Victoria Reeves used business skills from Southeastern to earn
Air Force Research Lab job

One month after Reeves graduated, she landed a job as a contract specialist at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. Through classes, extra-curricular activities, and her relationships with professors, the 2009 management and marketing grad discovered ways to help people improve their lives with business principles.

The research lab is dedicated to discovering, developing, and integrating military technology for America's aerospace forces. Reeves works with the lab's engineers and the companies that develop projects to navigate agreements from beginning to completion. She negotiates prices, ensures that all legal and regulatory requirements are met, and sometimes has to come to settlement agreements if contracts aren't fulfilled.

She said many of the principles and skills she learned at Southeastern have paid dividends early in her career at the lab. Business communication has proven to be the most beneficial to Reeves so far, with much of her job requiring her to communicate effectively with clients and co-workers. In her business communication class she learned the proper structure of official memos and letters, as well as strategies to help connect with different audiences. The course - taught by Assistant Business Professor Beth Leslie - has helped Reeves maintain a positive customer service attitude and a professional tone in all her electronic communications and phone conversations.

"I deal with some demanding customers," said Reeves, who has managed contracts worth up to $13 million.

The lab's engineers need updates on the proposal process, contractors have to be monitored to ensure projects are on schedule and on budget, and any changes in the project need to be clearly communicated to all parties.

Reeves has put her knowledge from accounting classes to work, as well. Before a project can begin, the lab's engineers create a specification list of what they need and ask companies to submit proposals. Reeves sifts through the proposals to try to find the best fit, not only for the engineers' requirements but also for the taxpayer.

She compares labor rates, travel needs, material and equipment costs, and other expenses and does market research to see if the costs are reasonable. She gives the information to the engineers, who make a decision on the best proposal, and then Reeves becomes a negotiator to get the best deal she can. The goal is to find the most efficient proposal that meets the engineers' requirements.

"Our real customer is the soldier, making sure we can provide what they need," she said.

Reeves also credits her Business Law I and II classes under Timothy Welch, associate professor of legal studies, for giving her an edge. Much of Reeves' work involves wading through government regulations and interpreting laws such as property rights or data rights, all of which she studied under Welch. If a project runs out of funding, Reeves can use legal means to reach a no-cost settlement with the client and avoid a termination of the deal. The contract law concepts she studied at Southeastern helped her quickly feel comfortable working through settlements.

She has managed information requests under the Freedom of Information Act, which requires the government to release documents to the public or news organizations when asked. She has to balance the need to redact some sensitive information with the spirit of the law to provide transparency.

Reeves, who was introduced to Southeastern by her youth pastor in Warner Robins, Georgia, when her family lived there, was heavily involved in campus groups such as women's ministry and student government. One group in particular, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), was instrumental in helping her to see how she could help those in need. The group encourages members to live out the quote, "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime."

"I firmly believe that's true," she said. "So often in church settings we may give money and donate, but it's much more effective to actually equip people to be independent in the future."

One of Reeves' favorite parts of her job is working with small business owners who aren't familiar with all the rules associated with government contracts. She enjoys taking the time to walk them through the process and being their contact person when they have questions once the contract is signed.

In addition to her contract work, Reeves also enjoys volunteering with her organization's community service group geared toward the military and local community at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The group won a base-wide award in 2011 for the impact it has had.

Reeves is proud to continue her family's tradition of serving the military, as her mom has worked for more than 30 years as a civilian in the Air Force. Her parents moved to Ohio when Reeves was a junior in college, and it was actually a tip from them that helped her land the job at the research lab. They had seen advertisements for summer internships at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and she applied. Reeves' parents helped her discover the job opportunity, but her education at Southeastern allowed her to shine.

In addition to preparing her for her job, Reeves credited Southeastern for giving her the foundation to pursue a master's degree. She will graduate from the MBA program at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, in the summer of 2011 and said much of the work has simply been a refresher from what she studied at Southeastern. She also has been comfortable working with the many international students in her MBA classes thanks to the diverse student body at Southeastern. By the time she graduated from SEU, Reeves had roommates from Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, she said.

While at Southeastern, Reeves also appreciated the close relationships she built with engaging, caring faculty members. She recalled being out of class one week because she was ill, and her professors e-mailed her throughout the week to ask how she was doing and let her know they were praying for her.

"That just doesn't happen at other places," she said.

Reeves is grateful for the opportunity to have been involved in so many things at Southeastern and gain valuable wisdom. It's that variety of experiences and relationships that made the university stand out to her and put her in position to start her career successfully.