Distinguished Executive Alumnus awarded
Founder and owner of the Crystal Inn and MacCall Management, a board member of Flying J and a member of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business’ National Advisory Board, Crystal Maggelet said her greatest success in life is being a wife and a mother.
“A business, if we’re lucky, maybe it will last three generations,” Maggelet said. “But those kids and that bloodline and what they become is forever in my opinion. And they are live human beings that can give back to society in many different ways than a business.”
Recipient of this year’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business Distinguished Executive Alumnus Award, Maggelet spoke to an audience of more than 500 students, parents and supporters of the school of business at the Annual Fall Awards Banquet about the importance of finding balance in life.
An executive for most of her professional career, Maggelet said she has a chaotic life at times and struggles to find balance in her day-to-day life. But looking at balance from a lifetime perspective has helped her realize the successes and achievements along the way provide the balance, she said.
“If, when my life is over, I can look back and see that I was successful, only then can I say that I achieved balance in my life,” Maggelet said.
Douglas Anderson, dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, said Maggelet was selected for the Distinguished Executive Alumnus Award because of the lifetime of success she has shown, from her days as a student to the successful creation and management of the Crystal Inn.
Anderson said Maggelet is an example of achievement to students and students will benefit from her message of balance.
“I think her message about the most important achievement she has made has been as a wife and a mother is a timeless message that all of our students, both the males and the females students, will benefit from,” Anderson said.
Before becoming a mother – one of Maggelet’s lifetime dreams – she said she started out as a business student at USU, trying to figure out exactly what she wanted to do with her life but knew whatever she set out to do she could be successful.
Leaving USU to finish her degree in marketing, Maggelet graduated from Pepperdine University and landed a job as a buyer and seller of petroleum for Flying J, which was founded by her father, Jay Call.
Maggelet said her father was always encouraging of her pursuing her dreams and never pushed her to work at Flying J, though the experience provided her an opportunity to practice what she learned in school.
Realizing she wanted to do something more with her life, Maggelet said she earned a master’s degree in business from Harvard.
After graduating from Harvard, Maggelet teamed up with her father to build the first Crystal Inn in Salt Lake City, which required her to quickly study up and learn the ins and outs of hotel management. Opening the hotel in 1994, it was an instant success in Salt Lake, with every room being sold out, Anderson said in his introduction of Maggelet.
At this time, Maggelet said her life changed again when she met her husband Chuck. She said instantly their lives became intertwined and he’s “my business partner, he’s the father of my children and he’s my best friend who I love dearly.”
Together, they founded MacCall Management, a hotel development ownership and management company, and set about expanding the Crystal Inn enterprise, Maggelet said. Chuck worked on finding new locations while she managed construction, often working 80 hours weeks, a job that was challenging for the couple as newlyweds, she said.
“We learned strengths and weaknesses about ourselves in that time that I believe most married couples in their entire marriage never find out,” Maggelet said. “That built a fantastic foundation for our relationship today.”
In 1995, Maggelet said she had to find balance in her life again when her son Drew was born.
“We loved that we had something else to talk about besides work,” Maggelet said. “We loved being parents. And of course, being the over-achievers we are, within five years we had four children.”
Realizing the importance of devoting proper care to her children, Maggelet said Chuck took over all operations of the business so she could stay at home – a sacrifice she said she knew may slow the growth of the business, but one that was worth it.
Maggelet’s children – Drew, age 13, a 10-year-old daughter Lexi, and Erica and Hailey, twin eight-year-olds – were in attendance and Maggelet said she was appreciative of her children’s support and promised she and her husband would support them in every endeavor they pursue.
While Maggelet said she has had many challenges in her life along the way, including the tragic death of her father in an airplane crash in 2005, she is constantly working on her lifetime pursuit of finding balance.
Leaving the students with some advice, Maggelet said, “If I could leave you with three ideas tonight, they would be: Believe in what you want and go for it; leave all your options open, work hard and believe in yourself; and most of all, remember that balance doesn’t happen day to day but over a lifetime.”
In addition to Maggelet’s speech, more than 400 students received scholarships from a variety of donors and five faculty members received awards and honors.
–seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu