Patricia Reynolds, CEO of Splash Technologies, is a business powerhouse, having seen a 7% profit increase for her company in the last quarter alone. And as the only woman at her branch, Reynolds is also in charge of planning Stuart’s birthday in the break room next week.
When asked for comment, Stuart himself offered, “Oh, she’s a total mom – she loves it.”
Reynolds boasts an impressive resume: She has increased the size of her company by 20% in the eight months she’s been at the helm, increased efficiency in every department, and mastered a cream cheese frosting that really makes her red velvet cupcakes sing. When cupcakes materialized in the kitchenette last week, everyone was left thinking, “Wow I forgot Doug turned 48 over the weekend. Thank God for Patty.”
Formerly a Vice President of Innovative Strategies at a competing brand, Reynolds made the switch when she felt secure enough in her experience level to take the risk. Her tenacity did not go unrewarded: This innovative leader is universally beloved by her employees.
“Patty’s the best boss I’ve had in my career,” says VP of Distribution David Dirk, “She does this one kind — on the outside it just looks like plain vanilla, but then you bite in and there’s raspberry jelly on the inside. It’s like, Pow!”
Last week in a meeting that also happened to fall on George’s 50th birthday, attendees congratulated Patty on the sugar-free cupcakes she’d made to accommodate George’s Type 2 diabetes. Then, as Reynolds was about to call the meeting to order, Dirk asked her to take notes.
“I just see her out of the corner of my eye, and think, ‘Secretary,’ he explained. “Happens to all of us.”
At this point in the interview, a dozen balding heads popped out of cubicles and nodded to punctuate his point.
Reynolds, who is definitely old enough to have kids, insisted, “I’m not a mom, and I don’t enjoy baking. They all threaten to strike if I don’t keep up this tedious tradition, and our bottom line simply cannot withstand that, so I keep doing the birthday cupcakes.”
The logical concern that follows is how the office will celebrate when Reynolds’s own birthday rounds the corner, as she is the only company member qualified to shoulder the responsibility of cupcake prep. But the company has engineered an elegant solution to this quandary: On January 8th, the Board of Directors will gift Patricia Reynolds a brand new apron as an encouraging reminder to keep up the good work.
