A New Mission
Former VSP CEO Roger Valine talks about his family , the community and business
BY Graham Womack | PHOTO BY Wes Davis
Roger Valine helped transform VSP from a small local company to an international operation by 2006 when he decided to retire .
When he was hired as a management trainee in 1973 , not long after graduating from Sacramento State , the Rancho Cordova company had 30 employees and around $ 10 million in annual revenue . When he became CEO in 1990 at 41 , it had roughly 220 employees and $ 200 million annual revenue . And by 2006 , it had grown to 2,500 employees and $ 2.8 billion annual revenue .
Even though the company , which provides vision insurance and related services , was doing well at that point , Valine , then 57 , wanted something more . He thought back on the relationship he ’ d had with his grandfather and the bonds he hoped to forge with his own grandchildren . “ I knew it wouldn ’ t happen if I was a CEO ,” Valine says .
So , 15 years ago , Valine stepped away from the place he had worked since college and has been forging his own path in retirement . Now 71 , he has much to show for his decision . There ’ s his marriage to his wife of 47 years , Marie Valine , their three grown and now married children , and eight grandchildren , all of whom live in the area . Family dinners are Sundays . Each year , Valine takes the entire family on a trip to a new place , most recently to Turks and Caicos in 2019 . ( The pandemic halted 2020 trip plans .) “ We ’ re like an old 1950s traditional kind of family ,” he says .
It speaks to values he carried with him through much of his business career , with VSP being celebrated for its work-life balance for employees during Valine ’ s tenure . But he also admits that in the early years of his marriage and tenure at VSP , Marie would have to remind him to do what the company did for its employees . “ I was kind of like a car that would go off alignment every once in a while , and she would bring me back in ,” Valine says . “ She ’ d tow me in . … I ’ m so , so glad she did that . Because I have a great relationship with her and my kids and my grandkids .”
Family is not the only thing keeping him busy . While Valine entered retirement financially comfortable , “ Just living off my assets seemed so foreign , felt so uncomfortable ,” he says . He serves on several boards , including an eye care services provider in Michigan and Lionakis , the Sacramento architecture company . Valine also speaks to MBA classes at Sacramento State and the University of the Pacific , golfs with an 18 handicap , and is executive coach for two CEOs .
“ When you ’ re helping someone with their business or with their life , it ’ s immediately rewarding ,” Valine says . “ And
I don ’ t mean necessarily just economically . It ’ s just fulfilling .”
One of the CEOs coached by Valine , Susan Armiger of Walnut Creek-based nonprofit Catalight Foundation , which formed in 2019 , says Valine has helped improve employee satisfaction scores . “ We want our employees to love working here ,” Armiger says . “ We know they like working here , but we want to do better than that .” Asked what he might have done differently or what he knows now that he wishes he knew earlier in life , Valine says
“ Just living off my assets seemed so foreign , felt so uncomfortable . … When you ’ re helping someone with their business or with their life , it ’ s immediately rewarding . And I don ’ t mean necessarily just economically . It ’ s just fulfilling .”
he ’ d be more focused on the moment and not so much on tomorrow . “ What I find , what I would hope , is that people realize that next year ’ s not going to be any easier at all ,” Valine says . “ It ’ s going to be harder . And if you want something , make it happen . Make it happen right now . Because if you don ’ t , that gift will never come back again .”
Graham Womack is a freelance writer based in Sacramento . His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle , The Sacramento Bee , and Sacramento News & Review . On Twitter @ grahamdude .
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