Lucky for Principal ®, Amy Keiser lasted just 90 days in her first job in 1999. “It was in sales for another financial institution, and I quickly realized it was not the right role for me,” Keiser says.
Fortune had other plans for Keiser: She connected with a friend working at Principal®, which led to a position in the retirement division. “I consider that my first real job,” laughs Keiser, who is now vice president of retirement product management.
Graduation followed by two jobs in rapid succession might be disconcerting for many, but not Keiser. If anything has defined her nearly three-decade-long career, it’s been an embrace of change. “If you’re willing to learn, you can do a lot of different things,” she says.
From the basketball court to corporate life
A fourth-generation farm kid from South Dakota, Keiser was a math-loving, standout basketball star in a high school class of just 28. College recruiters came calling, and Keiser was determined to find a place that would cover tuition and enable her to do something she loved (basketball) while earning a degree she would use (business). “My parents didn’t go to college, and I wanted to start off life without debt,” she says.
At the University of South Dakota, the basketball team was a four-year immersion in building good habits and managing deadlines. “I learned quickly to say no to things that weren’t critical to the mission—to get work done without letting distractions get in the way,” Keiser says. “My teammates became my family, and those are still my lifelong friends. I got a great education—I got my ROI.”
Post-graduation and living in Des Moines, Keiser’s first Principal job turned into 17 years of tenure, as she willingly took on one challenge after another. “A lot of times, there weren’t instruction manuals—we had to figure out problems or integrate opportunities into the company,” Keiser says. “I discovered that I enjoyed learning new things, and that helped me navigate my career. It’s fun and rewarding to learn from the ground up.”
Leaving, and coming back to, Principal
Then one day, a recruiter came calling; there was a position open with a firm in Denver. Was Keiser interested?
With three kids not yet in high school, she knew if she and her husband were going to move her family, she’d have to take the leap. “I’m energized by change,” Keiser says. “I wanted to see if I could learn a new company and bring value to a different organization.”
She could and she did ... which made her open to a call from Principal five years later. “I grew so much in that time, but I also had a great experience from my 17 years at Principal,” Keiser says. "The position at Principal offered a unique opportunity to own something. I could add something to the team I couldn’t before.”
So back to Principal she came, but this time, remotely. “My husband has been following me for 20 years, and he had the opportunity to take over his family farm,” Keiser says. They relocated not to Des Moines, but South Dakota. That’s given Keiser a chance to put a post-pandemic hybrid work model to the test: She’s in the Des Moines office twice a month. “I do my best thinking when driving,” Keiser says with a smile.
Love what you do
On the basketball court, Keiser learned some fundamental lessons that have continued to guide her: Everyone brings something different to the effort. The best teams learn how to work together. When things are not going well or as planned, you have to get back up and get back to work.
“At Principal, every day we’re working with people from all parts of the world and from all walks of life,” she says. “We all benefit when we learn how to support each other’s strengths.”
The culture at Principal helps, Keiser believes. “We invest in our people, and that’s even more important coming out of the pandemic,” she says. “I have the connections I built those first 17 years, and new connections I’m building, too.”
She’s also building connections—some still in basketball—in her family’s new community. Keiser volunteers with the local girls’ team, and, of course, helps on her family’s farm when time allows. “I have such joy in what I do—I work for a Fortune 250 company but get to hang out with my family on the farm,” she says. “I’ve never been afraid to roll up my sleeves and get the job done.”
Passion—for basketball—drove Keiser along her path for a little while, but passion of a different sort drives her now. “I’ve realized you could chase a job title or something that sounds big and important,” she says. “But you don’t have to do that if you love what you do.”
What's next?
Find a career that fits your skills and passions at principal.com/careers.
