Elon students gathered in LaRose Digital Theatre to hear Elon alum and Biscuitville CEO Kathie Niven’89 discuss her leadership journey and career path.
The discussion was part of the university’s “Lessons from Leaders” series, which provides students access to senior leaders with insights in marketing, management and becoming a professional leader.
Setting the tone for the conversation, Haya Ajjan, Dean of the Love School of Business, opened the discussion by explaining the purpose of the event.
“We celebrate bold leadership, entrepreneurial thinking and the power of an Elon education,” Ajjan said.
Niven graduated from Elon with a degree in English and a minor in communications, Ajjan said. Though Elon wasn’t her first choice, Niven said the small class sizes and access to administration was something she appreciated and noticed other schools she has worked with did not have. Although she initially planned to attend law school, Niven said a friend’s mother introduced her to the restaurant industry after purchasing a struggling Arby’s franchise.
Niven described Arby’s as being “defunct,” yet it was the first place she used innovation and creativity to build a brand. She became involved in almost every aspect of the business, from running operations and human resources to cutting commercials and buying media. She called her experience a “mini MBA.”
Niven has worked as a marketer with many companies, including Krispy Kreme and Quiznos. In 2018, Niven became president and later CEO of the Greensboro-based and family-owned company Biscuitville. She said she originally joined the company as chief brand officer and was only looking to work part-time to be with her young children.
Niven noted how difficult it was to be a mother and CEO simultaneously. Open communication, something she emphasized throughout the entire event, brought her family together. She shared with students what she told her family.
“I need you to understand that we’re going to make sacrifices, and I’m not going to be in everything, and I’m not going to be home at five, and I need to know that you guys support me,” Niven said while crying.
Despite initially viewing the role as temporary, Niven said the company’s values changed her perspective.
“All the private equity firms that I’ve been working with are trying to reinvent these crack brands that aren’t really ever going to go anywhere, and don’t really stand for anything, ” Niven said, “And then this company is amazing.”
Culture, Niven said, is one of the most difficult aspects of business to cultivate. She explained that while a brand can be built on operations and strategy, culture has to be intentionally cultivated, something she said most private equity firms that she used to work with, fail to truly prioritize.
To ensure Biscuitville did not fall into that pattern, Niven said she worked with employees across the company to establish 19 cultural norms that guide daily operations. The consequence for not following these rules is termination, regardless of position. The biggest risk she took as a CEO was terminating a popular operations leader who, after months of asking, still refused to follow the Biscuitville culture norms.
“Interview companies more than they interview you,” Niven said. “Don't go somewhere where there's a tyrant at the helm and you just didn't ask, and then you hate the job. Figure out what they believe in and do they align with your values.”
She further encouraged students to focus on their strengths rather than overcompensate for weaknesses.
During the Q&A portion of the event, a student asked Niven how entry-level employees can come to the company with the same creativity she brought to Arby's and Biscuitville. Her advice was to ask them what their own innovation process looked like. She said their response often reveals whether the company’s culture is a fit for you.
Niven was also asked about artificial intelligence and its role in business. She has made ChatGPT a part of her everyday life, and recently used it in Biscuitville to communicate the math behind a profit sharing system for restaurant operators, saving her finance team several weeks of work.
Senior Caitlin Nay, an accounting major, said that as a future accountant, she won’t fear artificial intelligence.
“Let it do the things that don’t require your unique skill set,” Nay said. “But don’t let it do the things that would.”
In her final pieces of advice to students, Niven said it was OK to not know everything.
“I used to walk in with a 20-pound bag because I felt like I needed to be able to answer any question that ever came in,” Niven said. “Then, my male counterparts would come in with nothing, a water bottle.”
Niven said she once felt pressure to prove herself in male-dominated spaces but has since learned that uncertainty is part of leadership.
Nay said that hearing that perspective made her realize it was something she could work on herself.
“Women in business think they have a lot to prove when really everyone is kind of on the same playing field, whether they're a man or a woman,” Nay said.
For students preparing to enter the workforce, Niven’s message was consistent throughout the event: to embrace uncertainty, protect your values and trust the path you choose.
"It takes time to build trust, and that's the same with leadership. It takes, you know, consistent, reliable successes. It takes consistent, reliable values, so people want to see you continuously do great things, and then you build that trust, and then you continue to compound that," Niven said.