Sears Roebuck & Co's Mark Almanza Continues a Tradition of Innovation and Leadership

There's one American-born company that is the epitome of the American businessman's dream. The company that was born during the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century matured through the Great Depression and WWII. At 114 years old, the company is neither retired nor dead.

Sears History

In 1886 Richard Sears was an agent of the Minneapolis and St. Louis railway station in North Redwood, Minnesota. When he received a shipment of watches - unwanted by a neighboring Redwood Falls jeweler - he purchased them himself, and sold the watches at a nice profit to other station agents up and down the line, and then ordered more for resale. That same year Sears began the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis. The following year, Sears moved his business to Chicago and bought a classified ad in the Chicago Daily News. A young man from Indiana, Alvah C. Roebuck, answered the ad. He told Sears he knew watches and brought a sample of his work to prove it. Sears hired him. Here began the association of two young men, both still in their 20s, that was to make their names famous. In 1893 the corporate name of the firm became Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears Today

In 1995, Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s corporate headquarters moved from Sears Tower to a 200-acre campus 18 miles west of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The low- rise, six-building complex, located in Hoffman Estates' Prairie Stone Office Park, has served as the headquarters for the corporation's Sears Merchandise Group since 1992.

At the close of its 1998 fiscal year, Sears operated more than 840 department stores, mostly located in the nation's malls and regional shopping centers.

Mark Almanza Sears Sales Manager

If you shop at the Sears store at the Collin Creek Mall in Plano, Texas, and happen to be in the sporting goods, hardware, tools, plumbing, or lawn & garden departments, chances are good that you'll run into Mark Almanza. A three-year veteran of the company, Almanza graduated from St. Mary's University in San Antonio and also is an alumnus of Sears University. Maybe you've never heard of "Sears University" and that's okay. It's more exclusive than Harvard. You can't be admitted to Sears University if you're not a Sears associate.

Sears University was established in 1994 as a critical component of Sears organizational transformation. It offers an integrated selection of formal education programs and self-study options designed to help Sears managers at all levels develop their skills and become change agents. In its first year of operation, approximately 10,000 managers participated in formal programs ranging from one day to one week in length. In addition, nearly 4,000 self-study programs are completed each month.

Almanza supervises 40 employees and manages $8 million in annual sales. "What I like most about my job is the autonomy I have. I'm trusted to be creative and do what's best for the company." The upper management at Sears must really like what Almanza does because he was promoted from the Irving store where he handled $4 million in annual sales to the larger Plano store just little more than one year ago. Not bad for a 25-year-old! Almanza has an older brother and is married to "a beautiful Creole" named Doniele. They don't have any children yet, "but we do have a chihuahua and a turtle," Almanza adds with a laugh. "You've got to start somewhere."

As for advice, Almanza says, "Everything in life is an opportunity and a learning experience; if you don't take advantage of them, you'll be one step behind the competition. Life is what you make of it." Just remember what Richard Sears did with a few unwanted watches.

Want Sears to be part of your career adventure? Send your resume to: Sears, University Relations SH999, Bldg. E2-113B, 3333 Beverly Road, Hoffman Estates, IL 60179.

You can visit the Sears website at www.sears.com