WGU Alumni Podcast
WGU’s alumni network now has more than 350,000 graduates living in all 50 states. The WGU alumni podcast highlights the incredible work that our alumni are doing in their local communities. We also share benefits, perks, resources and partner information to help our graduates stay engaged and get the most out of the alumni community.
WGU Alumni Podcast
From Entrepreneur to City Visionary – Distinguished Graduate Kevin Phelps' Journey
Join us as we celebrate the journey of distinguished graduate Kevin Phelps, Glendale's visionary CEO and city manager, as he transitioned from a successful entrepreneur to a public service leader. Discover how Kevin's return to education at Western Governors University, leveraging its unique competency-based model, played a role in his career evolution. His story is a testament to the idea that it’s never too late to pursue education and new opportunities, blending professional wisdom with academic growth to inspire others with his resilience and adaptability.
We explore the exciting future of Glendale, Arizona, under Kevin's leadership, to unveil ambitious plans to transform the city into a dynamic entertainment hub. We dive into the details of the state's largest resort project, set to open in 2025, complete with a concert amphitheater, a lagoon with beaches, and the U.S.'s first Mattel adventure park.
This engaging conversation is filled with leadership wisdom and personal growth insights from Kevin. From sharing career advice and reflecting on the significance of mentorship to contemplating retirement and future endeavors, Kevin's experiences offer invaluable lessons on adaptability, fostering positive organizational culture, and the power of strong relationships. His reflections on friendships and community support reinforce the importance of surrounding oneself with passionate individuals to achieve greatness. Listen as Kevin's story unfolds, providing a blueprint for lifelong learning and success.
Have you ever thought it's too late for me? Well, it turns out you have more time than you think. We're living longer, doing more and collecting more moments. On this new season of the WGU Alumni Podcast, we're sharing the inspiring stories of our distinguished graduates who went back to school to pursue a degree and better their lives. We hope their stories will inspire you to realize it's never too late to go after your dreams. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the WGU Alumni Podcast. It's Jeff and Robert. Back for more fun. Hello.
Speaker 2:Robert, more fun is right when we get together. We get to talk about amazing alumni, their stories and I mean every graduate is an amazing alum but we get to hear some really unique stories here on the podcast.
Speaker 2:How much do you love your job, robert? I love my job, so I know you might be listening to this any day week of the year, but I just went to Seattle last week to meet some alums up there. We had an amazing event and I get to go coast to coast and get to meet these people that we talk about, and that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me, the same thing Like being in alumni relations and being able to hear these stories, to see the impact of the hard work of these graduates and what they're doing within their communities, within their professions is really inspiring. We are continuing on with our season here. We're focused on it's Never Too Late. We're recognizing distinguished graduates. We've got another great distinguished graduate that we're interviewing and highlighting today, and that would be the one and only Kevin.
Speaker 2:Phelps Kevin Phelps Now, this is going to be a fun story because he fits right in with this season's theme of it's Never Too Late, right? He actually doesn't finish school when he begins his successful career in business and throughout that successful career, towards the end of that he decides I'm going to try something else and he gets into city management, right? So into the public sector and serving people. And he's talking about education. He loves education, he thinks education is important. He's like huh, but I didn't graduate. So what does he do? He goes back to school. He goes education is important. He's like huh, but I didn't graduate. So what does he do? He goes back to school.
Speaker 1:He goes back to school and where does he find that out? At WGU, and so Kevin really fits this story, really what we can do, and it think about what the governors kind of had in mind with this competency based education. Kevin was very successful, as you indicated, and so he was able to take a lot of years of experience and put that into his schoolwork and master the material very, very quickly, which allowed him time to spend on things that maybe he wasn't as familiar with. Anyway, it's a great story. I think he tells it best. So what do you say that we toss to that interview now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's hear more from Kevin. All righty.
