Students were invited to attend the lecture of Southeastern graduate Michael Babineaux, ‘70, on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Babineaux has been an employee of FedEx shipping company since it’s inception in 1971. Babineaux is a recipient of the Institute for Supply Management’s prestigious 2002 Purchasing Professional of the Year Award, which is given to only one person globally each year.

The lecture took place in Garrett Hall and was aimed at students aspiring towards degrees in marketing and supply chain management. The lecture itself was open to all students who wished to attend.

“There are not many people who have had [Babineaux’s] experience around here,” said Dr. Michael Jones, professor of marketing and supply chain management who had invited Babineaux to give the lecture to his class. “He had the experience of working for a pretty unique market leader who was also an innovator and pioneer.”

Michael Babineaux spent 30 years moving up the corporate ladder at FedEx in supply and purchasing departments, as well as procurement departments. He eventually became Sr. Business Specialist of Supply Chain Management in FedEx’s Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Management division before his retirement in 2003. Babineaux emphasized the importance of someone who has a marketing degree in a company.

“I could see that the job I was doing was making a difference in the company,” said Babineaux, describing his relationships with FedEx’s suppliers across the U.S. as well as in other countries.

Babineaux also spoke about FedEx’s beginnings and evolution, and about his experiences in helping develop a new company.

He told a story to students about his first day at the then two-year old company that reiterated how small the company was originally. He described entering a cracked parking lot, going into a previous World War II bomber maintenance facility called “hanger seven” and going up a dirty and wobbly set of stairs to the a room with a paper thumb tacked to the door that said “Purchasing Department.”

Babineaux was Federal Express’s first hired buyer in its Purchasing Department when its operations started in Memphis, Tenn., in 1973 and was hired by the man who started Federal Express, Frederick W. Smith, who is a graduate of Yale University.

“It gave me a kind of in depth look from a broader level from someone who’s sitting on the top level of a business,” Senior Steve Goff, a supply chain major said, referring to the lecture. “It gave me a little personal insight into how things run, and I think that’s very important.”

Babineaux has also won the Institute for Supply Management’s prestigious 2002 Purchasing Professional of the Year Award, which is given to only one person globally each year.