From Corporate to Compassionate: Lloyd Lewis’s Journey

SPEAKER 03 : 0:01

Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:09

Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with The Good News, joined by my friend, President and CEO of ArcDrift, Lloyd Lewis. Hello there, Lloyd. Angie, how are you doing? I’m doing quite well. You know, we’ve done so many interviews over the years, and I wanted to talk about a couple of different things today. You’ve got a gala coming up. I’m volunteering now with the ambassadors. I just started last week, and I want to talk about the program because I get the schedule, so I see and understand a lot more about what ARC University is and what you do with the ambassadors in terms of ARC University and the program in general. But first, let’s give an overview of what ARC Thrift does and how you give back. So should we start there?

SPEAKER 04 : 0:49

Sure, that’d be great. So our primary mission is to fund advocacy for people with developmental disabilities. And in so doing, we support 15 ARC advocacy chapters affiliated with the ARC of the United States. And the chapters we support are all around the state, from Fort Collins to Pueblo and on the Western Slope, there are 15 of these chapters. And they help people with developmental disabilities find jobs, find housing, find medical services, services in schools, et cetera. All the kinds of supports that people with developmental disabilities need. Developmental disabilities, as you and your listeners know, are congenital disorders that occur before age 18, most typically Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, but all forms of cognitive impairment. And before we talk about the ambassadors, we also distribute a million dollars a year in vouchers to people and organizations in need all around the state, three to five relief efforts every week. We also are a very large recycler. A billion and a half pounds of donations recycled during my tenure, keeping them out of landfills. We also are a big food provider to people in need. Four million pounds of food collected during my tenure.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:11

Wow.

SPEAKER 04 : 2:11

So there’s practically no need in this state that we can’t help support, and we never turn anyone down.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:19

And I remember when I met you, you had left big business to do this, and part of that is your own personal story, correct?

SPEAKER 04 : 2:28

Yeah, I left the private sector. I had been with Smith Barney doing muni finance in Philadelphia. I had an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago. Came out here with IBM as a senior financial analyst, director of financial publicly traded medical equipment company, CFO for a high-tech company. ultimately sold to Micron just before I joined AHRQ. And I joined AHRQ because in 2003, I had a little boy born with Down syndrome. And I committed my life going forward to helping people like my son, initially scientific research advocacy, which resulted in the largest Down syndrome research facility anywhere in the world. From there, I was recruited to AHRQ. Uh, where I thought I could take my business skills to help people like my son. And so I started with arc in Mayo five. Initially it was a turn financial turnaround. We did that 14 record years pre COVID. We became an essential business during COVID. Uh, and we’ve had good years since. So we’ve now funded by the way. Oh, well over $200 million to disability advocacy and disability employment and a quarter of a billion dollars to charity in general. And over the next 20 years, it will be more on the order of $400 million. In terms of the ambassadors, who you know well, ambassadors in our company are employees with developmental disabilities. When I started, we had 10 ambassadors. Today we have 500 ambassadors. And they work in all aspects of our company. They may collect donations or accept donations. They may help us process donations. tag them, prize them, run them out to the sales floor. They work in our corporate office in HR and loss prevention and accounting, all aspects of our company. We have created supplemental programs for them. You’re now participating with us in those programs. We have an educational program that we call ARC University, and it’s a series of monthly programs post-secondary style classes in money, computers, pet care, transportation, et cetera. And we designed it for participation, not grades. And if ambassadors participate in a single class taught by a volunteer over lunch, they get a certificate. They participate in 6 of 12 a bachelor’s degree, 9 of 12 a master’s degree, 12 of 12 a Ph.D. And when you go to our annual graduation, which you’ve spoken at, you would think you were at like a Harvard commencement ceremony. They’re very fired up. Oh, very excited.

SPEAKER 02 : 5:15

Yes, yes. And getting their certificates. And yeah, it’s pretty exciting.

SPEAKER 04 : 5:20

Some learn a lot. Some learn not so much. But we do it as much for self-esteem and self-confidence as learning. But they do learn. We also have a social program where we’ll On a monthly basis, go to the movies or the zoo or the botanic garden or a museum or do karaoke. We have another monthly program with the International Civitans where our ambassadors do community service. They might collect socks for the homeless. They might write letters to seniors living in assisted living. They might bake cookies for the police. They love to give back. And they’re part of this international organization where I believe they’ll be likely recognized next year for the good work they do at an international Civitans convention, a century-old organization, service organization that focuses on helping people with disabilities.

