Making the World a Better Place: Interview with Good360 CEO
As a world traveler, Good360 CEO Romaine Seguin saw how some of it is not as bright as it could be. Her nonprofit leverages logistics to make it better one step at a time, impacting more than 22 million people in 2022.
Romaine Seguin is chief executive officer of Good360, a global leader in product philanthropy and purposeful giving.
Responsibilities: The overall success of Good360: employee engagement, donor relationships, and understanding our nonprofit network so we can impact lives, close the need gap, and open opportunity for all.
Experience: President, Global Freight Forwarding, UPS Supply Chain Solutions; President, UPS International, Americas Region; Chief Operating Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa, UPS; VP, Minnesota, UPS
Education: MBA, Webster University; B.A., marketing management, William Woods University
I remember closing our UPS office on March 20, 2020, when the pandemic started. At the time, I thought, ‘This will sort itself out. The world will be all right.’
Then, FEMA called and said, ‘We need your best and brightest.’ We all knew frontline workers and none of them had personal protective equipment (PPE). My sister was a nurse at a major hospital and had to wash her mask for three weeks until PPE started moving.
That’s when I knew our role was about saving lives. UPS moved freighters of PPE around the world.
We could hardly catch our breaths and then the vaccines started rolling out. UPS was instrumental in moving them in the United States and around the world.
At that point, I had been with UPS for 38 years. Managing a large team through the pandemic set me up to pivot. When I received a call from Good360 to join, I’m so glad I did.
Good360 is the logistics arm for those with products to donate, and we move products to vetted nonprofits. In 2022, we impacted more than 22 million lives.
From Teaching to Supply Chain
When I graduated from college, I thought I’d go into teaching. Then I answered an ad and started unloading trucks with UPS.
The company found out I had a master’s degree and wanted me to move into management. I told them I liked what I was doing. They said, ‘You can continue to do that, but you’re going to teach and hold people accountable.’
Professionally and personally, moving into management was the best decision I made. My career accelerated. I had only been with the company five years when I moved to Europe.
When I transferred from a finance role in London I moved back into operations in Louisville, Kentucky. I love the challenge of supply chain management. You have to put the pieces together, and you know you can do it in a more efficient way, a more sustainable way, or a more community-minded way.
I was fortunate to travel the world, and I saw how some of it is not as bright as you want it to be. I’m trying to make it better one step at a time.
I spent time in Nigeria, where 297 young women were abducted from Chibok Government Secondary School for Girls in 2014. It broke my heart. I researched how, when goods cross borders, armies don’t. If the country had a formal economy, the women would have still been in school and the young men would have made different choices.
I created a TED Talk on this subject. The fact-checkers go over everything about 150 times, and you have to know the speech cold when you go on stage. I had to rehearse to different groups. I’d walk in a park and ask people if they would mind listening to my talk. But the toughest audience were my family and friends. The talk challenged me in different ways, but I’m glad I did it.
When I moved to Good360, I went from 17,000 to 70 employees, including 50 young enough to technically be my children. It’s my responsibility to make sure they have a great experience. For most of them, this is their first step on their professional journey.
I have been so fortunate. At this point in my life, it’s about giving back.
Romaine Seguin Answers the Big Questions
1. What activity helps you with supply chain or management?
At the gym each morning, I pound out a 5K on the treadmill. I get my best thoughts there and then feel like I can conquer the world.
2. If you could attend any event in the world, what would you choose?
A Women’s World Cup game. They’re so exciting and I love supporting women’s sports.
3. Who is your hero?
My college English professor, Dr. Florence Krause. I went to college on a softball athletic scholarship. She would come to my games, and ask why she didn’t see me in English classes. I told her English was my toughest subject. She said, ‘That’s why you need to do it.’ I ended up minoring in English. It brought down my GPA, but it taught me to put myself in places where I’m uncomfortable.