Sandra Beach Lin, Toledo, is an exceptional businesswoman, finance enthusiast, Tri Delta powerhouse and 2024 Woman of Achievement. Listen as she shares wisdom and advice from her remarkable professional career!
In this episode, Sandy shares her early business passion sparked by her involvement in Junior Achievement followed by Tri Delta’s transformative impact on her life. It all led to her trailblazing role as chair of the Enterprise Finance Committee which helped shape the financial future of Tri Delta. Sandy expands upon her life-changing Tri Delta board service, why she says “finance is fun” and what being named a Woman of Achievement means to her.
She expands upon her rich corporate background and takes us on her long and pioneering career journey and as the former President and CEO of Calisolar Inc., now Silicor Materials. She seamlessly transitioned into influential roles on several boards and currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Paradigm for Parity® Coalition, actively contributing to the mission of achieving gender parity in corporate leadership. Her advice on success, relationships, self-awareness, ambition and how she exceled in a traditionally male dominated industry is truly a must listen.
Sandy is smart, dynamic and a joy to know. Explore her current projects and what’s next for her, and get ready for laughs, wisdom and a sneak peek into her mind—she never stops learning and growing!
Hello, Tri Deltas, and welcome to another episode of our Let's Talk Tri Delta podcast. I am one of your hosts, Mindy Tucker, and I have the privilege of sharing stories from our amazing sisters, offering you an insider's perspective and a chance to truly get to know them right here on the podcast. Each year, Tri Delta recognizes a few extraordinary stories about Tri Delta women who have blazed trails and really exemplify Tri Delta's values and they're also paving the way for the next generation of women. And today we get to talk to one of our 2024 Women of Achievement, Sandy Beach Lin, from Toledo. Sandy has a rich corporate background as the former president and CEO of Cali Solar, now Silicon Materials. She's seamlessly transitioned into influential roles on several boards and currently serves as the co-chair of the Paradigm for Parity Coalition, actively contributing to the mission of achieving gender parity in corporate leadership. She served three terms on Tri Delta's Executive Board and served on the board of Tri Delta Housing. She also brought her high-level finance expertise to Tri Delta and was the founding chair of the Enterprise Finance Committee, and there are so many reasons I'm so excited for you to get to talk. to listen to her today, and I get to talk to her today, welcoming back Sandy Lin to Tri Delta's podcast. Sandy, how are you doing?
Hi, Mindy. It's great to see you again, as we talked about just before this call. I haven't seen you in a while, and it's wonderful to see your face again. Well, it is great to see you too.
I always really valued the time that I got to spend with you when you were on Tri Delta's Executive Board, so it's fun. to get to visit with you again and catch up. You really are a role model for women and I know I've paid particular attention to your career and business and the different positions that you've had. How would you describe the beginning of your career? Did you know what you wanted to do when you were in college? Did you kind of have it all planned out or how did this sort of unfold for you?
I would say that I had a lightning bolt of inspiration in high school. It was called Junior Achievement. And for those people listening and are watching, Junior Achievement is an organization that really promotes understanding free enterprise and business. And when I got involved in that in high school, it was an opportunity to learn everything about companies, corporations, partnerships, income statements, balance sheets, talent development, all of that on a scale at high school. And it just, after that, there was nothing else that I really thought, even thought about doing. I really wanted to be in business. And that then led me to a job at the Dana Corporation while I was going to college. And from there, I majored in business at the University of Toledo, which is where I was a Tri Delta member there. And then I had enough business experience to go and get my MBA at the University of Michigan. And then the rest of my career began in the chemicals industry. And I have industrial experience, made a lot of different products in my career. And in that, there I really wanted to rise as fast as I could. So that all started in high school with Junior Achievement.
Wow, that's I did not know that part of your story, Junior Achievement., such a great organization really teaches kids some great fundamentals in high school. I'm curious how you landed in the chemicals and special materials business.
Well, a company named American Cyanamid came to recruit at the University of Michigan and they had this great program that many companies do where you get to spend a year trying out different things from a project point of view. And then at the end of that year, you decide and they decide where you go into. And in our case, it was a line role. It was supposed to be a line role, which made it either manufacturing or sales. And I chose to go into sales, selling rubber chemicals to the tire industry in the Akron area. And then from there, again, lots of polymers in my career, but it started out really in that job, especially after I was selling rubber chemicals to the tire industry.
Wow. You know, what occurs to me, you and the other Women of Achievement from this year have all been in traditionally male-dominated fields and industries. And I'm wondering how you carved out your place and how you navigated that dynamic. I'm thinking of you selling tires. You know, I don't know what year that was, but selling rubber materials to tire companies that, I mean, it must have been male dominated at that time. And how did you navigate that? And deal with that?
