Northwest Arkansas Business Journal 2009 Fast 15: Spencer Baird

Spencer Baird, 31
Director Of Category Management
The Dannon Co., Bentonville

Claim to Fame: Closed a $100,000 sale in a face-to-face meeting with a client, helping his company convert to field sales.

Next Step: Wants to run an organization and be the chairman.

A native of Morristown, N. J., Spencer Baird spent most of his formative years in Lynchburg, Va. When it was time for college, Baird struck out for Virginia Wesleyan College mostly so he could play basketball, with the school’s Division III team.

He wrote a column for the school paper, called the Grizzly Baird Report, and interned his senior year for Management Venture Inc., a retail and supplier research consulting firm with offices in Virginia Beach. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2000.

During the internship, Baird said he found he could connect with “the sales guys” that worked at the likes of Dr Pepper/7Up and H.J. Heinz Co., plus he liked the work.

Baird was able to convince his first boss at MVI that he needed to fly to Dallas to close a deal. At the time, MVI was an over-the-phone operation only.

Baird made a deal with the man; he would pay for the plane ticket and hotel if he didn’t land the deal.

The trip ended up being expensed and MVI started the conversion to field sales.

He moved to Northwest Arkansas in 2001 to work with the H.J. Heinz Co.’s office as a supplier to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. He was a business analyst and was soon promoted to senior business analyst.

In 2004 Baird joined The Dannon Co., which is part of The Danone Group, based in France. His first role there was as senior category manager and he has held the position of both senior manager, corporate category management and as senior customer business manager for Sam’s Club before being promoted to his current role in June 2008.

“I feel like I’m in a world where we ask very good questions and we have a rich data-based environment,” he said of Dannon. “I love to ask questions that are tied to financially significant answers.”

Baird said what he counts as his greatest career achivement so far isn’t how quickly he’s ascended the ladder, “I think I seriously feel like I’ve worked next to my closest friends,” he said. “It’s like when the weekend rolls around and you call a co-worker and you realize it’s like you’re talking with a family member.” Those are the real connections and real realationships that count the most, Baird said.

(RELATED: Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 15 Young Pros on the Fast Track)