SPEAKER 02 : 6:22

And, you know, the ambassador is differently abled with, you know, cognitive deficits. You had just about five working for you as ambassadors when you started the company. And how many do you have now?

SPEAKER 04 : 6:34

Yeah, we had 10 when I started. Today we have 500. Wow. That’s unbelievable. It’s grown tremendously, and the company’s never been more successful. I believe they have a very positive impact on morale. And when you enhance morale, you enhance productivity. When you enhance productivity, you enhance revenue. When you enhance revenue, you enhance earnings. So I would do it anywhere. I think it makes a lot of sense. It’s the right thing to do and it makes a lot of business sense.

SPEAKER 02 : 7:01

The ambassadors, it was neat because when I volunteered last week, my son’s been doing an internship with you over the summer. So I got to volunteer with him and see him interact with the ambassadors. And since I’ve had interactions with your companies since right around when your son was born, my kids have kind of grown up knowing some of the ambassadors or at least interacting with them coming to the graduations with me. So it’s It was fun to see him interact and have relationships with some of the ambassadors. That was neat to see him do that. And then your right-hand woman, Maggie, who does all your marketing, Maggie brought my son on the Channel 9 show. segment they did on National Drift Day. So that was pretty cool since he also has a thrifting business in addition to working with you guys. So that was pretty neat to see him and how he has benefited from knowing the ambassadors and the relationships that he’s developed.

SPEAKER 04 : 7:55

What was the event that you did last week?

SPEAKER 02 : 7:58

I did the zoo. We changed it. It was going to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did the zoo.

SPEAKER 04 : 8:02

So that would have been a lot of fun. And your son has been very helpful to the company and very popular with company employees and ambassadors. And he has a good heart and he, he’s pretty good on secondhand resales.

SPEAKER 02 : 8:18

Yeah, he’s done all right with that. Yeah, it’s been a great experience for him professionally. Now, in terms of the ambassadors, we had a group in how that you help them. Like Juan, for instance, he showed me his wheelchair. I believe Juan has cerebral palsy and his wheelchair is you have to have a license to drive it. It’s that like heavy and that advanced and it stands him up so he can be like he needed to look at some monkeys that were, you know, he couldn’t see over the barrier and so he lifted himself way up and um one of the other people in our group asked him how much it is for one of those wheelchairs and i think it was upwards of forty five thousand dollars and so these are things the ambassadors need help with that arc thrift um help some of them with i don’t know if that particular one but i’ve known other ambassadors that arc has helped them purchase their wheelchair so they can get around and then we had um uh dylan with us dylan has down syndrome is very high functioning he was so interesting i said to him he really got along with my son riley and it’s the first time i’d met dylan and uh i said oh i sometimes the hippos can be you know very mean he goes i believe they’re just territorial like and he writes scripts well that’s actually accurate so that’s cool yes he actually writes scripts um and he um you know they have uh i’ve told you i love that show love on the spectrum and he um said he would like something just specifically for down syndrome kids and he wants to name it down with love oh that’s very cool that’s very cool yeah very uh very creative And then the last ambassador that was in our group that I got such a kick out of and I’ve known him for probably 14 years now is Miles. And Miles is on the spectrum and one of the most delightful musically oriented dances does the karaoke comes from a music family. And when he came in to do my show, he’s done it four times now. he brought his relatives with him and they wrote a song for me about the good news. So I’ve known miles for years. So I was thrilled that he was in our group as well. And my son of course knows him. So it was a fun day. I mean, it’s volunteering because, you know, they need help, you know, with the groups of ambassadors just to make sure everybody stays together. But yeah, It’s not working. It’s having a fun day, really. And then I haven’t done the Civitans yet, Civitans, where they give back to the community. And that’ll be coming up. And then I’ll start working with the ambassador classes as well, where they teach them different skills, like how to get around on public transit and social norms and how to interact with people in an appropriate manner and not be taken advantage of, etc. So yeah. I know a lot of those classes are pretty neat in terms of teaching them really great life skills as well.

SPEAKER 04 : 11:01

Yeah, our employment programs become very central in their lives like all human beings. They want to contribute and they want to have friends and they want to be productive during the day. And what we find is it becomes a very, very important part of their life and also in the life of their families. So we’re just thrilled we’re able to do it. We’re expanding into New Mexico and Texas and we’ll be creating ambassador programs in those states. We have a store in Albuquerque. Our second Albuquerque store will open later this year.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:36

Wow.

