ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Alumni Demi Guild and Jensyn Lown have teamed up to create custom golf carts for celebrities, athletes, major brands, and even their alma mater By Sean Patterson

Demi Guild (B21) has figured out the ideal recipe for a thriving business. Simply combine three ingredients: a product you’re passionate about, second-to-none customer service, and hardworking, close friends to make it all happen.

It’s a formula Guild employs as the cofounder and CEO of , a family-founded business she runs with her brother Dakota. Last year, the company sold more than 1,000 units, did about $10 million in sales, and collaborated with celebrities from the world of entertainment and sports – including actor Jamie Foxx, the NFL’s Marshawn Lynch and Davante Adams, and women’s basketball coaching legend Dawn Staley – to build a national following.

The sales figures and big names are impressive, no doubt, but Guild doesn’t dwell on them. She’s more excited to talk about the origins of the business and the people who are making it thrive.

In addition to her brother, she relies on a longtime friend, Jensyn Lown (B21, M22), a fellow ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox alumna, to work as director of marketing and operations. Two more ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox graduates –
Josh Nutter (B22) and Justin Trimble (B20) – serve as branch managers at stores in Seattle and Las Vegas, respectively. They are part of a team of 22 employees.

“Jensyn and I have been best friends since the fifth grade, so it’s pretty cool to have her on board,” Guild says, smiling. “I always knew she was somebody I’d want managing in my company. She is so detail-oriented and honest, has great integrity, and is just a high-caliber individual.”

Guild Golf Carts began by chance. Growing up with three brothers on five acres in Damascus, Oregon, Demi and her siblings were charged with taking care of the property. Things needed hauling, and steep terrain posed a challenge. “We just thought, ‘A golf cart would really help with all this,’” she says.

The family bought a cart for $500. Then, several months later, they decided to upgrade to a nicer model. The individual who sold them the newer cart offered to sell them a second one. They said yes, and a business was born.

“We really couldn’t use that second cart, so we just thought, ‘Let’s clean it up a bit and sell it,’” Guild recalls. “We paid around $600 for it and sold it for $1,300. We were like, ‘OK, we just doubled our money. How many things can you double your money with that quickly?’”

The Guilds reached out to the same seller and offered to buy more. Before long, the siblings were purchasing fleets of golf carts – a practice that continued through high school. They sold carts separately for a time before Demi and Dakota decided to join forces and launch a joint venture.

After delivering four golf carts to their alma mater, Jensyn Lown and Demi Guild (driving) take one for a spin around the football field.

Incorporated in 2019 and based in Portland, Guild Golf Carts is a dealer for four manufacturers – Evolution Electric Vehicles, Denago, Tomberlin and Columbia – while also selling used carts that have been refurbished or customized. The business has five stores – in Portland, Seattle, Las Vegas, Bend, Oregon, and St. ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ, Utah.

Highly publicized collaborations with celebrities and companies like Mercedes-Benz, Formula One and the Jordan Brand have given the business national exposure and made it among the top-10 golf cart dealers on the West Coast. But it was a recent sale that Guild is especially excited about – one she and Lown made to their alma mater.

Last fall, ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox Athletic Director Adam Puckett, who knew both women from their time as athletes at the university, reached out to Guild to inquire about purchasing carts – a call that this spring resulted in the purchase of two four-person carts and two six-person carts, for use by various university departments as needed.

“It’s something we’ve talked about doing for some time, so I was thrilled we were able to move forward with it,” Puckett says. “These benefit not only us in athletics, but several other departments on campus. For example, if advancement has a donor who would like a guided tour and has trouble getting around, we now have a cart for them.”

Lown designed the custom carts – one of which is athletics branded, with the tagline “Ready. Fearless. Strong.” She loves the fact they will fill a role in the university’s athletics department.

“I’d say the biggest thing athletics taught us that transfers to the business world is that character and discipline are key to making a team successful,” says Lown, a track and field athlete who earned a degree in marketing and later an MBA at ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox. “Those things are required in a sport, and I would say Bruin athletics prioritizes character over almost anything. So, to connect a product we’re passionate about with a place we’re passionate about is special.”

For Guild, the deal afforded the opportunity for a “coming home” of sorts, as she and Lown personally delivered the carts to the Newberg campus on a sunny afternoon in early March.

“I love the fact we were able to connect with Fox in this way,” says Guild, a finance major who played basketball for the Bruins. “Both Jensyn and I had a great experience here, so to come back and do this in person is amazing. I learned a lot about business – particularly the accounting aspect of it – when I was here. I do all the accounting for our company, and I still use the tools I learned. The classes I took here have helped a ton, so this is a full-circle moment.”

“Golf carts are just something that represents fun and gets people excited, so there is a lot of joy around it. I think that just sets the tone at work.”

Beyond brokering a generous deal for the carts, both Lown and Guild have connected with the university in the classroom as well – as mentors in the Ignite Program, an initiative that pairs ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox students with industry mentors who provide professional guidance in regular one-on-one meetings. “It’s fun to pass along some of the business knowledge we’ve picked up and just try to help students out,” Guild says of the experience.

Her passion for the business stems from the nature of the product. “Golf carts are just something that represents fun and gets people excited, so there is a lot of joy around it,” she says. “I think that just sets the tone at work. Our employees are excited to do what we’re doing because they are bringing joy into people’s lives.”