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As the President of Tasty Baking Company since 2011, Paul Ridder ’00 MBA expanded Tastykake into a national brand through leveraging a merger with Flowers Foods, making Tastykake available to 75% of the U.S. population.

He acknowledges, however, that no one can truly succeed alone. “VSB helped me better understand that success is a ‘team sport,’” Ridder said. “Having the right team makes all the difference in the world,” a point he reiterated at VSB Fest, the celebration kick-off event for VSB’s 100^th Anniversary.

Ridder acts upon this worldview through his participation in the VSB Mentor Program, as he believes mentoring had a positive impact on his path to success.

One particular year, Ridder matched with a first-year VSB student. Throughout the student’s time at �޻���ֱ��, they met regularly to discuss classes, majors, career plans, networking, and work-life balance.

When his mentee recently called him to discuss a new opportunity, he felt his experience come full circle.

“She walked me through how she made her decision, why it was the right one and how she thought that maybe it was time for her to get involved as a mentor,” Ridder said. “She was right, she was ready and seeing that cycle of giving back being completed and started anew was an amazing experience that I won’t forget.”

It’s mentorship experiences like these, Ridder believes, that positively impact our community and ourselves.

“I believe that if you can make a positive impact on just a few people’s lives that it can have an exponentially positive ripple effect across the communities in which we live,” says Ridder. More simply he notes, “Along the way I grew as a person and became a better leader in the process.”

He further encourages individuals to share in mentorship opportunities and make success a team sport. “Get up, get in the game and be part of someone else’s team!”