Speaker 1:Kevin Phelps began his professional career starting and owning several successful companies. In 2007, he sold his companies and was appointed Washington Deputy State Auditor. Two years later, he was appointed to be the highest ranking. Two years later, he was appointed to be the highest ranking appointed official for Pierce County, washington. During this time, as a part of a campaign to encourage county employees to further their educational experience, he enrolled at WGU and completed his bachelor's in business management. Seven years later, he was selected to be the CEO and city manager for the City of Glendale, arizona, the position he currently holds. In September of 2024, he was recognized as one of 14 Distinguished Graduates at WGU. Kevin, welcome to the WGU Alumni Podcast. Thank you, we're glad to connect with you and, first off, just out of the gate, congratulations on being named a Distinguished Graduate at WGU. Well, thank you, we're glad to connect with you and first off, just out of the gate, congratulations on being named a distinguished graduate at WGU.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you. It's certainly very much of an honor and something that is very humbling, for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to jump into a little bit more about your journey. You have a very impressive bio. You've got a background as an entrepreneur and as a successful business owner, and now you've turned your attention and your energy over to running civic organizations, and it's very commendable. And I know you've got a lot of things to share, a lot of stories to tell, and so we're going to dive into the interview. But first I wanted to ask you what is your favorite thing about living in the Maricopa County area a wonderful part of the country there in Glendale Arizona.
Speaker 3:Well, while I'm not very talented, I love the game of golf and if you like to play golf and like to play all year round, there is probably a better community anywhere in the United States to which to play golf. So I get out most weekends. I keep a pretty busy work schedule. I still probably get in 100 to 120 rounds of golf per year.
Speaker 1:Do you really? Okay, fantastic, we were talking before we hit record. We're recording this in mid-October and the temperature you told me today in Glendale is going to be what.
Speaker 3:Predicted about 106.
Speaker 1:Which is about what? 10 to 15 degrees higher than normal this time of year. Correct, that is correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've set a record for the most amount of days over 110 degrees in the state's history this year, so it's been an unseasonably warm year for sure.
Speaker 1:Wow, how does your golf game stand up, hold up when you're playing in hot temperatures such as that?
Speaker 3:You know I'm kind of probably an oddity I walk. I don't take a power cart, I like to walk. I like that aspect of the game. I just learn to hydrate. Generally I never notice the temperature when I'm playing golf, even on a day when it's 108 or 110, until I'm done. And then normally when I walk into the clubhouse I'll feel more tired than I recognize that I was. But generally I try to it just of more my fitness than it is the skill of the game that gets me playing.
Speaker 1:Gotcha. Well, that's fantastic, that's awesome. Good luck on your golf game this weekend. The next time you find yourself out there. I want to ask you so you're the CEO and the city manager of Glendale, arizona. Remind me the population of Glendale, because it's a large city there in the Phoenix area.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're just over a quarter million people, about 258,000 people here in the city.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what is the most exciting thing that you're working on right now in Glendale Arizona?
Speaker 3:A project that I'm incredibly excited about that should open towards the end of 2025, it's a project I've been involved with for almost five years is that we have the state's largest resort being developed here in Glendale and in Arizona.
Speaker 3:saying it's the largest resort property is saying a lot, because we have a lot of great properties, but what makes it really incredible from my perspective is this particular development is really resetting what a resort property of the future will likely look like. It's always fun to be part of the forefront of an emerging approach to how they do business and a typical resort which is designed to have a more affluent traveler that stays multiple days on property. Our typical resort that you will see in this country has perhaps a golf course, perhaps has a nice spa, and so typically a couple would go, maybe, like for myself, I would go golf, my wife would go to the spa, we'd go to a nice restaurant, and that's the typical type of resort property. What this property is all about is kind of creating experiences around entertainment and activities, and so part of what they're doing is they're building an amphitheater that's kind of connected to the main hotel property. An amphitheater that's kind of connected to the main hotel property and they will be able to do concerts between 12 and 13,000 people.
Speaker 3:But every room that faces onto the amphitheater essentially is a private suite for the people staying in that room. Every room has a balcony, so it allows you to then to also purchase additional tickets and invite friends and guests to kind of party in your quote-unquote suite. But at the other end of the resort it's built on a look kind of a large couple acre lagoon with white sand beaches and cabanas. At the south end, mattel is building their first ever adventure park in the United States and they're going to focus on four brands. They're going to focus on Masters of the Universe, thomas the Train, hot Wheels, and they're going to focus on four brands. They're going to focus on Masters of the Universe, thomas the Train, hot Wheels and a brand called Barbie, which some people may have heard about, in fact they're building a Barbie 4D theater.
