Names graduated from Marquette in 1994 with a degree in economics and received his MBA here in 1999.,”

There are connections between being a Marquette alum and making a small business efficient, says Steven Names, chief financial officer of Sendik's Food Markets.

Names graduated from Marquette in 1994 with a degree in economics and received his MBA here in 1999.

Three years ago, Names began working for Sendik's Food Market, which had one grocery store at the time. His job was to set up an entire finance structure that would allow the company to expand. There are currently four Sendik's in the Milwaukee area, and the company announced a fifth store will be built in Franklin.

Much of what he does for Sendik's now is electronic, which according to Names is much easier.

"We used to write maybe 3,000 checks to vendors a month but now are writing only about 100," he said.

Names said he can also monitor each store to tell what it needs and how much it has sold.

The hard work of Names and his associates seem to have paid off for Sendik's.

"We had about $20 million a year in revenue coming in when I started," he said. "We will be well over $100 million this year."

The finance structure of Sendik's is also set up so the company can easily add more stores. Grocery stores with the Sendik's label on them are actually owned by four different companies around the Milwaukee area. Names works for the largest, named Sendik's Food Markets. The company owns grocery stores in Wauwatosa, Mequon and Grafton, with the corporate office at its store in Whitefish Bay.

Names said he believes the close interaction with professors at Marquette was a beneficial part of the learning process.

"The professors talked to the class in economics," he said.

He said the versatility of his economics major allows to pursue a wide variety of professions.

"I think an economics degree is the best you can get," Names said. "You can kind of do anything with the degree."

Names worked as auditor for Wells Fargo and as a credit manager for U.S. Bank after college and said those experiences were limiting compared with what he does now.

"I worked for these huge companies and played a small part in the system," he said. "Here (at Sendik's) if you want to make a change you do it, but there you could never easily make changes."

In his three years at Sendik's, Names seems to have made an impression.

"He is always willing to try new things and open to new ways of doing things," said coworker Helen Nett. "He listens to people's requests and tries to get what they want done."

Names said the administration at Sendik's is organizationally flat. Because there is no chain of command, the administration is very flexible.

"It is a dynamic environment where we can change on the fly," he said. "I can just walk into the owner's office and say what needs to be done."

The corporate office of Sendik's indeed presents an alternative to the typical cubicle-filled corporate system. There are no cubicles; the several desks in the room have no barriers to communication and the room sports an informal décor. Adjacent to the office there is a large kitchen with plush leather seats and a large table for meetings.

Names is now a director on the Marquette University Business Administration Alumni Association Board, where he tries to get more alumni involved at Marquette.

"Marquette has a good reputation but I think the alumni base needs to become stronger," he said. "Many alumni would be interested in becoming more involved; they just need someone to reach out to them."

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