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Business graduate’s initiative bears fruit for local nursery.

A nursery may not be the first workplace that comes to the mind of a graduating finance major seeking employment. However, it turned out to afford the perfect opportunity for Ryan McFarland (BBA ’07).

Ryan McFarland

In truth, McFarland does not work for a small operation. He is a financial analyst at Costa Farms, one of the largest plant growers in the nation with more than 2,400 employees and 2007 sales estimated at $200 million. A chief supplier of foliage and floral products to Lowe’s, the company also serves retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

In addition, McFarland is anything but an average employee in his first year on the job. Recently, he developed the “space to sales ratio,” a metric used to gauge product performance in retail stores and position inventory to maximize profits.

“I developed the metric using financial concepts related to stock market indicators I learned from Deanne Butchey (PhD ’05), instructor, Department of Finance and Real Estate,” McFarland said. “It was fascinating to see them applied in such a different context.”

McFarland’s efforts so impressed his bosses that they invited him to meet with Lowe’s executives and pitch his innovations as part of an annual product line review. An added bonus involved flying to the meeting on Costa’s private jet, a one-of-a-kind opportunity that McFarland described as “unbelievable.”

His ideas resonated with Lowe’s and are being incorporated into several analytical processes used to optimize the firm’s business. For example, the tool enables Costa to engage in “real-time replenishment,” or RTR, of Lowe’s plant and foliage inventories using real-time data.

Undergraduate work proved crucial to fast-achieved success.

McFarland said the demands of his undergraduate program helped cultivate his ability to take the initiative.

“Being in the Honors College pushed me to excel, and the undergraduate research component helped me develop invaluable analytical and project management skills,” he said.

In particular, he acknowledges the roles that Butchey and Irma T. de Alonso, professor, Economics Department, played in his college achievements and subsequent career success.

Clearly, McFarland is well on his way to distinguishing himself in the world of business, much as he did in school, where he earned a full academic scholarship and graduated at the top of his class with a 4.0 GPA.

“My degree helped me get a job that I love and one that offers a lot of potential for developing my intellect,” McFarland said. “What could be better than that?”