Yeah, well, that was the early 1980s. So, yes, it was a while ago. Many people on this call were not even born then. So, you know, in Tri Delta, we do things in threes. So I think of three ways that I was able to succeed. The first was performance, which was do your job and do it really well. So performance clearly. The second is relationships, taking time out to build relationships. relationships. In this case, it was a tremendous amount of business relationships with a lot of men. Because that's really what was in these heavy manufacturing industries that I was in, but it was also it was with suppliers, it was with customers and it was up and down the chain in the companies that I worked for also getting to know people who worked for me work with me and worked that I worked for. And, and then finally it was sort of creating this this little sisterhood and I use the example is that you find peers who are in similar environments to you and when I was selling those rubber chemicals that we talked about the lead purchasing person at BF Goodrich was a woman and then two really interesting and great engineers at General Tire and the four of us would go to the rubber division of the American Chemical Society meetings where I kid you not it was like 400 men and 10 women. But we also, outside of that, had a euchre group, which in the Midwest, euchre is a big, big card game. And so finding that sisterhood within this environment was really supportive. And again, reminding me of the sisterhood that I have in Tri Delta, just in different circumstances.
That's such great advice. I love starting with performance. Like, do your job. Make sure you're doing your job well and then enhance with these other things. That is three pieces of great advice. My next question was going to be like what other, what advice do you have overall for our listeners about the skills they need to excel in business that you learned in your career? So I don't know if you can, if you want to expand beyond the three that you just shared, those are so good.
But well, one of the things that I don't think we talk about enough. in the world that I live in, the business world is self-awareness and you really need to have that throughout your career. It's about knowing what you're good at, but then when you receive feedback, listening to that, acting on it and growing from that. So self-awareness I think is really, really important. Second is to be open. I know you know, Mindy, but at one point in my career, I had the opportunity. to move to Singapore. And it really wasn't on my radar screen. And the phone call that I got, we had just built what we thought was our dream house in the east side of Cleveland area. And I'm from Ohio again, as you know. And it was just great. And I got a phone call like 10 months into that job to move to Singapore. And it was a phone call that I wasn't gonna get twice. And so we went, but being open to that opportunity really changed the trajectory of my career. Everything changed after that in terms of it was like on steroids in terms of how fast I was able to move and do different things and get different roles. So be open is the second thing that I would say. I would also say that ambition is a good word. And so whatever your goal is, go for it. It means obviously you're going to have to work really hard for that. But I think ambition ... having ambition to do, to set your goals and to go after them is a very good thing. And the last thing I would say is that lifelong learning, it's really important. And I get feedback from the boards I serve on right now at my age and what I've done. And I learn every year how to be a better board member and how to serve the communities and the other groups that I'm involved with because I keep learning and keep developing myself.
Yeah, I got it, you know, the world is changing so fast all the time that if we're not learning, we're not keeping up. This is what I find. It's the only way to stay relevant and in the know and your most effective self at work because the world around us is changing so fast.
That's right. And finding different ways to learn, I think is important. Again, in my case, obviously, I do a lot of reading, but I make sure I attend conferences and those types of things that'll help me be better. But like I said, and the boards I’m on, we have formal board evaluation processes. So I get feedback every year.
That's good.
I'm being able to accept that feedback, no matter where you are in your career. I think that's another skill that is helpful to have. Sometimes when it's difficult feedback, you might need to put a little space between you and that feedback, at least for at least hours and days, maybe a week or so.
Yeah, right, right. Let's talk a little bit about your service and your experience in Tri Delta. First of all, how would you describe your experience serving on Tri Delta's Executive Board?
I really would call it life-changing. It was very unexpected and it came at a time in my life and my career where I had the time to be able to devote to the role. But it also gave me a chance to put essentially 40 years of experience and skills to work for an organization that I love. So that was like win, win, win all over the place. And then on top of all that, I got to serve with these amazing women. And again, Mindy, you know these women who are really sisters for life. And I also saw Tri Delta from an entirely new viewpoint with what I consider the best seat in the house, which is again, a seat on one of the boards. So really unexpected, amazing, and life-changing for me.
I love hearing that. When I think about it, you were chair of the Enterprise Finance Committee on, the Tri Delta Housing Board. Okay. pivotal times, a lot of change going on. And I wonder if you have the ability to look back now and see how does it feel to look back? Now that committee, the Enterprise Finance Committee, is a standing committee in Tri Delta. It's just part of how we operate. But it was a very new concept at the time. And I think about your legacy. I wonder how it feels to look back and see the kind of impact you had, just, you know, in that short time that you spent on the board, that short piece in Tri Delta’s history, but impactful.