SPEAKER 04 : 11:37

We’ll be opening our first store in Texas and San Antonio next year and maybe a second as well. We are opening a store in Glenwood Springs before year end. We now have 36 stores. We had 17 when I started. Wow. We’re going to continue to grow and fund the work that we do as much as we can. I also chair four disability boards in Colorado, the Colorado across disability coalition, which does individual systemic advocacy and ADA enforcement, the Atlantis community foundation, which does integrated disability housing, affordable, uh, Adams camp, which does adventure and therapy camps in the summer for kids with IDD. and then also Best Buddies Colorado. I also am treasurer on the ARPA United States Foundation Board, which does national work, and then an international organization, Inclusion International, which has members in 100 countries and will be doing a World Congress with participants from 70 countries in charge of UAE in mid-September. Wow. You stay busy. I started with them. All of this started with the birth of my son, and my goal is to help as many, including my son, as I can.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:01

And the gala’s coming up, and donations. You need donations, so that’s ArcDrift.com, and any Arc store, you can drop off your donations. And then tell us about the gala. When is that?

SPEAKER 04 : 13:13

That is September 4th at 6 o’clock at the Denver Botanic Gardens. And at our gala, we will recognize three heroes of the year. We’re employees who have developmental disabilities who through their personality and positivity in the workplace creates a tremendous contribution. We’ll also have a fashion show with employees with disabilities and some of our managers and other people from the community. And then we’ll be presenting a Distinguished Leadership Award to the International Civitans Group that we work with, one of whom, members, is a past president of International Civitans. and another who is president-elect this coming year. So we typically have 600 guests, and it’s a beautiful setting, and we do it as much to celebrate our mission and our ambassadors as for financial supports.

SPEAKER 02 : 14:11

Well, if you want more info on that, ARCthrift.com. We’re out of time. Thank you so much, Lloyd Lewis, president and CEO of ARCthrift. Thank you, friends. We will see you soon. See you soon. I’ll be at the gala.

SPEAKER 01 : 14:27

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SPEAKER 04 : 15:25

Fort Collins is listening to the mighty 670 KLT Denver.

SPEAKER 02 : 15:34

Hey there, it’s Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with the good news, and we are talking about feedback and advice. This is Winner’s Wisdom column. This week is titled Feedback and Advice. I get a lot of that from you every week, Jim.

SPEAKER 05 : 15:47

Well, thank you, as I do from you and everyone listening to us does from you. But I think… You know, we make good decisions from good information and we succeed based on making good decisions. And, you know, a lot of our information comes from feedback and advice, but we have to be careful with it. You know, I have 10 million books in print and my phone number or email addresses and all of them. So I hear from just. myriad of people from around the world and 99 of their feedback is just very positive i’m very grateful everyone so there are people that uh you know they just don’t like something and when when i get that you know you fight this deal you know you don’t want to get defensive and you want you know the first thing you have to ask yourself is is this valid i mean are they right and then the next thing um You know, when you really look at it, I remember my very first movie premiere. My first movie came out 15 years ago. And I’m at this event, and this woman comes up to me afterwards and said, well, I thought the movie was great, but I would never take my children or grandchildren to see your movie. And I said, ma’am, why is that? And she said, well, the scene where the young boy is working with the old man on the ranch, they’re driving around, and they don’t have their seatbelts on. And I said, ma’am, they’re on a ranch. They’re on a driveway. I mean, they, you know, you talk to anybody that works on a ranch, they get in and out of the truck every 50 feet. And they’re checking the fence and they’re doing this stuff. And she said, well, I’m not going to change my mind. I said, well, that’s great. You know, that’s great. So I gave myself permission to delete that and dismiss it, you know. But, you know, there are things. I used to write a lot about Winston Churchill, and I still do, one of my favorite historical characters. But my column is read by people all around the world, and I got a very heartfelt email from a university professor in India. And he said, do you realize Winston Churchill is a maligned, hated figure in our society? Because, you know, he led the U.K. when… you know, when they impose their will on our country and all this. And, you know, and I, you know, and I said, well, I will be more careful in the future. And I am with everybody. I mean, You know, people don’t have to be perfect in order for us to model some of their behavior, right? We see great athletes or great actors or great writers, and we think that’s good. It doesn’t mean everything’s great. I wrote a column about Katharine Hepburn when she passed, and she was very instrumental in my career. And then one woman says, well, I don’t know how you can emulate this woman. She was involved with a married man all these years. And I said, ma’am, I… I never once had been looking for her for advice on marriage and family. It’s just, you know, she was a woman when women were not treated well in the industry. And she won four Academy Awards. No one’s done before or since. And there’s plenty in that to admire, but you don’t have to be perfect. And, you know, when George Harrison died, I wrote a column that actually won a national award. from the critics desk and i wrote you know what while my guitar gently weeps when harrison died and you know people say well yeah but he was a drug addict you know i never said he wasn’t okay i i can admire that one thing he does and um but you know but he you know if someone has to be perfect for you to take their advice there was only one of those and uh so uh you know and everybody else we have to look beyond the flaws and decide what we want to do. So that’s the important thing when you, you know, you need to look at, is their advice valid? And is this something I need to take to heart or not?

