Great Range Capital Welcomes Its Newest Market Ambassador—Wendy Buxton—During Women’s History Month

Great Range Capital (GRC) is pleased to welcome Wendy Buxton as the newest member of its Market Ambassador Program (MAP), where she will play a key role in expanding the firm’s presence from her native Tulsa.

Wendy brings more than 30 years of experience working with companies of all sizes and in various industries to catapult growth and profitability by leveraging technology innovation and supply chain performance management.

Wendy spent two decades as an executive at LynnCo Supply Chain Solutions. She left her position as a Technology Executive at TV Guide to join the company in 2002 as the Chief Information Officer—a role in which she developed and implemented a streamlined logistics optimization platform that is still utilized by thousands across multiple industries today.

Just two years later, the then-30-year-old Wendy was asked to take the helm as President and CEO of LynnCo. For the next 18 years, she successfully married market-leading technology with business and sales models to facilitate the company’s growth. Under her leadership, LynnCo went from a small freight billing and auditing company to a marquee supply chain specialty firm trusted by executives and private equity firms.

Having now retired from LynnCo, Wendy is putting her experience to work for others through strategic advisory and board appointments. Her consulting company of 10 years, W Squared Enterprises, solves business problems and digitizes operational scale for several small to mid-market companies. And Wendy’s vast connections within the private equity market, including chairing committees and boards within the ACG private equity networking community, affords her the opportunity to unlock investment capital for business owners looking to innovate and grow.

As an executive married to an executive and the mother of two children, Wendy has become passionate about creating balance and cultivating serenity in the midst of stressful situations. This, along with her love of photography, led her to create SpaZenLiving.com, where she sells landscape photography and Zen-inspired home design concepts and products. When not in the office, you can find Wendy playing tennis, scuba diving, hiking and golfing.

“It’s easy to see why Wendy has been honored as one of Oklahoma’s Most Admired CEOs,” said Ryan Sprott, Managing Partner with GRC. “She’s a big-picture strategist with a passion for transformation who also cares deeply about people—especially those in her local community. We’re so grateful to be able to partner with her as we grow our investment efforts in Oklahoma and the greater Midwest.”

BONUS Q&A: LEARN MORE ABOUT WENDY IN HER OWN WORDS

With Wendy’s arrival coinciding with National Women’s History Month, we wanted to give her an opportunity to share more of her history-making story.

Who or what influenced your career path?

I grew up with a natural affinity for computer science. While I’m showing my age, my father had me programming on the Tandy machine at the very early age of 7. I loved solving problems and the approach that could be taken with the science of computers. I went on to college in pursuit of a computer science degree at one of the nation’s highest-ranked engineering colleges, the University of Tulsa. After a couple of years pursuing hardcore computer engineering while interning for a database marketing company, I realized I loved applying computer science to solving business problems, dissecting data, automating processes and making business better and thus switched to a degree that married the two concepts: management information systems. From there my love of solving problems blossomed into a career in information technology and I quickly earned executive positions at renowned companies like TV Guide while still in my twenties. From there my career has unfolded naturally and all of my positions have been heavily influenced by the application of software and data science.

Have you had any particularly helpful mentors?

One of my life mottos is to always live outside my comfort zone, so I’m a big fan of mentors. Because I was so young while in influential positions, I consistently sought help from people I looked up to and who were willing to educate me on the best practices and politics of the business world. Some were personal friends while others were professional coaches I hired to help me navigate specific challenges. I’m inquisitive by nature and a quick study that’s always seeking new information. Today, I stay active in business networks that help assuage my desire for continuous learning and now enjoy giving back as a mentor myself to young professionals and as thought leader in the industries I serve—bringing awareness and innovative solutions to disruptive topics and helping businesses navigate the constantly changing business landscape.

Women remain underrepresented in senior leadership roles—especially in finance. From your experience, how important is it for young women to be able to see themselves at the top of the corporate ladder, particularly in fields traditionally dominated by men?

I tend not to notice gender delineation personally or professionally and certainly have never seen it as a limiting factor. Instead, I see a male-dominated industry or workplace as a challenge—an opportunity to share new perspectives and break down any perceived barriers. That being said, I have mentored young leadership professionals and this is always a topic of conversation. Young ladies of today’s generation tend to be much more mindful of this representation gap. My main advice is to show up on time, work hard and create value. If you’re confident that you’re doing these things above and beyond expectations and it’s still not seen as being “enough,” never allow yourself to be repressed. Move on to opportunities that appreciate your worth. I will add that I’ve found richer discussions around the psychology of business and leadership approaches in women-only executive boards and committees than I typically find in my other gender diverse communities, simply because we tend to share similar approaches. I don’t view it as a bad thing but rather an added benefit that has helped me tremendously in my career.

Multiple studies have found that increasing gender diversity can lead to better business across a number of variables (including profit). Have you seen this play out in your career?

I do agree that a diverse team, whether gender and/or ethnically diverse, brings more experience and perspectives to any team. From a service-oriented perspective, it certainly allows more opportunity for employees to appreciate a diverse marketplace and create more personable relationships where gender and cultural similarities can be leveraged. From my own personal experience, when I purposefully built a diverse executive leadership team, I found that having a diverse team that respects one another and leverages each member’s strengths accelerated and enhanced our growth and profitability.

One more question: It’s obvious why we wanted to partner with you, but why did you want to partner with GRC?

I was born and raised on Midwestern ethics—personable relationships, seeking to serve others, and giving back with high integrity and morality. I have worked all over the world and with many different private equity firms. It’s refreshing to partner with one that shares my genuine desire to help others with a people-first, partnership approach and to help the company grow with the existing owner and management teams. GRC’s approach to growing profitable companies spans well beyond financial engineering and digs into transforming the operation mechanics with surgical precision. I feel Great Range Capital exemplifies the culture and values that best fit how I too love to serve others and my belief system around the best practices of business.

If you know of an aspiring female leader who would benefit from reading Wendy’s story or our series on Women in Leadership, we hope you’ll pass the inspiration along.

And if GRC’s culture, values and approach to business sound like a good fit and you’d like to learn more about the MAP, please contact Christie McFall, at 913-952-3037 or christie.mcfall@greatrangecapital.com.