It is one of the things I'm most proud of that we did during the six years that I spent on the board and again with these amazing women that we just talked about earlier. So, Tri Delta’s finances are very strong. It's a very well-run organization. We have an amazing. chief financial officer in Barb Hall. And so what we needed to do was just increase our financial oversight of the organization, including the housing investments that we have, including the foundation investments that we have, and really to add best practices to our financial management. So what we did was we tapped, as we know, multiple highly, hugely qualified volunteers to serve on this committee. I mean, these are some kick-ass women who have had outstanding financial careers, whether it was in the professional accounting firms, whether it was in banking. And what we were able to do was really foster these best practices, and best practices from an oversight point of view for the Fraternity, for housing, and for Tri Delta’s Foundation, that I think are gonna serve the organization well as we talked about going forward.
Yeah, I agree. I think it's a beautiful legacy that you've left us and I feel really strong, all of us that work around it, I think can say our ability to understand the organization's finances has dramatically increased and improved from the experience of just digging in and creating some structure around it. So thank you for that.
Thank you.
From the staff perspective, thank you.
Finance is fun. Remember, don't forget.
Finance is fun. We call it “finance” now, not finance.
That’s even better! Again, for the people who are listening, whether you're a collegiate or an alumnae member, Tri Delta is a large organization. And as I mentioned, really strong finances because the women who have gone before us have done a great job of taking care of this organization. So again, very strong. financial foundation for us to continue to build on.
Yeah. So I'm curious what it means to you as a member of Tri Delta to be named a Woman of Achievement. What does, how does that feel? And what does that mean to you?
I'm gigantically honored. Again, very surprised when I got the call from Karen and Janet Miller. Because I've seen the Women of Achievement, I've seen the women who have gone before us and tremendous admiration for them and so to be included with Maureen and with Brooke and this year's Women of Achievement just again, gigantically honored and very appreciative. This organization means a lot to me and thanks a lot.
Well, it's much deserved, you know, no question that you have earned that honor within our ranks. Let's talk a little bit about your board service beyond Tri-Delta because that's also been a place of focus for you and some interesting positions there. Your bio on that front is very long, but share where your board service is keeping you busy right now. What's top of mind for you and where is your time being spent at the moment?
Right. Right. Well, I serve on the boards of three public companies, American Electric Power, which is one of the largest utilities in the United States. Two specialty materials companies called Avient and Trinseo. And then on a private board in Canada, Ripple Therapeutics, which makes clinical stage ophthalmic therapeutics. And it's a startup and it's again, the beauty of this is one company is $40 billion in market cap and Ripple Therapeutics has 23 people. So it's quite an interesting array. And so those are the corporate organizations that I'm involved with. And then I'm involved in the Paradigm for Parity, which I think we'll talk about in a minute, which is really focused on creating gender parity at the leadership levels of corporations. And then the Achievement Foundation goes all the way back to my high school days. So I used to, fast forward from my age 16 to when I was here and I live in the Dallas area, I was an executive at Celanese and I got a call to go on the Junior Achievement USA Board, which is the national board of Junior Achievement. I served there for several years. And then I now serve on the board of the Achievement Foundation, which is an organization that really supports junior achievement areas around the United States. So those are the types of things that I work on now.
I do want to dig into Paradigm for Parity. This was always something that inspired me as somebody who spent a lot of my career, you know, sort of moving women into positions that were traditionally held by men or just creating parity there. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about what Paradigm for Parity is? You were one of the founders of this and I'd love to know kind of the current state. Where are we? What progress has been made?
Yeah, the beauty of Paradigm for Parity for me is it brings together leadership experience, supporting women and the corporate world. And so in 2015, there were about 55 very frustrated senior women leaders, because we knew that the progress that we had been working on since early in our careers, remember in my case, 1980 going forward. just hadn't moved at the pace that we wanted it to. So we said to ourselves, we got together and we said, what can we do differently? And so out of that, we created Paradigm for Parity. And Paradigm for Parity, as I said, is really about creating gender parity in all leadership levels of corporations. And we wanted to do this differently. So we had, we have three, here we back at three, three areas that we focused on. The first is the pledge. pledge, companies pledge to create this gender parity in their organizations and they create the timeframe over which they do that. Secondly, we created a five-step action plan, and it talks about things like basing career progress on results and performance, not just presence. So giving women some flexibility to not have to be in the office all the time, which by the way, this was created before the pandemic and hybrid work. We talk about ensuring that women have operational roles in their careers. We ensure that they have not just mentors, but sponsors. So, there's a five-step action plan that we created. And then the third piece that we created was a toolkit that we keep adding to and changing. And it's got this amazing programming that we do all year long for the companies that are part of Paradigm for Parity. Then in the last couple of years, we of course made sure that we added a multi-cultural lens to this. So again, we are serving all women, making sure that all women have the opportunity to get to these leadership levels in corporations. And we started out in when we started the kickoff, the full kickoff in 2016, we had about 22 companies and organizations and now we have 153. And that would include Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Merck, McKinsey, Hershey, Otis Elevators. And we also have a metrics survey that we do every year. And the metrics survey is showing that if a company implements this five-step action plan, they will see progress in terms of women in leadership roles in their organization. So we're pretty excited about where we've gotten to so far. But again, until we have like all the Fortune 500 signed up, we keep going.
