Alumni Spotlight: Dale Hayes and Becky Hayes Renfroe

At the Alumni Leadership Series talk in March, WCA Alumni and siblings Dale Hayes (‘82) and Becky Hayes Renfroe (‘89) discussed with us their experiences in computer careers.

As Wake Christian students, both played varsity sports. Dale played Varsity football and baseball, and Becky played volleyball. Both of them were very grateful for their time at Wake Christian. It was Sarah Harris, Dale’s math teacher junior year, that first suggested a career in Computer Science. Wake Christian gave him the tough academic environment and support he needed to go into a field largely undeveloped. Already taking calculus at NC State his senior year, Dale continued there for his next four years as a Computer Science major. Becky was interested in either Physical Therapy or Computer Science when she graduated from WCA. All she really knew was that she wanted to help people. It wasn’t until a basic programming class her first semester at Meredith that she realized that was the direction God had for her. She transferred to NCSU to pursue a Computer Science major her sophomore year.

Currently, Dale is employed at Synopsys as a Regional Sales Manager, and Becky at SciQuest as a Project Manager. Although neither of them are currently working directly with the code, the understanding of computers is always helping them in their jobs. When Dale sells Synopsys software to developers, he needs to know what is compatible and how to help the customers. He is known for being a hard worker and good at what he does. This has earned him his current job and all of his previous jobs because people remembered him and offered him positions. Becky’s employer SciQuest is a procurement product which labs and schools can purchase supplies more efficiently by targeting suppliers. As a Project Manager, Becky works with customers to help them reach their goals. As she continues to learn, she has found that her core values have stemmed from her time at Wake.

Both of our guest speakers emphasized the importance of learning code, no matter what profession we go into. We depend so much on technology, that it is a vital skill to know how it operates. As NC State alumni, they suggested if we were interested in engineering at all to check out NCSU’s Engineering open house. There is always something to learn in computers, and Dale and Becky encouraged us to always be willing to learn something new.