From Classrooms to Boardrooms

“What motivates me, puts a spring in my walk, gets me up in the morning is my career,” she said, adding that she has incorporated all she has learned in the past 20-plus years into her company.

She has come a very long way from her early teaching days. Motivated by her love of children, she focused early on an academic career. Ultimately, her restless, risk-taking side drove her to high-speed pursuits on the track and in the boardroom.

The Classroom Calls.

After graduating from Taylor University, she earned her graduate degree from Butler University and a post-graduate degree from Indiana University. When she moved to Florida 25 years ago from Kokomo, Ind., she pursued her educational career with typical drive and restlessness. Starting in the classroom in Collier County, Hueston moved onto an administrative position as Assistant Director of Plant and Planning where she oversaw the massive new school construction that accompanied Naples’ boom. As she puts it, “In the morning I’d wear a suit and in the afternoon I’d change into boots, slacks and a hardhat.”

After several years she moved to the principal’s job at Poinciana Elementary School. She took on the challenge of improving a troubled school that had suffered as its student numbers had rapidly tripled. After four years, satisfied that the school was running smoothly, she was ready for a new challenge.

The Corporate World Beckons

“I had a path that would eventually lead me to a superintendent’s position,” she said. However, a deep-seeded desire and the tendency as a risk-taker surfaced. Hueston describes a “topping out” of the challenge of education, despite her love of children, and needed something else. So when she was approached by the CEO of the Barron Collier Companies, she was intrigued enough to take a chance on the corporate world. Describing her initial four month experience monitoring numerous business units, she was shocked by the difference between her academic life and private industry, “What an eye opener!” as she puts it.

The permanent job she was offered involved what she believed the least promising business unit. Undaunted, she took a chance, building a successful team and a successful business.

Hueston spent twelve years as president of International Automated Energy Systems, Inc., a Naples-based subsidiary of Barron Collier Companies. During her tenure, the company grew from what was essentially an R& D effort with three employees to a 150 person national enterprise. IAES provided leading edge solutions to the problem of controlling fleet operating expenses. When fully implemented, the credit card-like system would inform fleet operators of the whereabouts and spending behavior of their far-flung drivers.

IAES’s business model required solving a tricky chicken and egg problem. Hueston and her colleagues first needed to convince fleet operators like UPS and FedEx to use a specialized credit card that offered customized online reporting. Simultaneously, they needed to persuade major oil industry players such as Exxon to accept the cards at their outlets. Ultimately, Visa was also brought on board to supply a specialized ‘Visa USA Access’ card. Once all of this had been accomplished, the Barron Collier Companies were able to sell the thriving enterprise to another major player in the industry.

All of this is easier to describe than it was to achieve. Hueston offers an example of the world in which she operated: “We had been trying to break into the major oil companies, and I finally got a meeting with Exxon, which was scheduled two months out,” she said. “I was assured it was myself and their top executive. When I got there, I was taken to a large conference room, and then a group of about 25 people filed in for the meeting. I asked his assistant if I was in the right room, and she told me I was.”

During that meeting, Hueston completed her presentation. Exxon’s IT executives then peppered her with technical questions. In response, Hueston simply got her IT experts on a conference call to address Exxon’s questions. “We ended up getting the deal,” she smiled.

That experience reinforced Hueston’s philosophy on success in the professional world: Surround yourself with qualified professionals and work as a team. “You can’t succeed by being an island,” she said.

And, Finally, Business Owner

During her IAES days, Hueston loved the process of identifying individual skill sets and fitting the right people with the right positions. She was simultaneously frustrated by the lack of consulting firms that could help her identify just the right candidates for the dozens of diverse positions available as IAES grew.

This combined love and frustration was the basis for the creation of Corporate Dimensions. The company’s mission is simple and intuitive: To match the right professionals with the right companies.

As Hueston sees it, “CDI is the common ground where the two sides can meet. Our client companies come to us for help in filling positions. Candidates come to us for help in finding positions. It’s a commonsense solution to the tough problem of hiring.” Hueston believes there is more to CDI than simply finding people jobs. “We look at the whole picture. We work with professionals whose careers may need retooling, taken to the next level or jump-started. I look beyond their resume to see the type of person they are, their management style, how they work under pressure, what their goals are and what soft issues are important to them.

Filling a universal business need uniquely has been the key to Corporate Dimensions’ success in Southwest Florida and around the country. Moreover, Hueston believes that her diverse background enables her to “feel the pain” of all of her clients — from corporate executives to successful entrepreneurs.

Beyond the Job

Hueston’s love of education is evident today, as she serves on the International College Board, the DRILL Academy Board and the Professional Development Academy Board, which was created this year from World Class Collier. As a Type-A person whose cell phone is off only when she’s sleeping and for Sunday morning church, career is a seven-day-a-week commitment. Hueston does, however, place special importance on family.

“I have two nephews, 20 and 17, who have been visiting me every summer since they were little,” she said. “We spend quality time together, doing all kinds of things. We’ve been deep sea fishing and rode on jet skis for about four hours while we were in The Keys.” Framed photos of her nephews decorate her neat office, which includes two computers.

One of her prized accessories is a leather-bound sign on a nearby table with “Attitude is Everything” on it. “That’s the best advice my Dad gave me. It is something that is so true, not only professionally, but personally.”

Wrapping It All Up

“I’m doing something that is worthwhile, working with people and contributing to the community,” she said. “I have a passion, with a capital P, for business, for life. I really care about how people feel when they leave my office. Their careers are very important to us.”

Teresa A. Morgenstern is a freelance writer based in Naples.