Distinguished Alumnus Richard Snead
The connection between a degree in engineering and a career in the hospitality industry may not seem immediately obvious to some people, but for Richard Snead, it's all in a day's work.
Snead, who received his bachelor of science in industrial engineering from UT Knoxville in 1973, is president and CEO of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide (CRW), the parent company of T.G.I. Friday's® and Pick Up Stix® restaurants. Carlson has about 800 restaurants in 60 countries.
The Miami, Florida, native decided in high school that he wanted a career in engineering but didn't want to attend a university in Florida. Instead he considered Georgia Tech and Auburn before finally choosing UT.
"I had a good feeling about the campus and the engineering college," he says. "It was a nice balance between a small-town atmosphere and a big-city ambiance."
He says he enjoyed his years at UT, but the coursework was no picnic. "The engineering classes were tough--there's no other word to describe it," Snead recalls. But he pledged Sigma Chi fraternity and found time to enjoy campus life.
"One of the valuable things I learned in college was how to balance the discipline required for classes with having fun."
Snead has fond memories of UTK Chancellor Emeritus Bill Snyder, who was a professor of engineering at the time. "Bill Snyder was an awesome professor," Snead says. "He really cared about the students. You could tell that right away."
After getting his degree, Snead returned to Miami as an engineer with a construction company. He worked his way up to project manager, where his primary area of responsibility was constructing buildings for the restaurant industry. One of his major clients was the Burger King Corporation.
The fast-food company offered Snead a job as manager of its building program, and he eventually branched out into Burger King's operations and marketing divisions. In his 15 years at Burger King, Snead advanced to executive vice-president of operations and later to president of the international division. His next career stop was as senior vice-president of store operations and retail development for the Casual Corner Group Inc., where he was responsible for more than a thousand retail stores with annual sales greater than $1 billion and more than 12,000 employees. Following his stint with Casual Corner, he went to Lenscrafters as the president of new-business development and head of international business.
CRW recruited him in 1997 to be the president of its international division, and under his leadership the company added restaurants in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and Europe. His performance led to his promotion to the position of president and CEO.
The T.G.I. Friday's chain is undergoing a revitalization that began in 2003 and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2006. Snead is directing these efforts, which include redesigning restaurant interiors and exteriors; changing the music formats, uniforms, menu selections and layout; and embarking on a new employee training program. Since he got involved, T.G.I. Friday's USA has regained a leading position in the casual dining restaurant category in sales growth and average unit volume.
Last fall Snead received the food industry's highest honor when the Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators named him "Operator of the Year." He also recently received a Carlson Fellows award for innovation, and he was a finalist in the American Business Awards category of highest-achieving executive/CEO in a U.S. retail business.
Snead says his work is a continuous balancing act. "It's all about strategy, people and motivation. We live in an age of contradictions where we must constantly balance opposing issues and thoughts. You have to manage short-term results with long-term growth objectives. It's vitally important today to create a great place to work and to find the right people for the right place -- these are the biggest challenges of my job."
How does this engineering graduate use his skills in the food industry?
"You must have balance in what you are doing," he says. "Discipline is part of it, and learning how to think, how to process information -- that's one of the best things you take out of engineering school. Engineering teaches you how to 'begin with the end in mind.' To envision your objective, you must work backward to solve for that outcome. Engineers are 'visionaries' of sorts and work toward a predetermined end goal. You also need to be a catalyst to pull people together to work as a team."
Snead keeps up a close relationship with UT as a member of the College of Engineering's Board of Advisors. He's a former advisor for the Restaurant and Food Service Management Program in the UT Department of Consumer Services Management and served as an executive committee member for the former College of Human Ecology (now part of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences).
Snead lives with his wife, Marilyn, in Dallas. Both of his sons, Adam and Eric, attended UT. Eric graduated in 2004 and Adam received his degree in 2002. Snead's niece Alison is a junior on the Hill, majoring in English.
Snead spoke at the College of Engineering's 2005 commencement ceremony in May and says he was excited about returning to his alma mater.
"UT has had a huge influence on me," he says. "Everything that goes out about me from my company, every press release or article, always states that I am a University of Tennessee graduate. No question about it."