysia. As you may know we have acquired over 50 companies since 1990…this one may be one of our best. Our 3 keys to any M&A activity; culture, strategy and econonics have all worked in this one. 

I can’t end any story without saying a few prayers for the people affected by the earthquake in China. I learned of it when I got off the plane and one my assocaites asked if we were ok. Sadly everyday the death reports kept getting larger. There could never be a good time for a disaster, but on the brink of the most important PR/Pride moments in the history of China, they (and the world) now must deploy resources to the ravaged region. Sadly dealing with this will really be China’s most important testament to be written.

The good news none of Avnet’s employees were involved.

I look forward to showing up tomorrow and hearing how Avnet employees from around the world will be donating and/or raising funds…as they always do when big events hit the world or on a daily basis in their communities…we always start from ground up. Update to come.

Ok, I confess.  I don’t do sports.  Growing up, my dad was from Canada and when I was a kid, the only US hockey team was the Kings. Living in LA, I went to few games with him when the Montreal Canadiens were in town, but that was about it. So, I had no sports coaching as a kid, so to speak. I know a little bit about being outside the ring for a 3-point basket and that it’s 10 yards to a first down. I sing a fairly decent “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (which means I know all the words) during the seventh inning stretch, but that’s about it. As Al said in his post, I do camp and I love it. I go for the outdoors stuff.  So I’ve been whitewater rafting in Utah (Class 4), zip-lining in Hawaii, skydiving in the Arizona desert, and soaring in California, Nevada and Washington. This summer, I’m planning a week on a schooner off the coast of Maine. My story is not the same as die-hard-Cub’s-fan Al, but it’s my story nonetheless.  I do wear pearls to work, but never on the weekend, and maybe one day I’ll tell you the story of my blue pearls. In the meantime, one of the things I’ve learned in my career is that everyone, simply everyone, has a story to tell.

In this blog, we want to share with you the stories from Avnet you may not have heard about — or provide some insight on the stories you have heard about.  There’s a lot of interesting people doing some pretty cool stuff at Avnet. 

Take the virtualization blog started by Tim of Avnet Technology Solutions.  I’ve known Tim for years, he’s a self-described “propeller head,” which means when I need a simple explanation of something technical, he’s the guy I call.  He’s also one of the people who have been championing using social media to engage with our communities internally and, now, externally.  Server virtualization is a trend that took off a few years ago, and Avnet itself headed down the virtualization path in order to be more efficient. We walk the virtual talk, so to speak.  We’re also working on a green strategy for Avnet.    EBV Electronik, an Avnet company with its headquarters in Germany, is leading the way.  They just published a special issue of The Quintessence on ecodesign. Included with every copy is a packet of tree seeds to encourage readers to take personal action.  If all the seeds distributed are planted and grow into trees, they could absorb the same amount of CO2 as that produced by more than 23,000 people every year!

Michelle Gorel

VP Public Relations

Avnet, Inc.