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Alumnae share their roads to success at KAR
Robin Leslie (T’84) doesn’t think of herself as a trailblazer. But when she enrolled in computer information technology at Purdue, the department was in its infancy. She was one of few women in the major — and one of few students of color.
“It was a new field,” Leslie says. “Not very many people looked like me. I just focused on my work and what I needed to learn. I knew I wanted to work in information technology (IT) for the rest of my life.”
She was attracted to the major because of its integration of business and technology. Along with programming classes, Leslie also took accounting, management, and public speaking, which prepared her to work in a corporate environment. Her career began at Honeywell in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she worked for 10 years as a programmer analyst. In the 25 years since, she’s worked in other large organizations, such as Eli Lilly and Cummins.
About two years ago, Leslie accepted a role as manager of master data management at KAR Global, a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, with a worldwide workforce of more than 15,000. In her role, Leslie leads a team that ensures the quality of customer data across KAR’s global marketplace.
“I’ve been in data management for the last 20 years of my career,” Leslie says. “I have a passion for data and making sure it’s quality data.” She values her role as a manager, too. “I love developing other people. My philosophy is, ‘Take care of your people, and they will take care of you.’ As a servant leader, I focus on removing barriers so that my people can do their jobs.”
Changing Lanes
Nicole Davis (M’10) imagined she’d get her CPA upon graduation and go into auditing, but her career took a different course. She accepted an accounts receivable position at Simon Malls and quickly discovered that she wasn’t passionate about accounting. She worked her way up into the data analytics department, where she taught herself Cognos and realized she loved working with data. She’s now a data analyst at KAR.
“I’m now working on the IT side instead of the business side, which has been an interesting transition coming from an accounting background, but it’s been great,” Davis says. “Half of what you need to do to be successful is just be willing to learn. I like to be challenged. I’ve worked at KAR for two years, and I’m still learning new things every day.”
At KAR, Davis is motivated to build her skill set because she feels the company is willing to invest in her. Since joining the KAR team, she’s become the office expert in Tableau, a program she’d never used before.
“My department encourages me to join user groups where I can network and learn from others and bring that knowledge back to implement it in my daily work,” Davis says. “I appreciate the freedom to seek new, innovative solutions.”
A first-generation college student, Davis credits an internal drive instilled by her grandparents for her self-actualizing mentality.
“My grandparents would always tell me: ‘Do it right the first time, or don’t do it at all. If you do something wrong, you’ll just end up redoing it,’” she says. “When I was at Krannert, I had a vision of my future where one day I would be sitting in an office somewhere, and I wanted to be proud of what I did and how I got there. If I didn’t have that internal drive, I’d probably still be sitting in that first entry level position in accounts receivable.”
Her advice to others who are contemplating a career switch? “You can do it,” Davis says. “Absolutely. Just having the willingness to learn and the passion behind what you want to do is enough. And make sure you surround yourself with people who support you.”
Learn more about KAR Global or Business Membership with the Purdue Alumni Association.