The way Tori Patrick sees it, employees at Enterprise are never more than two steps removed from a potentially amazing experience in their careers.
That’s how the New Jersey native would characterize her latest position as European Vice President of Airports — a post that keeps her traveling frequently to meet with colleagues in France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The key to landing such an assignment? “If you perform at a high level, opportunities will present themselves,” Tori says. That’s step one.
As for step two: “In the back of your mind, you should always think about where you want to go and how you will get there,” she says. “By performing and thinking about the path forward, you can jump on the right opportunity when it comes along.”
Early career growth
The notion of building a great career at a single company is exactly what attracted Tori to Enterprise after she graduated from Rollins College and learned about Enterprise at a career fair.
Tori started out in Orlando as a Management Trainee, and quickly earned a series of promotions, including Branch Manager and then Area Manager.
It was a busy time in Tori’s life to say the least. Along with “learning a ton,” she also got married and began a family.
“The thing is, I had really great numbers, and I knew that’s when you want to apply for positions,” Tori says. As it happened, near the start of her maternity leave, five regional rental manager spots opened up. After consulting her supervisor and general manager, she applied for the jobs, conducting the initial phone interviews from home with her then-2-week-old daughter at her side.
Tori landed the opening in Nashville, Tennessee, which meant returning from maternity leave in a new market, and working outside of Florida for the first time. The Patricks had another daughter while in Music City, and Tori’s performance numbers remained high.
After three years, Tori earned a promotion to Regional Vice President in South Florida, and moved yet again.
Across the pond
In 2010, Tori was named Regional Vice President over three of the largest airports in North America: Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, quickly guiding them to impressive gains.
“It was definitely an interesting time,” Tori says. “Even with as long as I’d worked for Enterprise, I was learning something new every day.”
Today, Tori is putting all that experience to good use as the European Vice President of Airports.
Her young family has flourished in its new surroundings as well. “Our daughters love it here, and we just love how they will learn about the world from a completely different perspective,” she says.
Tori admits that London is not exactly the landing spot she imagined when she joined Enterprise 21 years ago. “But my husband and I agreed if the right opportunity came along, we would take it,” she says. “And it’s worked out fantastically.”