Right, right. There's always room to grow.
There's always room to grow.
And it sounds like a group of thoughtful women came up with a concept and are trying to change the world. That does not sound unfamiliar to us at Tri Delta, of course. I do wanna dig in a little bit about your Tri Delta experience. I know it's always played a big role in your life, but you were the first person in your family to go through recruitment. What made you decide you wanted to do this?
So it was a great friend of mine from Junior Achievement in high school. Her name's Karen Hanley, now Karen Connors, and Karen comes from a long Tri Delta family history. And so I could see what Tri Delta had done for her and her family. And then I met the Phi Alpha Chapter at the University of Toledo in recruitment, and they had me at Hello. It was just just such a warm and caring group of members and I formed so many lifelong friendships and sisterhood, I guess, from there. Again, my BFF, as I know you know, Mindy, is a Tri Delta and we talk all the time. And, but I've also found that throughout my involvement in alumnae groups, as I go around the United States, as I lived around the United States, in different places in the United States, that warm caring feeling of sisterhood was always there. And I always, I say that sisterhood is truly everywhere in Tri Delta and then I loop that right back to how I ended up becoming on the Executive Board. I was a member of the class of Leadership Dallas here, and one of our advisors was a woman named Krissy Barker, and Krissy and I were talking one day. And I learned I loved Krissy even before I knew this all of a sudden I learned she was a Tri Delta and I said of course you're a Tri Delta because she's warm and caring and is a great sister so again I find that everywhere, I found it right at the beginning at the Phi Alpha Chapter and I find it every day today.
Yeah, I love that it's that instant friendship that it just sort of you know it breaks away anything that's unknown about the other person but bonds you in a different way. What lessons did you learn in Tri Delta in your collegiate years that you took with you into your life and career?
One of my favorites is that a great team with a purpose can do anything. And my favorite example of that, which again, some of my Tri Delta sisters know, especially over on the Executive Board is through music. And in, I didn't know much, I mean, I'd never been in a choir or anything like that. And at the Phi Alpha Chapter at the University of Toledo, we had some women who were amazing singers and musicians. And we had a contest every year called Songfest at the University of Toledo. And if you won three years in a row, you retired the trophy. Well, guess what chapter retired that trophy?
(laughing)
(laughing)
We don't have to guess. We don't have to guess.
Yeah, but again, for me, I was sort of a hanger on who just really learned to appreciate music in a way that I had never done before. But it's that great team with a special purpose that can do anything. I learned that. I also learned the importance of supporting one another. I think that's sort of obvious as you go through your career, you really got to support each other as team members and people and organizations are multi-dimensional. And by that, I mean, I really learned from that. And I've been in many, many situations around the world where different cultures, it was really important for me to be able to successfully work inside different cultures or alongside different cultures. But also then, how do we take advantage of the skills that each person brings to the game? And again, I learned that in my chapter and I learned that all throughout my efforts and time in Tri Delta.
Yeah, it really is. I love the music story because you're still so passionate about Tri Delta music.
I am.
I love hearing kind of where that started for you.
Yes, that's exactly it.
I love sharing that story, Sandy, who has been part of the choir at Convention.
Yes.
So what's next? What's next for you? What's next for Sandy?
Well, continuing to enjoy time with my family and my friends. Of course, that's always important. Continuing to serve on the boards that I'm on for the foreseeable future. That's not a forever thing. But right now, I'm really continuing to enjoy that. I'm hoping at some point, when there's a right new Tri Delta volunteer role, that will match up. We'll see what that looks like. And then I really love history. So continuing to travel and go to places where my husband and I can dig deep on history or if we're lucky, our two daughters can come with us on these trips and go dig deep on history with us.
I love that. I cannot thank you enough for joining us today. Congratulations on the honor of Woman of Achievement. Well deserved, can't think of anybody who deserves it better than you. So, thank you for—
Thank you, Mindy
Thank you for everything you've done for Tri Delta and for giving us a snapshot into your world for our listeners. I just think it's so fun to get to share these stories of these women. We have so many dynamic and amazing women in our midst and I love unearthing these stories and sharing with the greater, the greater membership. So thank you, Sandy. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Honored as always. Thank you, Mindy. Great seeing you.
We are going to catch up with all three of our Women of Achievement on March 26th, that noon central time during a very special panel discussion as part of our LEADDD Network. And if you're not a member of the LEADDD Network, you can join us today, just in time for this session. You can do that online at Tri Delta .org/events and click on the LEADDD Network to get started there. Please like, subscribe and rate our podcast. We have three stars in our crescent but we love those five star ratings. Thanks so much for joining us today and until next time, Delta Love!