BarstowWallofFame: Michael Andrew Olguin, President & CEO, Havas Formula

Michael Andrew Olguin, President & CEO, Havas Formula

Michael was born in Barstow on February 17, 1961 to Gillie and Vina Olguin. He is one of eight kids, which meant everything had to be stretched to go along way – food, money, clothes, toys and time with his parents. The family grew up like many Barstownians – dinners at home, part-time jobs, pass-me-down clothes and lots of squabbles. Though most of the kids were approximately two years in age apart, with a range of 18 years from youngest to oldest, it felt like they all grew up together. They had the same teachers, the same problems, worked at some of the same jobs and most importantly they always faced their challenges like a family. Elaine the oldest sister still lives in Barstow and is very involved in Kiwanis and formerly it’s president. Brother Gary teaches 6^th Grade at Crestline school in Barstow, having gone back to school in his late 30s to get his degree and teaching credential. Sister Lori lives in Victorville and just recently retired from being the office manager of an engineering firm. Brother Ruben is a very successful realtor in Visalia, California and recently voted President of the Tulare County Association of Realtors in 2018. Sister Natalie lives in Manhattan Beach and is the former President of Sandpipers, a very prominent philanthropic organization in Los Angeles. Brother John lives in North Carolina and is also in PR having spent his entire professional career in sports, initially with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 12 years and for the last decade serving as Vice President of Marketing and PR with Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR. Youngest sister DeAnne got her dad’s artistic ability is a working artist and recently completed all of the graphic illustrations for her friend women’s soccer legend Julie Foudy’s new book on leadership for girls called, Choose to Matter. The bond that was forged back then continues to exist today even though both his parents have passed. But what has never died is a desire to make an impact on the lives of others, whether it be through work or the community.

While attending Mt. St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Barstow from grades 1-8, Michael spent most of his waking hours playing sports. Basketball, flag-football, kickball, track & field – you name the game and that’s where you’d find Michael. His favorite teacher Sister Rosemary was tough with super high expectations – even for kids like Michael who cared more about sports than school. She knew how to push just enough to get the most out of everyone, but at the same build outstanding relationships with each child.

As Michael moved on to Barstow High, his desire to succeed appeared to be more reliant on sports than academics. Michael graduated in 1979 and spent his four years playing basketball, running track and cross country – but his real love was hanging with his friends. His high school buddies continue to be a big part of his life even today, so many years later.

Like many in Barstow, Michael had no real understanding of college and what it takes to get there. Truth be told, the only persons he knew who had a college degree were the teachers at Barstow High, as every other adult was blue collar and working for an hourly wage like his father. Upon graduation he didn’t have the grades to go to college, and though he loved and played sports, he was never going to play beyond high school, thus finding a job was inevitable. However, as luck would have it (you will find that luck follows Michael pretty closely) Michael met John Wilder, a former Barstow-area real estate broker while playing for St. Joseph’s adult league basketball team. John saw some potential in Michael and asked if he’d be interested in managing Horizon Sporting Goods, a retail store he owned in downtown Barstow. With not a lot of options in front of him, Michael jumped at the chance to leverage his love of sports into a potential career of selling sporting goods.

After nearly two years, the excitement of the job had dwindled and the realization that it was not going to amount to much had become a reality. Then as luck would have it, another former Barstow athlete came into Michael’s life. Rudy Bryan, one of Barstow High’s greatest athletes had returned from his football-playing days at the University of Oregon. Rudy had taken the job as General Manager of the Barstow YMCA, a gig that was right up his alley – he loved kids, was a natural leader, a great organizer and of course le loved sports and community events. Over the months Rudy became one of Horizon’s biggest customers, buying jerseys, balls and other sports equipment -- during that time Rudy and Michael became fast friends. One of the biggest programs that the YMCA sponsored was Up With People. At the time, Michael could never have imagined how this organization would change his life.

Up With People was a travelling performing group comprised of over 100 students that went from city to city and in each, the cast members would stay with local host families in order to get a full immersion into the local community. The program was designed to foster good will and relationships between people of all races, colors and creeds through music and performing. Though Michael had absolutely no historical relationship with music or performing, he was intrigued by the idea of traveling the world – even if it meant singing and dancing to do it. With a bit more luck, Michael was selected to travel and visited many countries in South America, Canada, Mexico and nearly 35 states – all in one year. Though only 20 years of age, Michael felt like he was experiencing things he could have never imagined – thus the seed of desire to accomplish big things had been planted.

