SDSU Skills Lead to Successful Career for Patagonia Executive

By Suzanne Finch

Yvonne Besvold

Many of San Diego State University’s nearly 500,000 alumni remember spending time at Monty’s Den, which was located on the first floor of the old Aztec Center. Even though the Aztec Center was demolished in 2011, Yvonne Besvold ('82, management information systems) and her husband, Chris, have some special memories of the old pub. “I worked at Monty’s Den and was the first girl bartender,” she said. “My husband still holds it against me that I didn’t give him cuts in line for a pitcher of beer on Fridays when the crowds were deep.”

While the people skills she learned as a bartender have served her well throughout her career, it was the technical skills she learned in the classroom that helped her earn career success. “Every business student needs to be proficient in advanced Excel, data management and analysis,” said Besvold, now the CFO/senior financial officer at Patagonia, Inc. “While in college, I was able to use technology and tools from my favorite programming/flowcharting IT classes to complete work in my investment class, small business administration support program and summer internship in the aerospace industry.”

"Fun Fact: While most people associate Patagonia with our outdoor clothing, we also have a food division, Patagonia Provisions, where we sell sustainable and traceable organic food, wine and beer. We also make surfboards at our FCD location on campus."

- Yvonne Besvold ('82, MIS) Senior Financial Officer, Patagonia

It was those same technology skills that helped Besvold get her first job in the retail/fashion industry when she applied for a position as an IT auditor for Carter Hawley Hale (CHH) Stores whose holdings included the Broadway, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Contempo Casuals, among others. “When I interviewed, the general auditor told me they had a stack of resumes from accountants applying for the job,” she said. “They only had one resume with an IT background — mine! It was a great place to start my career since I got to travel, learn about retail, use my IT skills and, yes, I got a great store discount.”

Besvold gained her technical skills as a management information systems (MIS) student at SDSU’s Fowler College of Business. She chose to apply to SDSU because she “was focused on the business school, had friends at SDSU and thought San Diego would be an amazing place to experience while in college,” she said. “I chose SDSU because I knew that the business school offered a superior experience in the breadth of programs and depth of practical experience compared to other choices. I have never looked back from that choice and continue to think that the Fowler College of Business is a leader.”

After Besvold landed her first job at CHH, the company split up and she transferred into a finance position at Contempo Casuals, a division of the Neiman Marcus Group, where she stayed for 10 years eventually becoming the VP of finance. She then moved to the Disney Stores, where she worked in various financial roles, including CFO of North America, before she took a position as CFO for Babystyle. In 2009, she became the corporate controller for Patagonia, where she now heads up the company’s global finance, tax and controllership operations as the senior financial officer/CFO.

Besvold and other Patagonia executives took at trip to Patagonia (Argentina) in 2020.

“Patagonia has grown exponentially from 13 years ago,” said Besvold. “We are now a billion-dollar-plus global, vertically integrated wholesale/direct apparel business. Our team sets standards and manages all of the corporate financial operations from our headquarters in Ventura, California.”

Over the years, a major component of Besvold’s jobs have consistently been the need to understand, evaluate, propose and implement financial networks, ERP systems, specialty programs and data warehouses with the objective of improving operations, infrastructure and decision making. Recently, she has been analyzing sustainability issues when evaluating and influencing business providers. 

While Besvold’s skillset and the technologies have evolved, it’s her passion for hi-tech that has helped her to earn the success she enjoys now. She encourages today’s SDSU students to follow her lead, saying “Do not graduate without taking advantage of these classes! I guarantee this will set you ahead in your first job out of college. Then take that technical job or cross functional project for these types of experiences throughout your career.”