Andrew Sutton’s (12) journey to PLNU started like many students, with a visit to campus during a break in high school. Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Sutton traveled down to San Diego with his family to take a tour.
“I was hesitant, but within a couple of minutes of being on campus I loved it,” Sutton said. “I remember thinking I have to be here.”
Over the next four years, Sutton would spend his time earning his degree in business administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurial finance. He forged connections with professors and other students and enjoyed the feeling of being on a smaller campus.
“The whole place felt like home,” Sutton said. “To the point where years later, when I went back to visit I was walking down the halls of the business department and some of the faculty and staff still recognized me by name.”
After graduating, Sutton began his career with a newly founded company called Tipsy Elves as a contracted employee. Then a small startup, Tipsy Elves, a holiday-themed apparel company, was looking for someone who could help them reach the broader market and manage their operations. And while it wasn’t the only job he was considering, Sutton recalls that it stood out to him as an opportunity to learn a lot due to the company’s quickly growing customer base.
“I definitely took a leap of faith with [a small company],” Sutton said. “But I was able to really get my hands into everything.”
By the end of his contract, Sutton has secured a position with Tipsy Elves as their first full-time employee. His responsibilities included product design, customer and business relations, as well as coordinating photography and even modeling the product once when the company made an appearance on Shark Tank.
“In my last few years [at Tipsy Elves] I focused on supply chain and, specifically, fulfillment execution through final delivery that really set me up perfectly for my next role at Dr. Squatch,” Sutton said.
After Sutton transitioned to working at Dr. Squatch in 2021 he was once again paving the way as the company’s first full-time employee focused purely on supply chain and fulfillment. The company, founded in 2013 with natural soaps, quickly broadened their product base to include a variety of other natural items focused on men’s personal care.
As a certified B-corporation, Dr. Squatch holds themselves and their products to extremely high standards around environmental impact, transparency, and accountability. Their values-based vision connected with Sutton’s own approach to professional calling and relational business practices.
“[At PLNU] I learned how to lead with both excellence and humility and to see work as a calling to leverage my God-given strengths, not just a job. PLNU shaped me in more ways than I realized during my time on campus.”
“[At PLNU] I learned how to lead with both excellence and humility and to see work as a calling to leverage my God-given strengths, not just a job,” Sutton said. “PLNU shaped me in more ways than I realized during my time on campus.”
He spent the first few years at the company focusing on stabilizing the ecommerce experience after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed sales online. Since then, Sutton and his team at Dr. Squatch have been working through the renaissance of retail shopping and riding the switch from ecommerce orders to business-to-business (B2B) wave.
“My favorite part about my role is the complexity,” Sutton said. “It’s like solving a new puzzle every day or week, and the opportunity to build high-performing teams as we work together to chase a shared goal. I also love that our brand has a purpose. It makes it easy to lead with excitement and passion as the team focuses on speed and adaptability over perfection.”
Now with nearly 13 years of experience in the business world, Sutton continues to find ways to stand out in his industry by prioritizing relationships while still meeting the supply chain and fulfillment goals at Dr. Squatch. He credits a lot of his philosophy to his time at PLNU.
“There are two ways to stand out in our business,” Sutton said. “By spending more money with your suppliers or by investing in the relationships you have with them. I spend time listening and ensuring [our partners] feel heard and appreciated. I’m a diplomat of sorts representing the country that is Dr. Squatch. I know we might have to take a loss in one area to get a win elsewhere.”
By taking a people-first approach, Sutton has been able to successfully solve complicated order issues with efficiency, even earning cost reductions at times simply by maintaining meaningful connections.
“The business program gave me a general foundation in business, but the community and faith integration had a lasting impact,” Sutton said. “Instead of doing the bare minimum to teach, professors were willing to mentor. They would routinely touch on the importance of not what you do but how and why you do it, which has truly shaped the way I think about work and people.”
“At the end of the day, it’s people on both sides of a business deal,” Sutton said. “At Dr. Squatch we value the people we work with and those relationships… we’re meeting with them in person multiple times a year, breaking bread and making sure they enjoy the process while we strive for win-win situations.”
“In this season, especially as a husband, newer dad, and business team leader, I’ve been learning more about trust. There’s so much I want to control or get perfect, but faith calls me to trust God’s timing, His provisions, and even process when life feels out of control.”
Beyond his career, Sutton and his wife have also recently started a family. With a new daughter and a new role as a father, Sutton has been learning how to trust in the Lord.
“Parenting is as challenging as anything I’ve done but with infinitely higher rewards and it’s the best thing going on in my life,” Sutton said.
“In this season, especially as a husband, newer dad, and business team leader, I’ve been learning more about trust. There’s so much I want to control or get perfect, but faith calls me to trust God’s timing, His provisions, and even process when life feels out of control.”