Upon his return to Barstow, Michael came back a highly motivated, focused and determined person who was ready to do the heavy work necessary to succeed. At 21 years-of-age, Michael began his first semester at Barstow Community College and made the decision that academics was going to be his priority. He joined the honorary academic society Alpha Gamma Sigma, became vice president of the student body and played doubles with his close friend Luis Martinez on the BCC tennis team. After two years, Michael graduated with honors and with lots of financial aid transferred to San Diego State University with a goal of becoming a public relations professional.

Though Michael was older than most transfer juniors, he decided to be actively involved in everything SDSU had to offer. He joined Sigma Chi fraternity, played intramural basketball and worked on campus to ensure he had some spending money. In May of 1987, Michael graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in Marketing. He quickly landed an internship, that turned to a full-time job at one of San Diego’s largest public relations agencies – The Gable Agency. After nearly six years in the PR industry Michael made the difficult decision to go out on his own and open up The Olguin Company, a full-service PR firm in San Diego in 1992. Though the first few years were challenging, he quickly realized if he listened to his father’s words of advice “work hard and treat people fairly” and with a little luck he could succeed. Though he won some big name clients, such as Great Expectations, Yamaha Marine, 76 Lubricants and others, he realized he needed to make changes in order to really drive growth. Thus, in 1998 Michael changed the name of his young company to Formula PR because it reflected the process necessary to succeed in marketing – a formula.

Formula grew quickly and expanded to offices in LA and NY and began to win big name clients like Tecate Beer, Guitar Center, Easton Sports, Kashi Cereal, Newcastle Brown Ale and Phillips 66 and more. As the client portfolio grew, so did the head count and before long, the company was over 100 people and rapidly growing. With that growth the public relations industry started to take notice and suddenly Formula landed on Advertising Age magazine’s listing of the hottest PR agencies in the country. That coupled with many client awards for outstanding work drove interest in potential acquisition by many global advertising agencies.

Thus, in 2014 Formula was acquired by Havas, a French-based, publicly-traded marketing communications company and renamed Havas Formula, with Michael being elevated to President and CEO. Since that date, Havas Formula has luckily grown by 20% each year and won new client brands like Jaguar/Land Rover, Panda Express, Yelp, Trane/American Standard, Justin’s Nut Butter and Chase Bank to name a few. This success has been instrumental in Havas Formula winning many awards, the most important being named 2017’s Best Agency to Work For, by industry publication The Holmes Report.

Michael calls this luck!

However, Michael is proof that if you work hard good things will happen, even if you are not a natural academic. Michael has always believe that if he had never joined Up With People, his and his whole family’s life would have been different. It opened his eyes to what exists outside of the small confines of Barstow. However, he realized he couldn’t do it without an education and the strength of character that was formed all those years ago in Barstow.

In 2017, Havas Formula celebrated its 25^th year in business and was just recently ranked the 53 largest firm in the United States and the 88^th largest firm in the world by PR Week.

As a bi-coastal executive, Michael splits his time between Rye, NY and San Diego, California. He lives with his girlfriend Sarah Christianson and his two kids Sophia (17) who has been visiting many colleges across the country in preparation for her academic future and son Eli (14) who spends his time playing sports – baseball, golf and basketball – chip off the old block!

Our President Michael Olguin introduces Havas Formula at#GLM2015 in London!

Q and A

Who was your mentor? How did he or she influence you? I never really had a mentor, though the one person that really believed that I could do more was Jean Rhodes, the mother of my high school girlfriend who really believed I could go far in life if I really put my mind to it.
Which high School did you attend and year of graduation? Barstow High School, Class of 1979
Which was your favorite subject? Speech Communications – this is where I overcame the fears I had about public speaking. We played a lot of charades and gave oral presentations in front of the class forcing each student to overcome their fears.
Advice you would like to share to a high school student. Though teachers can play an important role in your education and growth, it’s really up to you to focus, set goals and challenge yourself to truly realize your potential. The foundation for success is education. This cannot be trivialized or minimized.
Favorite Quote Stand up for something, or you’ll fall for anything. Alexander Hamilton