Because of her extensive ties to La Sierra, Webster said it was not a difficult decision to return to her alma mater to teach accounting classes on a full-time basis. An assistant professor of accounting from 1995 to 1997, Webster said she enjoyed incorporating real-life lessons from her career in her classroom presentations. She first led the company in its conversion from a private to a publicly held corporation in 1997. By 1999, the burgeoning retail web site was garnering the attention of bigger interests. Thus far, the company co-founders have focused less on sales and more on building up the site's product lines and ironing out technical challenges.
Any retail site is risky and e-commerce is seemingly fraught with more challenges.
But the adventures in any entrepreneurial attempt outweigh the risks, Webster said. And if leading an e-commerce business into uncharted waters is your idea of a good time, you are cut from the same cloth as Kristine Webster.