Originally published on February 09, 2023.
Mike Flavin was an active and gregarious student at SUU, interested in others and rarely seen without a smile on his face and a hand extended in greeting, and although his first idea was to become a sportswriter, he was a born salesman.
He’s still highly outgoing and says, “Some days, I think that sales chose me. I just like people. I like to learn about their stories, their challenges, and their lives.”
His first job was what he thought would be a temporary sales fill-in. “That’s how my career in sales started,” he says. “I never left.”
A graduate of Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, he sold for Fortune 500 companies before his current role with ELB Learning in American Fork, Utah, selling custom training solutions globally.
Beside his daughter and son, both high achievers who were born deaf—and his personal “heroes”—he talks a lot about his virtual army of friends—many from his SUU days—and of his love of travel, which has taken him to 47 states and several countries and earned him a place in a million-mile flyer club with Delta Airlines.
And, he’s not at all shy about extolling the virtues of his alma mater.
“SUU provided smaller class sizes and a chance to be involved in a little bit of everything,” says the communication major. “I knew it was the place for me after my very first visit to campus. And, I realized I had potential. I had teachers that believed in me and I learned I could rely on myself to accomplish my goals.
“I was encouraged to try out new things,” he continues. “I was a sportswriter and editor for the newspaper, a radio DJ and a Presidential Ambassador. These experiences empowered me and taught me that I could learn, adapt, and succeed anywhere.
Tags: Alumni
