1-800-Mattress CEO Speaks to Tobin College of Business Students

An Ecuadorian immigrant who created and operates one of America's most successful new businesses shared his story with St. John's University business students and professors at a special seminar sponsored by The Peter J. Tobin College of Business on Thursday, December 9th. Speaking before a packed room in Sun Yat-Sen Hall on the Queens campus, Napoleon Barragan - founder, president and CEO of 1-800-Mattress - shared his observations on entrepreneurial success. He discussed everything from his moment of recognition of the potential for sales of mattresses over the phone in 1976 up to his current day-to-day operation of a multi-million dollar company. Always looking to help future entrepreneurs such as students at The Tobin College of Business, Mr. Barragan discussed the origin, evolution and current state of the tactics his company uses to define itself, communicate with customers, guarantee good service from manufacturers and distributors, effectively advertise and market itself, and other facets of running a profitable, continually expanding business. Entitled "Making Things Happen," the seminar was part of the Colman Mockler Distinguished Leadership Program.

The Colman Mockler Distinguished Leadership Program provides a means of communicating a vital segment of St. John's University's strategic objective – helping students learn how to balance in their lives two critical perspectives: success and values. Dr. Robert J. Mockler, the Joseph F. Adams Professor of Management and The Peter J. Tobin College of Business initiated this program. It is designed to further St. John's core values and related goals - enabling graduates to be successful in a socially responsible way. Colman Mockler, after whom the program is named, was Chairman and CEO of The Gillette Company for 17 years until his death in 1991. Colman embodied a consistent balance of deep personal values with success in business. Mr. Mockler’s success at Gillette was most recently chronicled in Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, a business bestseller defining the difference between companies that are merely “good” as compared to those that become “great”. Previous featured speakers at the Mockler lectures have included:

• Warren Buffet – legendary investor and one of the richest people in the U.S.
• Alfred Zeien – Former CEO, The Gillette Company
• Nickolas Davatzes – President and CEO, A&E Television Networks
• Mory Katz – President and CEO, Response Insurance
• Patrick Purcell – President and Publisher, The Boston Herald

Napoleon Barragan exemplifies the combination of success and values that the Colman Mockler Distinguished Leadership Program and The Tobin College of Business pride themselves on. His success is unquestioned, as he personifies the American Dream. With humble roots as the son of a farmer in Bilovan, a village in Ecuador, Mr. Barragan’s entrepreneurial drive brought him to the United States in 1969, and by 1975 he had opened a small furniture store. In 1976 he realized the untapped potential for selling mattresses over the phone, and Dial-a-Mattress – the first phone order mattress operation of its kind – was born. Mr. Barragan also possesses the visionary spirit and values for which Colman Mockler was known. His company focuses on the needs of the customer – knowing that although not always providing immediate rewards in the small picture, it is the wisest business decision in the big picture. He gives back to his community and continues to do what he spent time doing in Colombia prior to coming to the United States, and what he loves to do – teach. Only back then he was teaching languages, history and other subjects and now he’s teaching future business leaders how to follow their dreams and to find success.

View the photo gallery from the Colman Mockler Distinguished Leadership Program.