Strategic reinvention

By Kevin Manne

Today, she serves as vice president of financial planning and analysis at UPS, where she leads a team of more than 100 people. She helps shape the company’s financial strategy and long-term direction as a trusted advisor to the chief financial officer and CEO, ensuring the organization’s strategies are financially sound and data-driven.

Her path from the amusement park to executive leadership at the iconic shipping and supply chain management company was a bit of a roller coaster ride. After graduating with a BS in business from SUNY Geneseo in 1992, Hageman continued on to UB to earn her MBA while navigating new career roles and multiple relocations.

“Before I graduated from UB, I had the opportunity to take on more responsibility at General Mills, accepting roles in Minneapolis and Boston before coming back to Buffalo,” she says. “As a result, it took more than five years to finish my MBA given I changed cities a few times. The UB School of Management was a great experience and exposed me to so many different areas of business, so much so that I wanted to explore many areas outside of finance.”

Throughout her career, Hageman’s range of roles and responsibilities has given her a comprehensive view of business. After General Mills, she worked in finance, sales, marketing, supply chain and management positions, progressively climbing the corporate ladder at such prominent businesses as Fisher-Price, Mattel, NPD Group (now Circana), Amazon and Chewy, and now brings that perspective to her executive role at UPS.

“At one point in my career, I had the opportunity to make a lateral move into supply chain at Mattel as a director. I wasn’t sure it was the right step, but the experience broadened my horizons and was the leadership role that led me to vice president,” says Hageman. “Along the way, each role gave me a different lens on how companies grow and make decisions.”

As any working professional knows, it can be tricky to strike a balance between office and family life. Hageman says she follows the “10-10-10 rule,” and recommends it as a guiding principle to others.

“When deciding between work and personal obligations, the rule helps you assess the impact of the decision,” she says. “Ask yourself, who will remember that choice in the next 10 minutes, 10 months or 10 years? If you miss a work dinner, who will remember in 10 months? But if you miss an important event in your child’s life, they will remember for a very long time (I missed my son’s 8th birthday, and he reminded me about it for a decade). When you face a hard decision between work and family, having a rule of thumb to follow can help you understand your priorities.”

And so, while Hageman currently lives in Atlanta and has lived in cities across the country throughout her career, she continues to spend her summers in Western New York to stay connected with family. She also enjoys boating and waterskiing on Lake Chautauqua and spending the winter months in Florida at Delray Beach listening to live music.

Looking back, Hageman says success comes down to staying open to opportunity and being true to yourself.

“Sometimes people tell you what you should do in your career, and it’s about where you want it to go,” she says. “It’s your career for a reason, do what feels right to you.”