Speaker 3:There'll be multiple things they're doing. Everything about it is designed to kind of be about the experience of being at the resort, which, as we look at the younger, more affluent traveler, my kind of resort sounds pretty boring to them. But going and watching a concert-like Coldplay, spending three or four days having activities there to do multiple restaurants, all kind of self-contained, and being right in our city In fact we're right across the street from State Farm Stadium and only two blocks away from the Desert Diamond Arena, so it's right in the heart of our entertainment district. So we're very excited about it. It's over a billion dollar investment, our largest single investment by a single owner in the city's history, and so we're pretty excited about it.
Speaker 1:Kevin, that is very intriguing to me. That's incredible.
Speaker 3:I love this guy who's doing it. It's a local entrepreneur. His passion is to do something that's never been done before and as we look at entertainment, live entertainment it's the one constant that, if we say let's go back 10 centuries, human beings were going and seeing live entertainment. It's not a fad and we don't envision a scenario where people one day won't want to go see live entertainment. You know, I stare out my window here. I stare out at State Farm Stadium and we kicked off the world tour for Taylor Swift last year the world tour for Taylor Swift last year and what was fascinating was people spent $400 to be in the upper ranges of the stadium. Now Taylor Swift has great music, but really what they were doing is they were spending $400 to be part of an event, to have kind of this shared experience with 80,000 people.
Speaker 3:Our entertainment district was packed for the days leading up to the Taylor Swift concert and was packed all that entire weekend, and so people were taking off, work, getting a hotel, even if they wanted to live in the area, and we're making it an experience and this resort is really gonna fit in so well with this kind of where things are going at.
Speaker 1:That's so cool and congratulations on all the work that you and the team. I'm sure there's a lot of people working on this, but, yeah, a huge initiative and priority that's exciting for the city of Glendale. I've shared with you previously but, right when it was the University of Phoenix Stadium, I want to say is what it was called prior to State Farm. But my young family moved to Avondale, just on the other side, just down the 10 from you there in Glendale. There really wasn't a lot there. I mean, there were a lot of, you know, visionary folks that invested money and they built this and have hosted how many national championships and Super Bowls and, like you say, taylor Swift and other entertainment, and so, kevin, you and your team continue to deliver an incredible experience that if people listening today have not gone to a football game or a concert or event, you're definitely going to want to check it out and go visit the resort that you're highlighting. Give me the name of the resort again.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's called the Vye Resort V-A-I Resort. Okay, Again, it's set to open up end of 2025. It's been under construction for three years. It's going to be spectacular and we can't wait for it to open up.
Speaker 1:That's great. We want to keep in touch with you and hear more details about the exciting work that you're doing. I want to pivot for just a moment and talk a little bit about your journey. We're calling this season. It's Never Too Late. We're focusing on the education component. Wgu affords opportunities for people that maybe later in their careers have gone back and earned a degree. I want to ask you because from your bio that I read, it was part of an initiative and I think you've told me previously you know you wanted to set an example, as part of this campaign, of how important education was. So my first question for you in this area is why did you decide to go back to school? Why was that important for you?
Speaker 3:So when I was appointed to lead Pierce County, which is the second largest county in Washington state, just a little bit south of Seattle Tacoma is the largest city in Pierce County the organization one had been struggling financially, but two had not invested back into its own employees. So one of the things we did, coming out of our strategic planning, was to really push for continued development of the skill sets of our employees, and so we set up some tuition reimbursement programs, and in doing so, my dad, for 40 years of his life, was a Boeing engineer, and he wasn't one known to wax poetically about sayings and deep thinking, but one of the sayings he loved to repeat was the saying that what you do speak so loud, I'm having trouble hearing what you're saying, and so.
