Just do it... at Kelley

How would you like to work at one of the most successful, innovative companies in the world, whose perks for employees include access to world-class fitness facilities and visits by superstars like LeBron James? And how would you like to have your own vineyard on the side?

Louis Jordan, CFO of global retail and digital commerce at Nike and a budding vintner, has two good gigs. And he knows it.

“Working at Nike is a kick, there's no doubt about that,” he says. “It's one of the most irreverent and easygoing places that I've ever been, while at the same time being intensely serious and committed, both to athletes and expanding the value of the company.”

Expanding Nike's value is one of Jordan's chief goals. Nike's revenue, which exceeded $18 billion in the 2008 fiscal year, included sales from the nearly 400 stores Nike owns worldwide and the company's e-commerce businesses in North America, Europe, and Asia. Working with the heads of global retail and digital commerce, Jordan helps these businesses become more profitable by measuring their performance and evaluating opportunities for growth.

“Once you get to a certain level in finance, if you have an opportunity to work with the business heads and feel that you're contributing to the overall growth of the business, that's when it really gets to be fun,” he says.

Jordan came to Kelley with little, if any finance knowledge. A history and sociology major as an undergraduate, he was one year into a PhD program in history when he realized he didn't want to become a professor. After receiving his Master of Arts from Brown University, he decided to get an MBA. He applied to three schools, and chose Kelley because he wanted a top-10 education and he received a full fellowship through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Kelley is one of the founding schools of the Consortium, which promotes diversity in business.

Once at Kelley, he quickly realized he enjoyed finance, his peers, and his professors. “I had a great deal of pleasure meeting people, interacting with them, learning from them, and sharing with them,” says Jordan, who shared his experiences with Kelley students as the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation's Entrepreneur-in-Residence in 2007.

He was also surprised by how many employers recruited at Kelley, and how many he met just in his first semester. “It was mind-boggling to me the amount of contact that I was having with corporations and corporate executives who would come on campus or who had seen my resume.”

“Kelley was the right school in every respect,” says Jordan, who worked for DuPont, Dun and Bradstreet, Citibank, Duracell, and Gap before joining Nike in 2003. “It's the reason I do what I do today.”

By the time he joined Nike, his vineyard, Tympany Five, was underway. A longtime wine connoisseur—his collection includes more than 150 cases—Jordan purchased property in Alexander Valley in Sonoma County, California, and planted his vines in 2002. He's looking forward to the release of the first vintage, a 2006 field blend of the five principal Bordeaux grapes, in late 2008, but he doesn't expect his vineyard to yield big-time revenue.

“It's not about how much money I make,” Jordan says. “This is a product that hopefully I can produce and be proud of, and share with others. I'm not looking to be a Nike, but I will be very happy if someday Wine Spectator or the Wine Advocate thinks highly enough of the wine to give it a comment or two.”

In Brief

“Pride and joy” of his wine collection: A case of 1989 Mouton Rothschild. Currently priced at more than $350 per bottle, “It's certainly the most expensive case per bottle I have. It's in the original crate and has been in the cellar since its release in the early '90s.”

The Wizard of Oz: Owns a bat that was given to him and signed by Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith.

Running man: An avid runner for more than 20 years, Jordan has run more than 10 marathons and countless half-marathons, 10Ks, and 5Ks.

The right name for Nike: “People have asked me if I'm related to Michael. I'm not. It would be nice,” Jordan says, laughing.

Related News

Louis Jordan joined Starbucks Coffee Co. on Monday (Feb. 23) as senior vice president-global finance. Read the full press release: Kelley School of Business to honor six IU alumni on March 11 in Indianapolis