There’s really no class that tells you what you want to be when you grow up. For Derek Stevens M’24, he just knew he liked to help people. Well, that … and he realized around 10th grade that playing in the NBA probably wasn’t in the cards.
After graduating from high school in Chatfield, Minn., Stevens found a way to meld both interests, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in athletic training and minoring in exercise science from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2009. He met his wife of 13 years, Amber, while at school and they moved to Rochester, Minn., after graduation.
“We love the Rochester area,” Stevens shared. “But actually, part of what brought me back here was Vanicream.”
Pharmaceutical Specialties Incorporated (PSI) — better known by its brand name, Vanicream Sensitive Skincare — was where Stevens spent his summer and Christmas breaks working while in college. Vanicream develops, manufactures, and distributes products for people with sensitive skin.
Stevens’ remembers helping lay sod his first week on the job in 2004, and the company’s approximately 30 employees had just moved into the new building.
“At that point in time, everybody did everything. I helped out with manufacturing, production, shipping … I helped clean the bathrooms and the equipment, taking out the garbage and landscaping,” Stevens said.
Stevens continued coming back to PSI on his breaks, and upon each return they had grown and evolved in some way — a new product, new equipment, new employees, renovating the building to add more space, or updates to optimize their current space.
“It didn’t take long to realize something really special was happening with this organization. And I started to think about how I fit into it,” Stevens said. So, he switched gears after graduation and continued working for Vanicream, now as a sales rep.
Stevens spent the next 12 years at PSI working with dermatologists, allergists, and pediatricians to educate them about products, provide samples, and help them connect patients to retailers selling Vanicream products.
One element that he thinks makes Vanicream unique is that despite its tremendous growth — now employing 145 people and substantiated as the #1 dermatologist recommended brand for sensitive skin — every department continues to be housed together in the same building. “Sales, manufacturing, shipping, production, customer service, research and development — you name it. It’s all together, which I think is part of the magic because it makes us really nimble and able to collaborate together,” Stevens said.
In 2021 his role transitioned from working with physicians to retailers when he was promoted to national account sales associate. At the same time, his supervisor also encouraged him to consider the idea of advancing his education.
“My role with national accounts was super applicable to an MBA, and I liked the idea of getting more of a well-rounded understanding of the different aspects of an organization and business.”
He didn’t have to look far. Today, a glance outside his office window still gives him a perfect view of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota’s Rochester Campus.
Obtaining his Master in Business Administration with Saint Mary’s gave Stevens a comprehensive understanding of what the business world says about how certain departments function within an organization, and he enjoyed using those insights to compare with how his organization was structured.
“I need to do a lot of inventory management and work with our operational team on how we can become more efficient and effective, and to increase our ability to meet demand, so learning about forecasting thought processes and lean manufacturing were especially applicable to my organization.”
It wasn’t always easy. Balancing school with a full-time job and busy home life was a challenge at times, but Amber and his two daughters, Kennedy and Quinn, were so supportive throughout the process.
“I couldn’t have done it without my family,” Stevens shared. “They were so encouraging and really helped give me the space and time I needed to do the work. Even on the hard days, they were always really, really encouraging. I owe a lot to my three girls.”
With his MBA in hand, Stevens is now able to marry his real world work experience with the broader understanding of business and operations management afforded by his degree, which continues to help him in his day-to-day life at work. Now director of national accounts, Stevens’ work focuses on strengthening relationships with retailer partners and leading strategic initiatives to continue growing the business whose mission he loves so much.
“It’s so rewarding to pull up reviews for many of our products. You can truly see the difference they make in people’s lives,” Stevens shared. “For a lot of people that have serious, sensitive skin issues, we’ve been a godsend to them and that’s so rewarding to me.
It’s the mission, it’s the products, and it’s the people — that’s what I really love. I love where I work, I love who I work with, and the organization as a whole is just a really great place to be.”
