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66 PROFILES IN LEADERSHIP: CAROLINE REAVES One thing is immediately apparent walking into the office of Caroline Reaves: She is not bashful. She's a big personality who leads with passion and conviction. And the leadership team she's built around her is fiercely loyal to her. "I know it may sound cheesy to say," SVP Marc Hinkle quipped. "But when I find myself facing a tough scenario where I don't know the next steps to take, I always stop and ask myself, "What would Caroline do in this situation?" To our knowledge, there are no WWCD bracelets circulating throughout MCS headquarters. But it's clear that the executive team takes its cues from the leader. Reaves, when asked about the formula for her success deferred to her team. "e best thing I've done in my career is surround myself with the right people," she said. "CEOs get a lot of the praise and a lot of the blame for the successes and failures of an organization, but having pieces in place that you can depend on makes the job much easier." But it hasn't always been an easy road for Reaves. She grew up as one of six children in the small Louisiana town of Cameron. Her father was a petroleum engineer and ran his own business. Reaves smiles as she recalls her first job working for her father's company as a janitor, cleaning toilets and picking up trash. She credits that experience as the beginning of the formation for the work ethic she displays today. "My father made all of us work," she remembers. "If we wanted to drive or have any other type of privilege a normal teenager would desire, then we were going to have to work for it." Everything was great, until her family fell on hard times the year before she left for college at Louisiana Tech. So she'd have to work harder. She attended school during the day and then held a variety of positions working at the campus police headquarters, including as an overnight dispatcher for a period of time. "You would be amazed at the types of calls these officers would have to respond to at 3AM," she said. It was an eye opening experience." Even after college, she would have to figure out how to handle cultivating a bourgeoning career in banking while also having a young family. "I picked up my kids from school every day. But sometimes we would have to grab some food, and come back to the office for a couple of hours while I finished up the day." Reaves says her early experiences shaped her leadership style by helping her put herself in the shoes of the people that work for her. is perspective lends itself to two very important philosophies. First, everyone starts out as inexperienced and makes mistakes. Holding a mistake born from inexperience against an employee who is putting in the effort to better themselves can rob you of a good executive down the road. Second, allow people to chase their passions. Some people love to work and are driven to succeed in that arena. For others, their eight to five job is merely a means to an end. Obviously, the former is more likely to go farther at MCS but both types of employees can be valuable to the organization. Now, the struggle for Reaves is to find balance between the demands of being the CEO of a multimillion dollar corporation and spending time with the family that she cherishes. A quick survey of her office reveals a multitude of photos of children, grandchildren, and other family members. Reaves contends that none of her success would be possible without the support of her husband Mark and the rest of her family. "is is a demanding position. We work really hard around here. If I didn't have Mark to help me take care of some parts of our life together, there's no way I'd be able to do this." So they had to get creative. Once the decision was made by the family for Caroline to take a position at MCS, they were all in. Mark, who had a successful career of his own, took a position that allowed him to work remotely and be at home. He travels with Caroline almost everywhere she goes now and works from the road. "We're a package deal," she said. "Whenever I travel for business my hosts always know to invite Mark to social events because chances are that he's going to be on the road with me." When asked if she thought there was extra pressure on her because of the societal expectations of women in in the family dynamic, Reaves was quick to dismiss. "I never play the woman card. I'm not a female CEO. I'm a CEO. None of these guys could do the things that they do without the support of their families either," she said, motioning to the three male executives across the table. But even with all of the support that she receives, there are some roles that Reaves refuses to relinquish. "I love being a grandmother," she said smiling from ear to ear. "It's just the greatest thing. I just got done making all of the Valentine's Day baskets for all of the grandkids." "The best thing I've done in my career is surround myself with the right people."

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