Speaker 3:I felt like if we were going to try to encourage our employees we had about 3,000 employees that if I was going to be encouraging them, then what I should do is step up and demonstrate the importance of it. And so, even though, you know, helping to run a large, complex organization consumed a lot of time, I researched out the different opportunities out there and really felt like Western Governors University was a perfect fit, and so then I did that, and that was a story I was able to share throughout the organization to help encourage others to do the same.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. Was that connected to maybe a larger dream that you had for your life, had you ever set out to earn a college degree?
Speaker 3:It's kind of interesting. I came out of high school and went to Washington State University Go Cougs that's one of my passions as well. But I was in journalism and when I got to my senior year of college I made the conscious choice I did not want to go into and be a reporter and so I did not go back for my senior year, which didn't make my parents terribly happy. But soon after I started my first business within two years of being out of school. I just had that drive. I had kind of an entrepreneurial kind of mindset. But as I got older I recognized that in some ways that was a regret that I had that I didn't finish a degree. Meanwhile I go into business. I start a number of businesses over the next 20 years. So I felt getting my business degree in business management was a good fit for me. Again, that's why I chose that and why I chose WGU.
Speaker 1:Hmm, what was holding you back from doing it sooner? It sounded like you had success with starting your businesses and being successful there. You obviously were successful in your civic duties. Was there, I guess, a reason to go back, or was there something holding you back from doing that?
Speaker 3:There was nothing holding me back from getting my degree other than you don't know what you don't know. And so you know, my businesses were going well and I felt like I had the appropriate skills to lead those organizations. But as I moved then from kind of companies of less than 100, most of my companies had no more than 100 employees Then all of a sudden I'm in a complex organization of 3000. I really felt like additional skill sets would be a value. So, for example, in my company we didn't spend time on a strategic planning process, but that is something that we clearly needed to do in Pierce County and at WGU part of the curriculum in the business management was talking about strategic planning and the benefits and how to put that together. So I think it was recognizing that I was getting into a new area, that the organization was very complex and that the more skills I could have would be beneficial to the organization.
Speaker 1:Kevin very interesting and I know that you've shared with me previously that at Pierce County there were some challenges when you took a leadership position and leadership role there and you were able to turn it around and have great success. Can you walk us through that a little bit? What were some of the challenges you faced and what were some of the things that you did to make it so successful?
Speaker 3:I took over my position in January of 2009. So this is right. Coming out of the downturn of all the mortgage crisis and the banking failures that we were seeing, to be honest, I felt we were an organization that had gotten rather large, had taken on initiatives that weren't requirements of the county to do, and they hadn't focused on economic development and revenue generation nearly as well. And one of the tough tough parts of my first 14 months of being at Pierce County is we went from 3,500 employees down to 2,935 employees in my first 14 months.
Speaker 3:You know, letting 600 people plus go is one of the hardest things you will do as a leader of an organization, but at the end of the day, we had to do what was right for the organization, and so, while it was certainly difficult on the senior leadership team at Pierce County, it was the right thing to do, and one of them was we got out of the mental health business, which, in the state of Washington, mental health is the responsibility of the state, but for some reason, the county thought they could get into the mental health business. They were expending a huge amount of funds and resources on it. So when I got there, I'm a real believer that organizations should stay in their lane, be great at the things that are within your lane and be very slow to get outside of that lane. So we politely handed back over the mental health component back to the state of Washington and we really focused on our core delivery of services and that really helped us get kind of right-sized and kind of right the ship.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, thank you for sharing that and so good to see the success and, like you say, sometimes you know decisions need to be made and those aren't always easy, but so cool to hear that you found success and it sounds like you've been successful no matter where you've been. You know, within your personal endeavors and again within the cities and the counties, that you've had an opportunity to serve, which is fantastic, and we celebrate you for that, kevin.
Speaker 3:Well, I've been really fortunate to work with people that are just really talented and really passionate.
Speaker 3:One of my early mentors in my business career was to remind you that nobody gets to know it all and what you really want to do is surround yourself with really good people and learn to lean on those people, and I certainly have benefited from that over the years, just been blessed with incredibly hardworking people.
