Sandra Anderson has worked in the electric utility industry for 22 years. In 2018, she was recruited to leave her job in Wisconsin and move to California to help the California Independent System Operator (Cal ISO) launch a Reliability Coordination Services department. Today, as a reliability coordinator for Cal ISO, she oversees the operations of the power grid from Washington state through northern Mexico, monitors the integrated transmission and generation system to ensure reliability, and identifies conditions that may lead to widespread outages.
Though her career focuses on utilities, Anderson has always been interested in learning more about business. In 2020, she decided it was time to do something about that interest, so she enrolled in the Executive MBA (EMBA) program at Sac State just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“We only had 13 students in our cohort instead of the typical 30 or so because of COVID,” she says. “But because of that reduced number, we got to work with everybody, we got to know everybody, we formulated friendships, and we figured out where we could leverage each other’s experiences in different areas.”
Anderson’s final project in the EMBA program was to write a business plan. She wanted to own a business, so it was a perfect opportunity to explore that possibility further.
“I realized the courses I took were really teaching me how to start my own business,” she says. “It was a deep dive into exploring, ‘What do you want to do? What are you good at?’ I decided that by the time I graduated I wanted to launch my own business.”
Armed with the knowledge she gained from the program and the guidance she received from her professors, Anderson filed incorporation papers for Kaye’s Konnections LLC, a long-haul trucking company, in September 2021.
“I got an SBA loan funded and bought my first Freightliner truck and trailer,” she says. “The Thursday before I graduated, I sent the check out to pay for it all. My business was up running.”
Anderson’s mission is to improve the truck driver experience. “There is a high demand for trucking services, but truck drivers are fed up with the conditions,” she says. “Many of them are not paid well, and they are away from home a lot.”
Kaye’s Konnections strives to connect drivers to a good driving experience where they are paid well and have more time off to be with their families. Anderson also wants to give back to the community, so her company will donate 10 percent of its net profits to philanthropic organizations.
The 12-hour rotating shifts Anderson works at Cal ISO gives her the flexibility to run a business outside her full-time job, and Kaye’s Konnections will provide her the financial stability she’ll need after she retires from Cal ISO in seven years.
Anderson says the EMBA program was the turning point she needed to take a chance and launch her business.
“I was scared, but because I worked closely with my EMBA professors, I had the confidence to go for it,” she says.
Anderson’s goal is to buy at least seven more trucks within the next seven years.
“After I retire, I'm going to give them to my son. He can operate everything, and this can be part of his inheritance and legacy,” she says. “I’m grateful I was able to achieve this goal.”
