In light of Valentine’s Day this month, the editors of QUESTPress wanted to highlight the unique story of William and Jennifer Layton, who met while they were students in Cohort 1 of QUEST (formerly referred to as the IBM-TQ program). They were gracious enough to share their unique story and their experiences in the program in order to reconnect with alumni, staff, and current students.
1) Please tell us a little about yourselves!
Jen and I run both a 1300 acre grain farm (corn, soybeans and wheat) and a vineyard and winery (Layton’s Chance Vineyard & Winery). We have two children, 8 & 10. Since we just opened the winery less than two years ago, it consumes most of our lives. In addition to the winery, Jennifer is on the Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Salisbury University, Perdue School of Business Career Advisory Board. I am the President of the Dorchester County Farm Bureau, a member of the Maryland Soybean Board, and Treasurer of my local Ruritan club.
2) What have you been doing since your graduation from QUEST and University of Maryland?
Upon our graduation from the QUEST program (IBM-TQ at that time), we immediately got married (five days after we graduated). Then 20 days later we moved halfway across the country to Kansas City for my job. I got a job as a management trainee for Toyota Motor Sales. I was training to be a warehouse supervisor. Six months later, I got a position as a warehouse supervisor with Toyota, but it meant a move to Los Angeles. We stayed there for three years before I was again transferred to Cincinnati. Here, I helped with the design and construction of a new warehouse for Toyota. During these eight years, Jen had to switch jobs several times because of my reassignments. She was a collections agent with Toyota Motor Credit, a quality control supervisor for a clean room laundry, and a procurement manager for a forklift company. She also ran their continuous improvement teams. But about the time of the birth of my first child, I decided that I would like to go back and run my family farm that I grew up on. After eight years of moving around the country, we moved one more time back to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to live on a farm. At first, it was just a grain farm, but we quickly decided that we needed to diversify, and made the decision to move into grapes and wine. We spent two years preparing before planting the first grapes, then waited another couple of years for the grapes to mature. We then built a winery and started our new business. At first, Jen worked off the farm. She worked first as a training coordinator for the Small Business Development Center. Then, after getting her master’s degree (MBA), she got a job as a project manager for a defense contractor. But a year into our winery opening up, we quickly saw that we would need her to work there full time, and so she quit her job and came back to be the “Jen”eral Manager. Jen has never held the same type of job twice, which once seemed to be a curse but she now sees it as a blessing as it was great preparation for running the winery. We are now working together to make our business a success.
3) Has being a part of QUEST helped your career? If yes, how?
William: The program definitely helped my career, as Toyota was a very Total Quality oriented organization. My training in the program came in particularly handy when I worked on a project to design a warehouse for Toyota in Cincinnati. In this job, I worked hand in hand with engineers to design a building that was practical for the work being done, and also efficient, sturdy, and sound.
Jen: I have had several positions that directly utilized the practices learned in the program such as the quality control supervisor and running the continuous improvements teams. However, I have used the skills in almost every position I have had because they have all involved creation of new processes and refinement of old ones.
4) If you could turn back time and take one QUEST class over again, which one would it be and why?
William: If I could go back and take one class, it would be the one that dealt with Design of Experiments. In my winemaking, there are a lot of variables to be dealt with in deciding how to make a wine. I think that I would get a lot of relearning Design of Experiments and applying that to my wine trials.
Jen: I would like to take the first class where we had design the hair dryer as it was so challenging; I think I would get so much more out of it if I took it again.
5) What is your favorite QUEST memory?
William: I remember many things from my time in the program. Probably my best memories are from our first group project. We had to design a hair dryer. Since we were the first group, in the first year of the program, the professors were learning just as much as we were. We were given a fairly loose set of parameters, and we had a lot of fun trying to figure out what we were doing. It was a lot of late night group work, but we really bonded as a team, and it was a lot of fun. For me, as somewhat of a loner, it was the first time I had really worked as part of a team, and I found it very frustrating and also rewarding.
Jen: I would agree with William, the group meetings were the best memory. We had many late nights and accomplished things together that in the beginning we did not think were possible.
6) What advice would you give current QUEST students?
William: To current QUEST students, I would say to enjoy your time in the program while you have it. Remember all of the tools that you are taught in class. They are the things that will give you a leg up on competition in the workplace.
Jen: I would say to really immerse yourself in the program and make the concepts part of everything you do as it will make you tremendously valuable to society.
Want to learn more about Layton’s Chance Vineyard and Winery? View their website here!