Tenure & Professional Accomplishments:  Mike's career at FedEx spans over 10 years. He was hired in June 1997 as Senior Marketing Analyst and is now a Director.

Mike has been a Director of Global Marketing at FedEx Services at the World Technology Center in Collierville, TN for the past 6 1/2 years. His latest professional achievement is that over the past 2 years, he has directed a $3 billion Customer Segment through Customer Automation third party partner programs and has grown segment usage by over 20% year over year, including more than $100 million in annual incremental revenue. He has directed teams of up to 30 employees with a budget of up to $5 million.

Prior to that, Mike directed Product Development for FedEx Retail Automation including Kinko's Integration. He also directed Product Development for fedex.com, including Rating, Invoicing, and Receiving/Tracking systems.

As Marketing Manager for two years from 1999 to 2001, he managed Product Development for fedex.com, including site design and content management.

Personal Accomplishments:  Before he began his FedEx career, Mike served as Intelligence Officer for the United States Navy stationed in Norfolk, VA for 4 years and achieved the rank of Lieutenant. He received his BBA at the University of Notre Dame, graduated with honors and was awarded a Naval ROTC Full Scholarship. Mike earned his MBA in Marketing at the Crummer School of Business, Rollins College in Orlando, FL, again graduating with honors, and he is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.

Mike has been married to Kristin for 15 years and is the father of 3 "beautiful boys" (Kristin's words) ages 13, 8 and 3 1/2. His hobbies include being a passionate fan of Notre Dame football. He also loves playing golf, running and reading fiction. He somehow found time to be soccer coach for Adam and Andrew, his 2 older sons, and was a baseball coach for Andrew's team.

To show his strong community spirit, Mike co-chaired FedEx Services United Way campaigns for his Senior Vice President's organization in both 2005 and 2006. It became very evident to me that chairing the United Way campaign for FedEx is a full-time job in itself! However, my boss somehow managed to make it work.

The campaigns for both years were the most successful in company history with a record-setting $14,396,000 in corporate-wide contributions during the 2006 campaign, and launching a FedEx Cares Day, a day in which employees were encouraged to take a paid workday and perform volunteer work for any one of a variety of United Way-sponsored agencies.

A believer down to his bones in practicing what he preaches, Mike himself participated in the FedEx Cares Day by joining a volunteer group doing painting at Hope House, an agency providing child care for children affected by AIDS.

Through regular emails and at our VP's monthly Coffee Talks and Sr. VP's divisional meetings, he persistently encouraged and reminded FedEx employees of the importance of giving to United Way through performing community service work, conducting fund-raising activities at work, and making financial contributions. During the campaigns, Mike visited several different agencies, taking photos of FedEx volunteers, expressing appreciation for their work and for the agencies' efforts to help those in need in the Memphis community.

Chairing this donation drive brought out a side of my boss' personality that most FedExers had never seen. Mike really extended himself during both of these United Way campaigns.

During one memorable United Way divisional kickoff event, Mike put on boxing gloves and trunks, and staged a mock sparring event with his much-larger co-chairman to spotlight an intra-company United Way competition between FedEx VP groups. Mike's VP group won the contest both years!

In January, 2006, Mike was nominated by his co-workers and selected by executive management to receive a Global Marketing Rising Star in the area of Leadership for the superior effort he made leading the Global Marketing United Way Campaign in 2005.

Support of IAAP:  A phrase that you hear everywhere at FedEx is the "Purple Promise" which says, "I will make every FedEx experience outstanding." Mike Schween really lives up to this promise by consistently "walking the talk." For example, FedEx policy says that reimbursement for expenses which Admin Assistants incur by taking courses toward certification, purchasing books for job-related work, and attending IAAP meetings is at the discretion of the individual manager. Mike has always approved my requests for company reimbursement for both CPS and CAP exam registration fees, as well as membership fees and professional books. My IAAP-related activities are also incorporated into my personal performance objectives at work.

My boss is always quick to give public professional recognition to any member of his workgroup, including Administrative Assistants. When I received my plaque for passing the CPS exam from IAAP headquarters, I asked Mike if he would present it to me at our next Coffee Talk, a monthly gathering of our VP's workgroup. When it was time for employee recognition at Coffee Talk, Mike began by saying some very kind words. "I'd like to recognize an achievement by a person in our group whose work I already respect." The rest of his praise was a blur as he handed me the plaque that symbolized an achievement I had worked so hard to attain. Then he gave me a big hug!

The "Extras":  During my years as his Administrative Assistant, I've learned that Mike is known throughout FedEx Services as someone who can be counted on to be fair and true to his word, someone who honors the Golden Rule as consistently as he does the FedEx Purple Promise. Mike's approach to issues is usually logical and analytical, and he works to see all sides of an issue. Even if he disagrees with a person, he will do it in a very respectful way. His manner is straightforward, yet he is compassionate and caring as well. I can always look to Mike to "do the right thing."

An example of this happened a few months ago when a series of problems occurred with the women's restroom on our floor in Building 30 at the Collierville campus. We Admin Assistants had submitted repeated work orders to fix the problems without satisfactory results. Then someone pleaded with my good-natured boss to get involved. Seeing a genuine need to intervene on an issue impacting employees, Mike did step in.

For several weeks, he volleyed emails back and forth from the Properties coordinator, endured being verbally "tackled" in the hallway by concerned employees, and even earned the nickname "Maintenance Mike" (complete with a photo of his face pasted to a clip art image of a maintenance worker) until the matter was finally resolved. An employee joked with Mike that it certainly could not have been in his job description to handle this type of problem. However, Mike responded that sometimes whether or not something is in your job description, you step in and handle it because it's just the right thing to do.

Despite his very hectic schedule, Mike attended the Executive Appreciation Day breakfast with me for the first time in 2006. I would love to honor him as Executive of the Year for 2007 because, as you can see from the description above, he truly deserves it!

Submitted by:
Melissa P. Cook CPS/CAP