They say that all great accomplishments begin with a passionate commitment by an individual to make something better. The Greeks, having deep respect for the cultivation of personal passion, believed that the most important question in assessing a man’s life was “Did he have passion?”
Meet Roy Hibberd, your GPSEG Chairman and CEO — a man who is passionate about life, work and in giving back to the community.
At 17 he tried skydiving, at 20 hang gliding, at 27 he got into driving stock cars on dirt tracks all across Southern California and at 29 he took up flying — first with ultralights and later with fixed wing aircraft.
As with his interests, Hibberd’s professional life has been exciting. Plenty of successful business executives have worked at numerous companies as their careers progressed. For most, though, that career tended to stay in one field or, at most, in closely related fields.
That’s not the case, however, for Hibberd, the new chairman and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executive Group, who’s also the senior vice president, corporate secretary and general counsel at Dollar Financial Corp. in Berwyn.
It turns out that Hibberd is quite the Renaissance man, with an impressive resume to boot. He is no stranger to hard work and once boasted the nickname “Iron Man” for his capacity for toiling long hours.
“My career’s been very eclectic,” he said.
Consider:
● Hibberd has worked for Dollar Financial since 2005, overseeing a five-attorney legal department for the expansion-minded NASDAQ company, which operates more than 1,200 stores in eight countries across the globe.
● Before that, he worked briefly as a strategic consultant with Smooth Engine, Inc., a New York-based investment bank.
● In 2000 and 2001, he dabbled in the dot.com world, serving as head of U.S. operations for London-based Virtual Internet, plc, which advised Fortune 1000 companies on brand management and the protection of digital property.
● From 1996 through 1999, Hibberd served as vice president, Americas for a financial services unit of the American Express Co., mainly focusing on Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
● In the early 90’s he served as general counsel and chief operating officer of an international automotive aftermarket retail store chain and earlier Hibberd served as general counsel and director of international expansion for Coldwell Banker.
● Academic credentials include a B.A. from Rutgers University, a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, a Six Sigma Green Belt and for seven years he taught corporate law as an adjunct professor. He is also a Certified Franchise Executive, an honor bestowed upon him by the International Franchise Association.
That’s a lot to fit into 57 years, which is one reason for the Iron Man nickname – bestowed by a former law partner who noted that Hibberd was usually the first one to arrive at work each day and the last to leave.
“I’ve always been a workaholic,” he said, but noting that he’s always striving for a better work-life balance, even more so these days.
So, what’s the common thread in Hibberd’s life to date?
That would be a passion for networking, as evidenced by GPSEG. Hibberd noted that just about every career position he’s had has come through some network connection, even if some were indirect connections.
And his connection to GPSEG? Well, Hibberd likes to think that was fate. He fondly recalls being on the same train to New York City in 2002 with Constantine “Chris” Pavlides, the founder of GPSEG who died last fall. Both men were en route to a networking group meeting about international issues for executives.
Pavlides mentioned the need for a local networking group in Philadelphia, an idea Hibberd thought made sense. They discussed some specifics and, in May of that year, Pavlides formed what would eventually become GPSEG. Hibberd joined the group a few months thereafter, quickly volunteered to be its general counsel and became a mainstay in the group’s leadership shortly after that.
I’ve always wanted to help people, and this sounded like a natural,” he said.
In fact, Hibberd’s such a believer in networking and assisting others in that effort that in 2002, he founded Hibberd’s List (www.hibberdslist.org), a Web site cataloging and summarizing networking groups and events in the MidAtlantic region. Even though Hibberd hasn’t updated the site since he joined Dollar Financial in 2005, it still receives quite a number of visitors each month.
Now, as CEO of GPSEG, Hibberd realizes the fast-growing organization can’t stand still.
“We’ve taken an all-volunteer organization to its limits in terms of structure,” he said, noting that GPSEG now has more than 1,200 members and expects to add several hundred more in 2010. The connection between networking and advancement has caught on among members and our organization and its members are benefiting.
Hibberd’s vision includes the need to bring in a full-time executive director on board in the next couple years. He also wants to take advantage of the membership’s talent base by increasing inclusion in the planning and management levels and expects to explore the idea of corporate memberships to further strengthen the organization’s ties with the region’s business community.
“There’s a lot more opportunity out there for GPSEG and the value we can bring to our members and our community,” he said.
In addition to growing GPSEG, this summer you can find Hibberd enjoying family time at their beach house, no doubt continuing to work hard and to play just as hard. And while racing cars is no longer on his agenda, (although he did drive 8 laps -- 20 miles -- at Pocono Raceway for his 50th and 55th birthday — reaching speeds close to 175 mph) he is more an avid boater, quite appropriate for a guy looking to make waves with networking.