Mentor Pair: Randy Lee ’84 and Jack Anderson ’16

Jack Anderson ’16
Management and political science

Randy Lee ’84
President of McCally-Lee Entertainment

Not a parent, not a professor, but something supportive to help students launch post-college.

That’s how Lee, who has had five Gustie mentees, describes his role. “If the student takes advantage of it, if he or she is not afraid to expose vulnerability, that student can soak so much out of a mentor versus a parent or a professor.”

For student Anderson, he extracted Lee’s seasoned ability to remain focused and grounded on the journey. “It’s a great opportunity to have an alum who’s been in my shoes and can help keep me measured,” Anderson says. Lee, who worked in Fortune 100 environments in sales, marketing, and tech, is now a partner in McCally-Lee Entertainment (with fellow Gustie John McCally ’86). Anderson is an entrepreneur himself, learning early and often.

The two talked weekly about business, marketing, and gleaning all you can from your experiences. They had much in common—values, visions of success, problem-solving strategies—so conversation came easy. “It wasn’t so much him giving me marching orders, it was more emotional support,” Anderson says.

“Participation in the Mentor Program is not for the mentor to put a feather in his or her cap,” Lee says. “In the end, I can guide them, I can push them, I can plant seeds, I can give opinions. The mentee should say, ‘That was time well spent. That worked for me.”

And if it works for both people, the relationship can live on after the mentee’s graduation. “We continue to work very closely together even though we don’t have a formal Mentoring Program relationship now,” says Anderson. “That’s how it works in the real world.”

Would you like to mentor a Gustie?
The Gustavus Mentoring Program pairs a current Gustavus student with an alumni, parent, or friend for a mentoring relationship. They commit to meeting once in person, then on a monthly basis from October through May, whenever and wherever it suits both of them. The student drives the relationship, and there are several resources available to help facilitate conversations on leadership, values, and goal-setting.