As a founding executive of Hot Topic I say good-bye to Betsy McLaughlin.

Remember 1993? Clinton sworn in as the 42^nd President. Waco, Texas. Sleepless in Seattle and Jurassic Park were on the big screens, while we listened to Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Rage Against the Machine.

The later was very important for me – because it’s the year that music became not just a big part of my personal life, but an even bigger part of my professional life.

Hot Topic (way before it was HOTT) was setting up shop in a non-descript Ontario CA, office not much larger than a bedroom with Orv Madden and his wife Leann, Jay, Robert, Cindy, Sue, Karen, myself and the newest employee – Betsy McLaughlin – sitting at desks barely 3 feet a part. 

Betsy was brash, organized, optimistic, forceful, professional, and insightful – and did I mention organized? It was a time in the company’s history when you literally jumped in a car to deliver goods when you had to. We worked nearly around the clock, trying to create something very, very different.

Betsy wore lots of hats – structuring the organization, creating process, creating a “cycle of life” to keep an amazingly scattered concept not only on track but well ahead of the growth we were experiencing.  While Orv was the Master of Ceremonies for the circus, Betsy was the lion tamer. And boy, were people coming to see the circus! Everyday was exciting – leading and following trends as rapidly as they came and went. We had to create an infrastructure to deal with levels of sell- thru that none of us had every seen before – and develop the technology from scratch (thanks Eric).

Its hard not to be nostalgic seeing Betsy leave Hot Topic. For a short while we were peers, comrades in arms, (sometimes not seeing eye to eye but always working it out), and friends. We both used our experience from the early days to lead retail companies. She just did it on a grand, grand scale!

I once told someone who was promoted to President of a national direct marketing retailer (he was not prepared to lead) – “Being President is great club to be a member of, but the dues are really, really high.”

I know Betsy worked hard for all the success she delivered to Hot Topic –and she paid her dues. I know she will leave an indelible stamp of her personality on a great retailer. I know she handled pressure most of us do not even glimpse – and did so day after day.

For me – it is the end of an era. And Betsy, I thank you.

Garr

garr@garrettlarson.com