SPEAKER 02 : 19:37

Yeah, I really appreciate that because if we only wrote or admired people who were perfect, there wouldn’t be anyone to admire. And so you can admire someone’s – for instance, Prince was a musical genius. I don’t think I really appreciated him that much when I was younger because I wasn’t really a music person. But then seeing some of the historical stuff on him, you know, performing, and I think it was the Dick Clark show when he was, like, 19 and how he was already, like, refusing record deals because he wanted to produce his own stuff and be in control and he could play, like, I think, like, over 20 instruments. Like, it was… I mean, you can play the drums and the piano and play the trumpet and the flute. Who can do that? Right. But then but he obviously has some issues, you know, because he died of a drug overdose. But do I admire his genius? Yes. And then also I kind of feel like sympathy for them. Sadness. Like my son just brought in this morning, this Seattle doctor. post intelligence or something cover uh the front page from 1994 when kurt cobain he committed suicide and he showed it to me he had it framed for his new house along with of all people the watley crew poster but he’s not got he’s really into you know 80s kind of 90s stuff now and and the music he really appreciates the music anyway i he showed it to me he goes look at this and i said oh sad and And it showed them taking his body out. And I thought he had such a genius but such a sadness about him. And I think sometimes those troubled musicians or troubled famous people, we don’t know all the things that they deal with. I can’t imagine every day, everywhere you go, never, ever being able to walk anywhere without being stopped every five feet for something. a photograph with someone you don’t know where you’re supposed to put your arm around them and smile but you’re really trying to conduct your life or have a serious conversation with a friend or maybe your mom just passed away or you just went through a breakup but you’re always supposed to be this perfect person because that person will always remember this that moment but you’ll never remember that moment because you have that moment every day with you know a thousand different people or whatever and so i think until we walked in someone’s shoes we can’t understand why they take the path they take or the pains that they’re experiencing but we can still admire their genius

SPEAKER 05 : 21:47

Yeah, and, you know, sometimes I think we have two hobbies here in America. We build up heroes and then we tear them down. Yes. That’s what we do. And, you know, no one’s as good as we want to make them out to be, nor are they as bad as we seem to want to criticize them. And, you know, when I first started out with the New York Stock Exchange as an investment broker, I used to watch a show on PBS, Wall Street Week, with this old guy named Louis Rukeyser. And he did something I thought was so cool, because he would have a guest on that was going to predict what the market was going to do or give his analysis. And at the end, he said, well, how do you see the next year? And they would do that. Well, what was cool is when he would have them on, he said, now, we had him with us one year ago, and here’s what he said at that time the market was going to do. And, wow, you kind of get a feel for, okay, that didn’t work out as good as you said it would or whatever, or, man, this guy was spot on. And, you know, it’s good to look at, you know, who are we talking to and what do they have to say to us and how does it work, you know? And so when you take advice or you take feedback from people, you’ve got to just – Weigh it, and when it’s critical, don’t blow the fine print up into the headlight. Don’t make it a bigger deal than it is, and that’s all there is to it.

SPEAKER 02 : 23:06

You have so many books coming out that I know you lose track sometimes, and I think we were around – 30 or 40 when we first started talking and now you’re above 60 and uh i’m happy to report my mom just finished by the way your your new book i’m just thinking about all the people you have to write about and some of them aren’t always perfect people per se i mean you’ve got people like me the late great coach john wooden that you’re really friends with and there’s not much bad to say about him and he’s right there in the top five of great people right in the world of history of the world but My mom just – you sent me A Coach for Life, A Parable of Learning How to Play the Game, Live Your Life, and Win. That’s a new one, right?

SPEAKER 05 : 23:45

Yeah, yeah. That will be out next month, yeah.

SPEAKER 02 : 23:49

Oh, wow. And so, yeah, August 5th. Okay, so my mom already read it. She read it overnight, which I thought was really cute because she loves to read your books and then tell me all about you after she reads it. yeah she’s in her mid-80s so she loves a good book the second it came in i knew i knew exactly where that had to go down to her apartment she has this beautiful apartment in the basement overlooks like where the deer and the boxes and the coyotes come in the backyard and she has a great view out there of everything going on in a motion activated light so at night if the wildlife comes in the yard you know she’s notified and we have cameras out there and everything’s really cute anyway. So she finished your book off and read that. And, um, so that one, uh, we’re going to be doing an interview one, but what’s the main gist of that book?

