The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/406282
26 Fall 2014 s chairman of the board of The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), he's got an ambitious goal on his plate. It's also a personal one. Growing up in the small town of Auburn, Maine, a half-hour north of Portland, Bradford learned early on never to take a meal for granted. Starting in grade school, he joined his dad and step- mom as they drove around town, collecting food salvaged from grocery stores in large banana boxes. They'd comb through the items, discarding anything that couldn't be eaten, and deliver the rest to the home of JoAnn and Ray Pike, a couple who'd set up a makeshift pantry in their garage, sharing food with the neighbors who needed it. That pantry, with the help of Bradford's parents, would go on to become the Good Shepherd Food Bank, the frst of its kind in Maine. Today, it's the largest in the state. Bradford recalls the immediate, visceral difference food makes in a person's life. "You saw the impact you could actually have on somebody's life by helping them satisfy one of the basic founda- tional needs: food, clothes, shelter," he says. "Food's frst for a rea- son. If you don't eat, you die. We made a big difference to people, and that's always stuck with me." But it was more than that—there were times Bradford's own family selected items from the pantry's shelves. "We didn't have much growing up," he says. "I'm one of those stories." They were living in a camp at the time, where heat came from a wood stove and running water was a luxury they had in the sum- mer, but not the winter. The family would frequently shower at his grandparents' house or the local YMCA, and food from the food bank helped stretch out a fair number of meals. "It's probably the foundational reason I have this great passion for the cause," he says. "I can see what a difference it makes to solve that issue for people." FOUNDATIONS When high school graduation approached, Bradford considered only one college option: WPI. He'd always been good at math and science, and was impressed with WPI's reputation as an engi- neering school. The university was small enough to feel safe, and far enough from home to feel independent. He didn't bother ap- plying anywhere else, fguring if he didn't get in he'd join the military. He got in. While at WPI, Bradford played football and joined Sigma Phi Ep- silon. He fondly recalls the fraternity's annual Christmas party— the brothers spent weeks soliciting donations of toys from area businesses, and purchased a number of items themselves. Then, one of them would dress as Santa and hand out toys to Worcester kids in need. The experience helped nurture his service minded- ness and round out his education. Academically, he thrived in the sciences, and had trouble se- lecting a major. Physics? Math?, Chemical engineering? Looking back, he admits he's not sure why he ultimately opted to major in chemistry, but he does recall a couple of infuential professors en- couraging him to pursue the subject, explaining that there were a number of great career opportunities in the feld. And so there were. His frst job after graduation was as a tech- nical service chemist with National Starch and Chemical Co. in New Jersey, where he worked with a group making adhesives. He quickly found a mentor and enjoyed the job. Not long after he began, his company purchased a small adhesives company and needed someone to manage it. "My mentor reached out to me, a little kid straight out of WPI, and said we're going to let you go to work on this. So I got thrown into the pit of fguring stuff out with no real roadmap." It was the frst of many times he would be grateful for his WPI education. "WPI gave me an extraordinary foundation for think- ing analytically and thinking logically," he says. "It was the founda- tional learning that had the biggest impact in terms of my career going forward." In his new position, he relied on his chemical background, while also publishing in a technical journal, patenting a product he'd developed with his team, rebranding products, seeking FDA ap- provals, and more. "I realized there was a whole world out there beyond mixing things in a test tube," he says. "So I decided to get a business degree." On a whim, he applied to Harvard Business School and was accepted, graduating with high distinction as a George F. Baker Scholar. Once again, he credits his WPI foundation for his suc- cess. "Harvard Business School is known for the case method of learning, where you don't sit and get lectured to, and you don't get books to study and talk about it afterwards. You're given busi- ness cases to solve. And so you're sort of thrown into the pot," he says, likening the experience to the IQPs and MQPs of WPI. "Here's a problem, fgure it out." If Woody Bradford '89 has his way, everyone in eastern Massachusetts will soon have access to at least one meal a day.