Speaker 3:You know, when I was in the private sector, to be honest, we had a little bit of arrogance. I think that we always felt like the really smart people were in the private sector and everybody else got into government. And what I learned when I got into government both first as a elected official in Tacoma, which I still had my business, and then working for both state, county and now at the local level is that if I have a problem, it's really getting my senior leadership team to find better balance between work and home and their outside life. I'm always pushing them to not to burn the midnight oil too hard. People in government really care about what they do has been my experience and are incredibly talented. They're just called to public service, and so that was a real eye-opener for me is to kind of reset my thinking, not to say there aren't really obviously brilliant people in the private sector side, but I'll match what our employees do on a daily basis here with just about anybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's great to hear. Now, regarding your journey going back to school, were there any unexpected surprises or bonuses that came along with this?
Speaker 3:Again, I really researched out the approach that WGU offered, and my concern would have probably been to have to go through and spend time having to learn things that I already knew, that I already experienced.
Speaker 3:So I think maybe the first thing that I learned was that my life experiences really were valuable and that it really put me in a position of being successful through my educational journey. And so, again, for an older student like myself I was in my 50s when I joined on at WGU I was able to put those life experiences to work rather quickly, and that was both gratifying that I had picked some things up, and then it really allowed me to focus my educational time on those areas where I didn't have the competency and I didn't have the experience, and so that really allowed me to stay focused and kind of create a sense of momentum. So I wasn't just having to wait for the quarter to end to take on my next series of classes. I can't remember my exact number, but I believe I did roughly 134 credits in three semesters and so, you know, moved along relatively quick. But it was a lot of work because the areas that I didn't have experience in the curriculum really helped me in that area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great to hear, and it sounds like the competency-based model, as you've explained here, worked really well for you because with decades of experience, you were able to right. You understood so many of the concepts and principles and you were able to go fairly quickly through that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I kind of, you know, told people that coming out of high school and going into college I would have been both not interested and probably not understood the importance of strategic planning, for example.
Speaker 3:But in this part of my life, as I got into it, I see how critical strategic planning is to a large organization to be successful. So a lot of it, too, is just. I was able to be more mature when I got into this so I really could apply some of the principles, not to bore in terms of business, but in government. We sometimes lose sight of allocated costs versus marginal costs, and when you're providing services across the entire bandwidth, that approach can really be transformative in terms of how you budget and how you align your resources. But in my business world I really never thought too much the difference between allocated costs and marginal costs because I was just in the middle of running the business and so, again, that's an example where I was able to really lean into that, understand some of those economic principles and I've been able to help apply them in our philosophy as we do our budgets here in Glendale.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. Can you think of another time in your life when you decided it wasn't too late for something, either a hobby or a personal interest or something?
Speaker 3:Well, some of my golf friends may argue this, but I didn't really start playing golf until I was in my 30s, which is not a good time to pick the game up, because as we mature as adults, we quit learning by watching and we start learning by watching and we start learning by listening, and so I no longer could watch a good golf swing and replicate that. So I probably picked up golf a little bit too late in life. But I would say no, my government career. If you would have asked me when I was even 50 years old whether I would be in government, I would have chuckled, I would have said not in a million years. And so I. You know, for me, getting you know, kind of making this transition from the private sector into the, into government, was something I never envisioned as a younger person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when was the moment that you knew it wasn't too late for this, for going back to school?
Speaker 3:Because I just really enjoyed it. And I didn't necessarily enjoy college the curriculum part my first time around, but I really enjoyed it as I got into it. So I knew really early on that this was going to be something I was going to like have to waste time on things I already knew. I was able to kind of fast forward to those areas and prioritize my time on areas I needed to have better skills in and better competency in. It just worked out really well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. I want to turn the interview here to kind of some personal advice and have you share some of the wisdom. This has been fascinating I'm smiling as I'm interviewing and listening to you just the successes that you've had, and one of the joys of being in my seat here as a podcast host is getting to hear the stories and life lessons learned from our graduates, which is always very rewarding to me. So, kevin, I want to ask you one-on-one I'm coming to you for some career advice. I want you to kind of look back over your time as an entrepreneur, as a business person again, in your civic duties. Have there been maybe one or two principles or lessons that you've learned that you would want to share with me and, by extension, to our audience, that have made all the difference for you and your success?
Speaker 3:I would say there's two things I would say. First, I don't have regrets, but I would say that if I could rewind the clock, I would have understood the value of having a mentor in my life. When I was in my 20s and 30s I really didn't understand that principle of being next to somebody who's been down that road, somebody that maybe was 10 or 15 years older than myself, who was willing to kind of help, guide me and share life experiences. I didn't understand that until I was well into my 40s, and those relationships and the mentors that I've had, I've been blessed to have, in my life, were transformative for my career trajectory. And so I would say advice one is that start early. Most executives, most people with lots of experience, most people in a position of authority or responsibility, are generally very glad to help share what they know with somebody younger, but they have to be asked. And so I would say, as a young person coming out is be bold, ask to have some mentors in your life, make it structured so it isn't just having coffee once every year, but you really get a chance to share your life and to hear what that other person's journey is. That is a multiplier effect, I think, for having success in your life.
Speaker 3:The second thing I would say is that early on in life, especially as an owner of a company, I was really focused on kind of the technical skills of running a business and the specifics of how we do the business. And as I've gotten older, as I've gotten older, I've really come to appreciate the importance as a leader, the culture that you create within the organization, and that culture is really the differentiator between a successful organization and maybe one that's not. And so setting that tone of knowing how to treat people, how to inspire people around you, that tone of knowing how to treat people, how to inspire people around you, you know how to really to create an organizational culture that attracts people and really inspires them and empowers them to do great things, is really important. I never focused on my company culture when I was in the middle of the battle. It was about, you know, let's make sure we're meeting our revenue marks, make sure we're training people. It was always about the technical and it was very little about the people element of it. And I think if you can really get a handle on how important selecting the right people and creating the right environment as human beings, we can accomplish great things with the right environment. As human beings, we can accomplish great things with the right people.
Speaker 3:What I learned over time was I was pretty good at teaching a technical skill to somebody, so I owned a convention center. For example, we could teach a chef how to become a sous chef or how to do something in the kitchen. What I learned was that I was an adjunct failure at teaching somebody how to work hard or teaching somebody how to be respectful of the people in the organization, especially respectful of people who maybe has a life, a different journey in life or has a different life circumstances. I couldn't do that. I was a failure at that. So what I started to do is shift how I hired people, more about who, the character and the integrity of the individual, and then we had good formal training to kind of give them, equip them with the skillset, and that has been a really a powerful combination for us here in Glendale.
Speaker 1:So good, kevin, both those pieces of advice to me and again to our audience. And obviously the mentor piece is really near and dear to graduates from WGU because that mentor you know their program mentor is really instrumental in guiding and helping with the success. But you're spot on, like I think, in terms of finding a friend or finding an associate who's had the experiences that you're looking to duplicate, and so very good. And then on the culture too, that's fascinating. Well, kevin, as we conclude the interview, a couple more questions, just as we wrap. But one of them is I want to ask you what you are hoping to accomplish over the next one to two years. You kind of started out the interview. Obviously, I'm assuming that's going to be a big one with the fun resort there in Glendale. But is there something professionally that you're excited to see over the next one to two years? And maybe also on the personal side, is there something that you're looking to accomplish in the next one to two years?
Speaker 3:I think, just because of where I'm at in my career, that my next one to two years is really going to be focused on helping to do a really thoughtful transition from my role here in Glendale to the next person that will be sitting in my chair and leading the organization. And I'm fortunate that my council you know, they know that there's a clock ticking at some point. We don't have a date or a time date or a time, but what we are committed to doing is being thoughtful and making sure that the next person that sits in here it'll be a seamless fit and that they will be able to bring the skills to kind of make up for the things maybe I wasn't able to accomplish during my leadership time, and so I clearly want to need to be focused on what's the right timeline for that, when's the appropriate time to transition. It's also as part for that. When's the appropriate time to transition. It's also as part of that.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure I'm ready to retire. I've been so far been blessed with really good health and I have good energy level, and I love doing what I do. I love working with people and being around people. I love being part of an organization, doing something and making a difference. So I think the second part of that question is going to be, or answer will be I think I need to figure out what's the next thing in my life Now. Maybe it's retired in a volunteer, maybe it's retired and being a mentor.
