Nicole Hagerman is vibrant, articulate, and quick to smile. She exudes an aura of international sophistication rare for someone her age. The Bozeman native has been on a fast track to international business since she earned her degree in business administration from UM in 2000.

She now serves as Director for International Sourcing for Overstock.com, the web’s sixth largest online retailer. Based in Salt Lake City, Hagerman works with agents in India, Taiwan, Europe, Shanghai and Bangkok to secure high-quality retail products at liquidation prices. “Most people think of us as a close-out or liquidation retailer,” she says. “They don’t know that it’s possible to find products by top designers for at least 50% off the retail price.” Overstock.com started out as an online liquidator – buying closeout products from suppliers and selling online for clearance prices. In the last few years, Overstock has diversified its inventory to a great range, including electronics, furniture, housewares, apparel, accessories, books, music, and videos.

Immediately after graduating, Hagerman traveled and did an internship with Teva before returning to UM to work at the Montana World Trade Center. She was coordinating guest speakers for a conference when she met Patrick Byrne, the President and CEO of Overstock.com. “The way Patrick tells it, he got in an elevator with me on the ground floor and by the time we reached the trade center on the second floor, he knew he wanted me to work with him.” Nicole explains that she actually worked hard to connect with Byrne while making arrangements for the speakers to come to campus. Byrne was impressed by her persistence in getting in touch with him and asked her to come to Salt Lake City and join his team.

Nicole accepted the offer to move from Missoula to Salt Lake City with the understanding that there would be opportunities to focus on international business. She was a bit apprehensive initially, when she arrived at Overstock.com and there was no international sourcing at all. Within two months, however, Byrne announced that Overstock.com would be expanding to international sourcing and asked her to oversee this part of the business. The rest, as they say, is history. “I don’t think anyone who Patrick brings into the company knows what they’ll be doing for anywhere from two weeks to two months after they first arrive. He just brings in talent.” If talent is the secret to Byrne’s success with Overstock.com, then Hagerman fits right in.

Business is going well. Overstock.com’s stock price was $53.79 on February 28, up 48% over the last twelve months, and the company reports total revenues of $221.3 million, an increase of 80% over the prior year. Nicole says she can see herself staying with the company for “a while.” Meanwhile, she continues to stay in touch with Arnie Sherman, Director of the Montana World Trade Center, who she calls a mentor. And she finds time in her full schedule of international teleconference meetings and travel to make it to Missoula about once a month.

Congratulations, Nicole, on your abundant opportunities, and on your ability to pursue your goals. We can see that you mean business!