Several Godley ISD school board trustees and district administrators visited Milliken & Company headquarters in Spartanburg, South Carolina during June 2023 to explore the manufacturer’s company culture and innovative design processes.  The invitation for the opportunity included educational leaders from other areas of the country.

Milliken is a global manufacturing leader with a rich history spanning back generations of the family-owned business dating back to a Maine general store in 1865 to over forty textile mills in South Carolina just twenty years later.  Curiosity and innovation led to the current textile, chemical, floor covering and healthcare divisions for Milliken-branded products as well as for everyday items in homes and workplaces produced in collaboration with leading national manufacturers.

Providing an opportunity for school board trustees to complete annual state-required training, leadership sessions with Milliken staff centered on strong culture and ethics, organizational effectiveness and innovation that sets it apart from other firms and businesses.  Milliken invites education leaders from throughout the country to its headquarters each year to showcase company excellence as well as innovative operations.

Attending were trustees Marissa Abbott, Terrie Goodloe, Christa Heiner, Dennis McFarlin and Craig Stevenson as well as Superintendent Dr. Rich Dear, Assistant Superintendent Jason Karnes, Chief Academic Officer Airemy Caudle, Chief Human Resources Officer Cheryl Villanueva, Director of Career and Technical Education Nikki Nix and Chief Communications Officer Jeff Meador.

“Milliken is the epitome of innovation, problem solving and creativity,” commented Nix. “The culture of their workplace encourages their employees to create, fail, iterate and try again. In the end, their results are creative solutions to problems that we face with licensing and patents for intellectual property.” 

Nix also spoke of the benefits for the CTE center currently under construction at Godley High School. “Facilitating a learning environment at The WILD and in classrooms across GISD where students tap into their creativity and problem solving skills is a goal for me,” she said. “Building confidence and resiliency in students to take a risk, try a creative solution, and succeed or potentially fail again, graduates students from our schools that are future ready no matter what their next destination may be.”

Two trustees, board president Matt McKittrick and Kayla Lain, were unable to make the trip due to work and family commitments.  Lain attended the Texas Association of School Boards’ Summer Leadership Institute to complete required training, and McKittrick will be attending in-person and virtual seminars.