Ready for Retirement

After 30 years, today is my last day as a Frito-Lay employee.  While I'll admit to having a huge knot in my stomach, I believe that when one door closes, another one opens -- and I'm ready to embrace the uncertainty of what's on the other side of that door.

Two weeks ago, the Marketing department gave me a wonderful send-off, which my colleagues in Marketing, our Executive Committee, my dear friends who have retired from Frito-Lay, my wife, Janis, our children, son-in-law and grandchildren attended.  It was a memorable evening for me, and my boss and our Chief Marketing Officer, Jaya Kumar, and Frito-Lay's CEO, Al Carey, were very gracious in their comments.  Plus, our daughter, Kristen, brought the house to tears with her loving tribute.   

Then it was my turn to take the floor, and I started by telling everyone why I loved working at Frito-Lay -- the reasons that kept me here for 30 years -- and the same reasons I give to people considering Frito-Lay for their careers:

• I respect and like the people that I work with.
• Since you end up spending more time during the week with people at work than with your family (unfortunately), I’m glad that Frito-Lay is a very embracing culture full of incredible people. Their work ethics, results-orientated personalities, positive outlooks, values and senses of humor are incomparable.

I was excited about the job I went to do, everyday. 

I think it’s important to get up each day and be thinking about the day ahead at work, anxious to get started.  I have been fortunate at Frito-Lay to have a series of different jobs that challenged me, allowed me to grow and genuinely excited me almost every morning.

When I did a great job, I had the opportunity to advance. 

The potential for advancement has a lot to do with the industry you are in, the overall success of your company and your personal results and contributions.  Fortunately for me, Frito-Lay has continued to grow and prosper during my career here, which has helped open advancement opportunities as I’ve grown and gained critical experiences.

So, that's why I've been with Frito-Lay for 30 years.  And to set the stage for seeing what's on the other side of my new door, I've set three goals for myself in retirement.

First, maintain both physical and mental health.  I’ll continue my healthy diet and exercise -- I bike quite a bit now.  To stay mentally sharp, I’ll keep reading and will still be the Snack Chat Chief Blogger.  I’ll also continue amateur photography. (I took the picture on the left and “Photoshopped” it.)

Second, spend more time with family and friends.  It’s most important that I continue to build my wonderful marriage with Janis, my wife of 34 years.  We're looking forward to traveling together and with friends.  We're also blessed with four children, their spouses and four grandsons -- our youngest grandson was just born this month (David Philips the VI, yep, the VI).

Third, give back to the community.  For the last year, I have been on the Brand Leadership Council at the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and I plan to expand my volunteer activities with them.  I've always enjoyed helping with start-up advocacy programs at Frito-Lay, and I know I’ll enjoy helping the United Way launch new initiatives too.

I'm sure not everything will happen in retirement exactly the way I've planned.  But I'm ready to embrace the uncertainty of my new life after Frito-Lay.  So open the door, I’m ready to see the other side. 

Comments

[Paul Campbell]

Dave, welcome to retirement. I enjoyed working with you "way back when". I remember the system you brought to us in Product Supply that would help organize and approve business proposals. I said I didn't want it but it sure made life easier for us. After that, anything you brought to us was OK with me. Have fun in retirement. You deserve it.

[Chief Blogger]

Hi Paul: Thanks for the kind words. I'm just starting to get the hang of retirement, and everyone tells me it will take awhile before it really sinks in. I think my wife Janis is having the hardest time adjusting -- she is a bit surprised to see me around the house during the day. You'll be glad to know that as I left Frito-Lay, Product Supply was still doing a perfect job in rolling-out our new products to Manufacturing.

[Andress Koenning]

Congratulations, Dave!

[Ted Tamburo]

Dave:

Congratulations on your retirement.
I greatly enjoyed working with you on the various new packaging projects in 2008 and wish I had the chance to do so much earlier.

I wish you a healthy, happy and fun retirement... I will continue to read your blog and think warm wishes.