4 Questions with Spirit of Advent Award winner Kyle Mayes
For some, an internship is a foot in the door. For Kyle Mayes, an internship was a chance to kick the door down. Kyle joined Advent in 2014 as a sales and marketing intern and quickly moved into a client relations specialist role. By June 2017, Kyle was named the strategic advisor for the Northeast region. Clearly, Kyle has the respect of the entire Advent team. This year, Advent employees bestowed upon Kyle the Spirit of Advent Award, given each year to the person across all departments who most exemplifies the values, mantras and vision of Advent. Of Kyle, his colleagues say this: “Kyle is intelligent, eloquent and always adaptive. … He continually encourages others to be their best self. … He is cool, stylish and presents himself well. … Kyle understands clients because he is always listening. … He is always the person you can count on to go the extra mile and follow through. Kyle is simply the Spirit of Advent.”
Here, he joins us to discuss what this award means to him and to reflect on 2017. What does this award mean to you? Kyle: It really means everything to me. Advent is a family, so to have your family select you for something like this, is just very special. I’m blessed to work with the kindest and most creative people, all of which I respect so much. I’m extremely honored and humbled to have received this award, and it’s something I’ll remember and cherish forever. What project made the biggest impact on you this year? Kyle: There were two for me: Creighton basketball and TCU football. I’ve been involved with both of these projects since the beginning and they’ve both lasted a couple of years. To see the impact from the beginning through completion this year was awesome. These facilities were great to begin with, but they were missing something. The Advent teams we had on both of these projects did a fantastic job of understanding what needed to be done over multiple phases of work. Thankfully, we were able to partner with the great people at Creighton and TCU and really create something special that I know we are all very proud of. What excites you most about 2018? Kyle: To me, it’s the unknown. We had an incredible year last year, but we are discovering new ways to solve problems for our clients. There are some exciting things project-wise that we’ll finally be able to show off this year. From a strategic consulting side, we’re continuing to work with some really great people and take on some very interesting projects. Our team can do anything we put our minds to, so I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays itself out in 2018.. You started at Advent as an intern. What have you learned from that process? Kyle: That we’ve changed a whole lot in terms of the things we are offering to our partners and the types of projects that we are involved with. What really hasn’t changed is who we are as a team. We continue to add more and more talented people to our team, but even as we grow, everyone is focused on doing their job and the things that they can do to help make our team better. That’s due to John and TA’s leadership. Their passion and vision, along with the rest of the executive team, has been what’s allowed us to grow at an incredible rate and still maintain the same spirit that we’ve had since the beginning. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of the Advent team.