Bloomfield

Long before Shirley Bloomfield became CEO of the $18 million-revenue NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association in Arlington, Va., she could be found caddying as a teenager near her hometown of Fond du Lac, Wis.

"I started when I was 12 or 13; I grew up golfing," she told CEO Update. "I grew up in Wisconsin. You either go to bars or you golf."

Bloomfield and her friend, Lisa Huxhold, were the only two female caddies at the South Hills Country Club. They played on their high school team together, but it was Huxhold who went on to play at the University of Wisconsin. (Huxhold's older sister Lori is a former professional golfer.) Bloomfield attended Northwestern University in Chicago, which didn't have a women's golf team at the time.

One of Bloomfield's regular clients was John Jardine, then coach of the Wisconsin football team. Huxhold frequently caddied for Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, a Hall of Fame NFL running back and receiver who was then the university's athletic director.

Bloomfield caddied until she was 18, in the late 1970s.

"It was formative in a number of ways," she said. Being a girl with a slight build, she needed to convince the men not just that she knew the game—but that she could carry the weight of the clubs.

"At an early age, it equalizes you, so you don't see yourself through a specific lens," she said.

"It also taught me the ability to be patient and figure out when my input was needed, and when it was not needed, about the 3-iron versus the 5-iron.

"I learned how to read people, because you do so much in nonverbal communication," she said.

Bloomfield also learned the limits of family ties. Her first client was her father.

"He was the first to take a bet on me. I think he knew he could pay me less," she said. She would wager a hot-fudge sundae on whether her father would sink his next putt.

"Then I realized I made more money caddying for other people," Bloomfield said.

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