A Similar Heart: Why the Rockhurst Alumni Network Works

In 1997 Merritt Neil was about to graduate from Rockhurst with a degree in Communication Studies. Like other seniors, she needed a job.

Little did she know that the door that would open thanks to a Rockhurst alumnus would lead to what she called “one of the greatest gifts of my life.”

That alumnus was Bob Merrigan, the first Communications major at Rockhurst and a 1976 graduate. In 1990 he started a marketing agency called Merrigan & Co. and seven years later he was looking to hire his first full-time employee at the end of the school year. Merrigan had interviewed 3-4 Communications majors before Department Chair Weslynn Martin called him and said they had someone who would be a great fit.

“I convinced Merritt to work part-time while she was still in school, and she did,” Merrigan said. “And then I distracted her long enough, I guess, from looking for other jobs so she stayed. She was eager to learn and a quick study.”

Neil tells a slightly different story.

“I had gone in Weslynn’s office and said, ‘I need to find a job,’” she recalls. “I had resumes for different positions: I had a PR resume, an inside sales resume. Weslynn said, ‘I’ve got this alum…’

“So I had my first phone call with Bob and he goes, ‘I’m in the field of direct marketing. You know what that is, right?’ And I was like, ‘Of course I do!’” Neil said. “And then I thought I need to figure out what direct marketing is because I had no idea.”

The next couple of years were tough, but Neil felt she was sufficiently prepared to learn. Merrigan helped with the rest.

“I think Rockhurst gave me a good basis from which to work and how to approach things,” she said. “I credit Bob with teaching me pretty much everything I know. That connection was incredibly important in my life. It was hard. Bob was tough at first, he got me in shape, and it just kind of flowed from there.”

As a Rockhurst grad himself, Merrigan knew what to look for from former Hawks entering the workplace.

“The curiosity is one of the many things, frankly, that I think brings people to Rockhurst,” he said. “It’s wanting to learn, wanting to discover, and a willingness and interest in growing. A level of initiative. So, all of those things, how do you package that? That’s the nature of the beast – the nature of business is you have to think on your feet, you have to be honest and really operate in the sincere interest of the client, which requires a certain level of integrity. That’s just some of the fundamental values that I think are at the core of what Rockhurst does, who Rockhurst students are.”

That initiative and willingness in growing propelled Neil from being a junior employee to mid-level to being promoted to vice president. The business was growing, and the staff went from just her and Bob to adding more employees.

It was also at this time that the business started turning its focus to non-profit clients.

“When I went to work for Bob we were more of a general agency that had clients – B2B clients, different types of clients – and then we started getting more nonprofit clients,” Neil said. “Today our business is mostly all nonprofit. I loved the direction of the business, obviously loved working with Bob, and had developed significant, outstanding relationships with clients.”

Merrigan saw that passion and felt the time was right to incorporate a succession plan. That led to an ownership transition where Neil and colleague Monica Tiffany bought the business from Merrigan and established a 50-50 partnership structure between them. Merrigan didn’t go anywhere, however. He signed an employment contract and remains a key part of the business today.

“A lot of businesses… it's very difficult to have the original owner still involved,” Neil said. “We have been able because we have such deep respect and friendship and love for each other, to continue that relationship. He's now my employee, which is funny, but oddly it feels right. And we actually just kind of settled into our new roles. He's invaluable.”

Merrigan said the transition was in his best interest.

“It was more of a retention strategy,” he said. “You have a person growing, learning, developing abilities and capabilities… how do you keep them? So that's where that started.”

The Kansas City Business Journal wrote a story on the three colleagues, getting their expertise on how to “smooth an ownership transition.” Spoiler alert: Nothing matters more than trust.

“We did everything by the book and hired a consultant to value the company,” Neil said. “Bob was gracious enough to help make the financial terms manageable for us. It’s one of the greatest gifts of my life.”

Neil comes from a family of entrepreneurs. Her dad owns a small business and her mom, who has since passed away, owned a small business. In fact, Merrigan & Co., now referred to as M&C, operates out of a building Neil’s grandfather owned – and it’s just around the corner from Rockhurst at 55th and Troost.

Both Neil and Merrigan stay close to Rockhurst, and not just by working around the corner.

Neil teaches on campus as an adjunct instructor of Nonprofit Leadership Studies in the College of Business, Influence and Information Analysis. Merrigan is a frequent guest speaker.

“She makes me teach a class once a semester,” he said.

Neil’s work ethic has extended from M&C to the classroom.

“I really worked very hard in my adjunct role in staying connected to my students,” she said. “I've taught enough classes now that I'm kind of a regular mentor to a lot of those students and have opened up job opportunities for them. They'll come back to me when they're maybe looking for their next opportunity or need to deal with a difficult situation at work. That's one of the things that I've valued most. It’s most gratifying to me is to see all the Rockhurst students that I've taught emerge and go out into their professional roles.”

Essentially, Neil is to recent Rockhurst students what Merrigan was to her – an alum who can open a door to new career possibilities.

“At Rockhurst, the campus is small enough and the education is unique enough that when I find another Rockhurst graduate, it means something to me, and it means something to them,” she said. “And there really is this sense of service and paying it forward. When I look at my life, you don't have the perspective when you're in the situation to see the trend, because I was trying to find my first job, and it was ‘I guess I'll go work for this guy.’ But the fact that he was at Rockhurst, and he came recommended to me… I think at Rockhurst, people have a similar heart. And I think that's why it works, and it's continued to work.

“I tell my students that you don't realize what power you have at your fingertips, just with other Rockhurst people in this community,” she continued. “I think it matters in Kansas City. It's benefited me and in so many ways, obviously, both personally and professionally.”