SPEAKER 05 : 24:34

The coach for life book. Yeah. Yeah. It’s called coach for life. And, uh, it will be out in a couple of weeks and yeah, we’ll be, we’ll be talking about that in the column. And, uh, when you and I have our weekly visit and then, uh, and then after that, uh, We, uh, we visit Mr. Steinbeck.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:52

So, uh, Oh, another one. So you got, boy, you got really stacked up coming out. It’s funny. Cause you said, I just finished a book that I’ll be talking to you about next year. You said, and I was like, wow, you really stack them up. I mean, you’ve finished them and you’ve got so many coming out. They have to wait their turn in the queue.

SPEAKER 05 : 25:08

Oh, here’s the punchline. I mean, when I was, I wrote a sequel to a John Steinbeck novel, which is a, really an experience for writer but then uh… while i was doing research on the his letters that he had wrote the throughout his life during this time in way there’s got to show and uh… Carl Sandburg, people like that. He expressed his admiration for Mark Twain, so I went back and re-read a lot of Twain’s stuff. And the bottom line, last week I finished a novel that includes Mark Twain as a character, and it’ll be out probably late next year. So yeah, it just continues to go, and we’ll see. So tell Mom there’s more coming.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:47

I will. I will tell Mom there’s more coming. She’s always eager to read your new books. Oh, one more thing I want to talk about. You and I, during the break, were talking about how you have always lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I know you’ve traveled all over the world. So I was like, oh, hey, Jim, have you never moved out of your hometown? You’re like, no, I was born and raised here. My parents, you know, they didn’t pass away that long ago. And you and Crystal have always been there. And then you said, as a blind person, it’s really handy to really know your way around a place. And I was like, oh, my goodness, you’ve traveled the world. But it totally makes sense to me that you would never leave because, you know, every inch of your house – You take a walk every day in your office and you follow – you know the route. You know how many steps. You know when this step turns this way. And then you also – your alma mater, you have the Jim Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship. So you help with the teaching there where you went to school and where your wife went to school. So it really completely makes sense. It’s not like the person that I went to school with like in Minnesota. I’m going back for a reunion there. Some of them have never like left or like my girlfriend came to visit me once. She said, that’s the first time I’ve ever flown. I was like, whoa. You know, it’s a little different in your case. And you said that you notice a difference from people that never leave their hometown that haven’t traveled. And tell me about that.

SPEAKER 05 : 26:58

Well, I mean, if you’ve never traveled or read extensively, you don’t understand people and places. And I don’t think you can really judge or evaluate people unless you understand the backdrop of the time and place in which they lived. So, you know, it’s… It’s easy to think things about people that live in that city or that country or that place, but all you’re getting is someone else’s second- or third-hand information. And when you actually meet people, it changes your perspective. And, you know, I think we all need to have that mind-expanding thing when you go to different places and you meet different people. I mean, it doesn’t mean you can’t live in the place you work. You know, but I… You know, people always ask me, you know, what’s your favorite place? I’ve never been anywhere I didn’t like, ever. And years ago, I started doing something when I would travel to town for an event. I had a rule, like, I have to do one thing in this town. And I would always ask somebody, you know, what’s the one thing that everybody ought to do that comes to your city or your little town here? Or who’s the coolest person in your town? And I would go meet them, and I met some of the most amazing people, everything from Olympic athletes to war heroes to just fascinating, fascinating people.

SPEAKER 02 : 28:12

Well, I cannot believe we haven’t met in person yet. That’s one of my goals. I’ll be out there at some point to meet you. Oh, and interview Beth, one of your right-hand man, woman, that I talk to every week when I call you. The two of you wrote a book on dogs together. What’s the title of that one?

SPEAKER 05 : 28:31

Think Like a Dog with my colleague Beth Sharp. And, you know, we were discussing how much my consulting with corporate executives is like her training dogs. And so it’s kind of about, you know, what dogs teach us and what we learn from them kind of a thing.

SPEAKER 02 : 28:46

Oh, that’s so cute. She does so much rescue work, and I love it. I’m obviously a big dog fanatic myself, so I told Beth I’m going to email her to do an interview with her as well. All right, jimstovall.com. Always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you. Thank you. Be well.

SPEAKER 03 : 29:01

Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.