Avnet’s Roy Vallee: Design careers are marathons, not sprints

Avnet Inc’s Roy Vallee, who started in the stockroom and worked up the ranks to become CEO and chairman, retired his executive seat and is not seeking re-election to the board when his term expires in October. During his more than 35 years with Avnet, Vallee was instrumental in increasing the distribu­tor’s geographic coverage, scale, and design scope. He spoke with EDN in late September about the changes he’s seen in the electronics industry, the evolving needs of design engineers, and the career advice he’d offer to those just starting out.

Q: Why did you retire your CEO seat in 2011?

A: There’s a time and place for everything. There’s a certain amount of CEO turnover that’s good for the business. Too much is bad. But too little is also bad; you run the risk of becoming a little bit stale. I wanted to make sure I passed the baton before I got to that point. We had a candidate ready to go, and, therefore, I think it was time for me to go.

Q: How have the global electronics business and design evolved since you joined Avnet three and a half decades ago?

A: Dramatically. When I joined, the role of distributors was primarily to stock things and sell them to a broad base of customers that the suppliers couldn’t economically serve directly. In terms of technical capabilities, the only thing I remember is that we used to carry catalogs in our trunks and hand them out like brochures. Oftentimes, we’d hand out [catalogs] to buyers, not even the engineers.

Then the microprocessor was introduced, and along with it came the introduction of [distributor] registrations. That process brought field application engineers into the distribution industry. At that point in time, distributors had to make a choice between staying in the traditional, wholesaler space or moving into the technical distribution space, which meant an investment in people and training and certification.

When ASICs came along, some of us got into the business of designing ASICs for customers who preferred to outsource that activity. Then FPGAs came along and were getting larger in density. Some customers started turning to us for FPGA design, too.

From there, we evolved into doing reference designs of entire systems. We take newly introduced products from our suppliers and incorporate them into a board, and these reference designs can be used in production or to inspire a production product or shorten production times. In some cases, more in Asia than in the devolved economies, we do turnkey designs for some products and market those designs for OEMs who would choose to manufacture them.

So [we’ve gone from] from traditional, wholesale distribution to full-out design capabilities with design engineers. Today, we have customers who are using our online services as a workbench, with our database of parts available for parametric search cross-reference [and with] online access to application notes and specifications, and we have an online video channel of seminars. It’s been nothing less than dramatic in terms of the role that distribution has evolved into from a technical-support perspective.

Q: What types of opportunities do you see ahead for the overall electronics business and design engineers, and how will design-chain efforts fit into that?

A: I think about all of the devices that increase human productivity and efficiency. I think about medical and what’s happening there. The defense industry, of course, with smart missiles and unmanned aircraft—this is Buck Rogers science fiction stuff going on in the real world. [Then there’s] perhaps the fastest growing market: leisure or recreation that enhances the quality of people’s lives.

All of that is manifesting itself in two primary ways. One is mobility. It’s unbelievable how much we can do with portable and mobile products.  The other is embedded. As the cost of electronics has gone down and pressures like product life cycles have decreased, customers want to buy higher levels of integration and are buying embedded products.

These are all dynamic things. As long as Moore’s Law stays intact, we have this ever-accelerating rate of change in the world. The economy continues to become more and more of a global event, where we bring literally billions of consumers into the marketplace who historically were excluded due to economic disparities. All of that comes together and says, “Wow.” For a company that can support the notion of design anywhere, build anywhere, there’s an exciting future ahead.

Q: What do you wish someone told you 35 years ago? Do you have any career advice for young engineers and incoming members of management?

A: Make a top priority the people side of the equation as opposed to the strategy, operations, and financial side. And the [idea that] “By the way, that starts with you.” One of the most important things you can do for your career is to be self-aware. It’s all those things we’ve all heard, like get the right people on your bus, get them in the right seats, get them working together. If you get the people issues right, I think it’s pretty hard to fail.

And when you keep score—yes, revenue and margins are important—make sure you pay a lot of attention to return on capital. That’s what really matters.

In terms of advice, develop your own explicit personal values, what is important to you personally. In the course of a career, there are going to be all sorts of opportunities and challenges that come at you. You need a reference point, a rudder, to help figure out what path to choose. Having explicit core values, and staying true to them, really helps in making those decisions.

I would also say, take it one job at a time. Focus on the task at hand. Make sure you do what you are assigned as well as you can possibly do it. Based on my personal experiences, people will come and get you for the next job.

Focus on balance. There’s career, and there’s personal. Careers are marathons, not sprints. If you sprint to a job and achieve it and end up with a messed-up personal life, you haven’t achieved success. The definition of success, from my perspective, is happiness.

My last two points are on the fuzzy side. Do the right thing, always—not just when it’s convenient. And, last, enjoy the journey. We put a large portion of our lives into our careers. If you add up the hours, it’s a little frightening. If those hours are going into something you are not enjoying, then at the end of the day you’re going to be unhappy.

Q: Did you enjoy the ride?

A: I feel like the luckiest man on the planet. The opportunity to lead an organization like Avnet is a privilege.

Q: What’s next for you?

A: On a personal level, I’m exactly 60 years old. I do believe there is life outside of Avnet; I just need to prove that. I really don’t want to stop working, but I do want to slow down. I’d like to do more from the shoulders up and less from the arms and legs. I’d like to have a little less jet lag.

Instead of having a job, I have projects. I’m on the board of two companies, I’m working with the Federal Reserve Bank out of San Francisco, I’m getting involved with three privately held companies as an adviser, and I love the opportunity to work on strategy and organizational development issues—the people issues—with all of those folks. I get to do what I really enjoy doing, times five what I could do if I had a job.

Maybe [I’ll travel more] with my wife. We’re spending more time with our kids and grandkids. And I’m starting to play a little more golf.

The reality is, I’m way busier than I imagined I would be, but the stress level is way down. What I’ve learned is that I like being busy.

— EDN wishes Roy Vallee the best as he transitions off of Avnet management’s team and thanks him for his years of service to the industry.