After two years of on and off collaboration to get him to Miami's University's campus, Phil Francis, the chairman and CEO of PetSmart, finally made his way to Oxford, to speak Wednesday afternoon at Hall Auditorium.
In his lecture, Francis explained to the audience how he has contributed his knowledge to help boost the company to one of the leading players in the pet industry.
"We are now the leading power in the high-growth pet industry," Francis said.
Francis said that in terms of recruiting, PetSmart is looking for the breed of student that Miami produces.
At one point in the lecture, Francis touched on the possibility of a PetSmart opening in Oxford, but ultimately concluded that the company's typical location would be somewhere with a slightly higher population than Oxford.
"We have a lot of other things to work on at the moment," Francis said, jokingly adding that Oxford may need to work on its "poop-scooping" before a company such as PetSmart could move in.
Kerry McCormack, a first-year audience member, attended the event out of curiosity.
"I came because I heard it was going to be very interesting,"
McCormack said. "After the speech, I learned that you can't wish too hard for what you want. You have to take life as it comes."
It was lessons such as these that Francis wished to address to the audience.
"I hope they understand from my speech that there is opportunity for them, and anyone can do what I do," Francis said, before his speech.
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During the speech, Francis discussed ways of overcoming challenges.
"If you run into a problem, do whatever you have to do to get it over with regardless of what the cost is," Francis said.
Alan Oak, assistant dean for external relations of the Farmer School of Business, said that Francis's extensive retail experience was one of the reasons Miami invited him to come speak. Oak mentioned Francis's experience as vice president of Jewel Foods during the late 80s, and then as president of Shaw's Supermarkets in Boston until 1998.
Oak said that Francis is now part of a Miami precedent of "remarkable" speakers, including Richard Davis, CEO of U.S. Bank and Anne Mulchay, CEO of Xerox.
"Francis is coming because of Miami's reputation," Oak said. "He also wants to lecture at Miami because his company is successfully growing."
According to Oak, Francis is one of four executive speakers coming or who have come to Miami for the Farmer School of Business Executive Speaker series. Speakers include Bill Nuti, the president and CEO of NCR Corporation; Dennis Nally, chairman and senior partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; and Robert Johnson, CEO of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.
Oak believes that with Miami's well-rounded educational background, CEOs, such as Francis, do a great job reaching out to students.
"Regardless of your major," Oak said, "it's important for students to get a broad view of how a business works - CEOs can do that."
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