Speaker 3:I don't know what it is, but my guess is I'll probably transition and I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't end up back in the private sector my last couple of years. Who knows? That's kind of on my forefront. And then with that, my wife obviously plays a big role. She's incredibly supportive of my career. So as we kind of march down this path, a lot of it will be. You know, she gets a little bit struggles with 110 degree temperature. So as much as I love Arizona, we may have to figure out a cooler climate and she's going to have a really big say in terms of, you know, kind of our next, our next journey.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. What's her name?
Speaker 3:Linda.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Linda I'm sure this, you could say, is a journey for the both of you right throughout your professional career. How long have you been married, if you don't mind me asking?
Speaker 3:It's just they really pay a price and I really never noticed it. But like you know, my wife, I can take criticism pretty well. It kind of comes with the territory. Your family members, man, they just, anytime there's anything that's negative, you know, they just take it to heart and it can ruin their day. And it took me a lot of years to realize that and I had to kind of let them know. Look, everything is, everything's fine, it's part of the journey. If you're not, if you're not upsetting some people, you're probably not pushing the envelope. Good enough, you know. But yeah, it's, it's. It's hard, and again recognizing you as a distinguished graduate.
Speaker 1:And we're grateful for the time and that you'd have a platform to be able to share some of the highlights of your career and some of the things on your educational journey. As we wrap the interview, what is accustomed to this podcast is I'd love to turn it over to you, so give you any final words or thoughts that you want to share as we wrap the interview.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm not sure I have terribly too many great wisdoms of thought, but I'll share just one quick antidote, and it's probably the only original thing I've ever come up with. Now, for some of the younger people watching this or listening to this podcast of the younger people watching this or listening to this podcast, you'll have to re-familiarize yourself with one aspect of this story. But I use a term called how important it is to have a one-quarter friend, and what's been successful in my life is the fact that I've had one-quarter friends in my life. Now let me define what a one-quarter friend is. Let's envision that you're in the worst predicament of your life. I'm not talking about just, you know, short of cash or whatever, need a ride home, but you're really in a predicament that could be life changing.
Speaker 3:And in the old days, when I was younger, we didn't have cell phones, but we had phone booths and they took a quarter to make a phone call. So let's say you're in this predicament and you've got a single quarter in your pocket. Who would you call? And if you call that person you say I really need your help. They wouldn't say well, you know what? I'd love to help you, kevin, but my wife and I are going on a cruise tomorrow so I can't do it.
Speaker 3:They would say, no matter what I asked for, they would say I'm there and I have been blessed to have one quarter friends in my life that I knew, even though I've never really had to use that last quarter in my pocket. Knowing that they were there really is transformative to how you can look at life. And then I would end with this I got challenged a few years ago and I asked myself do I have anybody out there who thinks I'm their one quarter friend? And I thought you know, it's kind of kind of egotistical to talk about all my one quarter friends. So I reached out to a couple of my friends and I let them know that I was going to be their one quarter friend, that no matter what they needed in their life, they know they could call me. And I think if you just build on the relationships and power that with education and opportunity, you can do great things. And so that's my only little bit of words of wisdom.
Speaker 1:The whole interview has been full of wisdom, to be honest with you, sir. But, kevin, thank you. That's got me thinking like that's a great way to conclude the interview. So again, appreciate the time, continued success and keep in touch with us. We'd love to provide updates as well and, I guess, a call out to those in this audience keep an eye on Glendale, Arizona and get out there Opening next, next December. Okay, so a year from just over a year from now, that's correct. Awesome Thanks, kevin. All right.
Speaker 4:Thank you for listening to the WGU Alumni Podcast. To learn more about the WGU alumni community, visit wguedu backslash alumni. Thank you to our alumni, now 300,000 strong and growing WGU a new kind of you.