Reflections Magazine Issue #87 - Fall 2018 | Page 21

Feature Article
Anita-Marie Quillen Works Non-Stop to Lead
Jackson’s Diversified Engineering and Plastics
partners eventually took over control of the busi-
ness in an effort to save it.
“One of the hardest things working through
that transition with the owners, which were my
parents, was managing the day-to-day (opera-
tion) of the business and keeping people moti-
vated at the same time,” said Quillen, who was
also on the phone with suppliers, working with
customers during that difficult stretch. “Keeping
that smile on your face sometimes gets chal-
lenging. It’s also sometimes kind of like a mask
of what’s really underneath, because if they
understood what’s underneath, it would be a
little scary.”
The company downsized from 130 employ-
ees to nearly 80 during that difficult and trying
process.
“It was just a challenge every single day
knowing that some days I really didn’t know
how positive the outcome would be,” she said,
“to keep believing in the company, that we’re
going to get through this. There was just so
much bad news at that time, with every business
faltering, businesses closing.”
After taking sole ownership and renaming
the company more than six years ago, the news
is now better for DEP.
“The last two or three years have been very
positive, and we continually improve our profits,
or our bottom line,” Quillen said. “We’ve become
more skilled on keeping up on the news. …
Being able to plan for any adjustments in the
economy has allowed the business to continue
being successful over time.”
A Tier 2 manufacturer for the auto industry,
DEP produces mirror brackets and window
frames for the automotive industry. Quillen said
she is especially proud of her company’s pat-
ented valve lifter guide, which is installed in
Ford Motor Co. diesel engines.
Quillen said her biggest challenge on the
job is managing people.
“You never know what you are going to
walk into when you are dealing with humans,”
she said. “It is my least favorite – and the most
rewarding.”
She also is able to manage a family life.
Quillen and her husband are the parents of 6-
and 8-year-old boys, and when not at work,
the couple spends a lot of time watching their
children play on the baseball field. Finding
family time can be difficult, but Quillen said
it is a necessity.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Carroll and plasticsnews.com
“(My family) is always the number one prior-
ity in my life,” Quillen said. “I’m definitely not
the perfect mom or the perfect wife, but I try to
carve out time to spend with each of them. …
Family and dinnertime is very important to us.
We eat dinner together every single night.”
When at work, Quillen said a typical day
usually consists of starting the day checking
messages, setting the schedule, sitting in on
a 10 a.m. standing managers meeting, with
afternoons consisting of either traveling to the
Detroit area to meet with customers or dealing
with company issues. While she calls technol-
ogy “phenomenal,” she prefers dealing with
her employees in person.
“I essentially could work from anywhere,
but the one-on-one contact is important,” she
said. “I try to prioritize when I am physically in
the office, that I’m having meaningful conver-
sations with people versus just shooting them
an email and talking on the phone. … We de-
pend on it for all forms of communication and
we forget how impactful it is to be face-to-face
with somebody.”
What does she look for when hiring for
her company?
“Attitude,” Quillen said emphatically.
“It’s big. Come in open-minded, ready to learn.
It’s very hard to teach attitude and work ethic.
It’s very easy to teach skill. Finding people
who want to come to work every single day,
come to work on time, understand that we
depend on them to show up every single day
is probably number one on our priority list
when we’re looking for someone.”
Education is important, but Quillen said
people should use it as “a foundational stepping
stone.”
“(Having a degree) doesn’t necessarily set
their direction on where their professional life
is going to go,” said Quillen, who encourages
college students to supplement their education
with a part-time job or internship. “Position
yourself for other opportunities. … You have
to be adaptable.”
She said being a Hispanic woman business
owner sometimes comes with added barriers.
“There’s stereotypes. Judgments,” Quillen
said. “It’s always hard being lots of times the
only female in a conference room. I’m very
used to it now, but it’s the norm.”
However, she said it also comes with some
advantages.
“Being a woman, we have a really strong
intuition,” Quillen said. “I think it’s very benefi-
cial in reading people. … I think we tend to
understand other peoples’ emotions maybe
easier than men do at times. And they say a
feminine touch helps at times, too. I think it
adds a nice good balance to meetings.”
Despite the stress, despite the non-stop
work and family schedule, Quillen said, “I
really enjoy what I do. I continue to learn
every single day.” u
Reflections Fall ’18 | 21