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CEO Aly Salz found her calling to ministry in an unexpected place – her business By Joanna Nesbit

In the beginning, printing custom T-shirts was a stopgap job for Aly Salz (M12) and her then-fiancé, Rick. Something to pay the bills until they could figure out a pathway into full-time ministry. Salz was on her way to a bachelor’s degree in Bible and pastoral ministry and felt that the church was her calling.

While the young couple was still in college, they obtained a business license to be able to purchase wholesale tees. They had many friends who needed custom-printed shirts for summer camps and church groups, and the pair collaborated with these organizations to meet their branded apparel needs.

That was 36 years ago for the ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox MBA alumna.

Today, that small T-shirt business is a $10 million enterprise, . Salz is CEO of the Portland-based business that evolved from printing tees to designing corporate swag, apparel and custom uniforms. “Our emphasis is on tangible branding – apparel, workwear, and promotional gear that communicates brand values,” Salz says.

Righteous serves hundreds of clients, including regional and national restaurant chains, the industrial and manufacturing sector, colleges, hospitals, healthcare systems and more. Clients include Red Robin, Jollibee, the University of Iowa, PeaceHealth, and Oregon Health & Science University. The company also runs online ordering platforms for about 70 of its customers.

For the first several years in business, the couple was torn. They felt that planting a church and going into ministry was the path they were supposed to pursue, but they also felt called to their growing venture. Their pastor at the time helped reframe their thinking. “‘Why don’t you think of your business as a ministry?’” Salz recalls him suggesting.

Invited into this new purpose, Salz pondered her company in a broader way, deciding to expand beyond “the Christian space” to businesses in every sector and industry, including restaurants, banks, hospitals and beyond, determining how to best serve the market and make a positive impact.

“Where God puts you matters. I’m here for a reason.”

It was a winning strategy, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Along the way, Salz came to a realization. “There was this whole paradigm shift for me where I realized you don’t get to choose your significance. You only get to choose your faithfulness,” she says. “Where God puts you matters. I’m here for a reason.”

Leaning into her company, Salz decided to enroll in ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox’s MBA program, 20 years after obtaining that first business license to buy wholesale T-shirts.

The MBA program’s infusion of faith and business spoke to Salz and guided her, inspired by the example set by her professors in the classroom and refined through the business education that helped her manage Righteous as a wise steward.

“I realized I really love what business has to offer. It matters in people’s lives,” she says.

Salz blending her business and her faith – her career and calling – can materialize in a variety of ways. It can mean regularly praying for her employees, conducting business ethically, giving back financially, and always striving to do what is right, even if it affects the bottom line.

And as time went on, Salz found ways to live out her faith and pursue her call to ministry outside the business world as well. Last September, she traveled to Seoul to attend the Lausanne World Congress, which connects global evangelical leaders and ideas for the purpose of promoting evangelical Christianity throughout the world. And as a leader in the Foursquare Church, she introduced the Faith at Work movement to help members connect their work lives with their faith. The movement – a global network of marketplace leaders and clergy – encourages Christians to embrace their work as part of God’s purpose.

Sometimes, it turns out, business and ministry overlap in unexpected ways. While on a business trip to China in 2017 to review workplace safety protocols for an outside vendor, Salz was offered the opportunity to smuggle in Christian materials for distribution. Someone who ran a Bible college in Hong Kong connected her to the clandestine mission.

She and other couriers loaded up backpacks and bags, navigated security at the border, and traveled by taxi to a hotel, where they were directed to a specific room lined with trunks to unload their contraband. At the time, Salz didn’t think much of what turned out to be a relatively uneventful adventure – a sign, perhaps, of just how much her two worlds of business and faith had converged.

As Salz stays busy with the many needs of a bustling company, she stays connected to her alma mater in a number of ways. Previously she served on the ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox MBA advisory board, and more recently she attended the university’s Women of Impact golf event, where she had the opportunity to not only have fun with Bruin student-athletes on the golf course, but to serve as a positive role model for these young women in the process.

Last year, her company supplied branded merchandise for the university’s homecoming celebration, in addition to branded baby blankets that the alumni relations office sends to new parents.

For Salz, following a faith-informed business path wasn’t always easy or obvious, but she learned to trust God’s plan through the twists and turns. The result: a thriving multi-million dollar company that gives back.

As ºìÐÓ¶ÌÊÓƵ Fox students consider their post-college pathways, Salz recommends staying open to where God leads, because you just never know. “God’s plan is sometimes surprising and it’s often difficult, but there’s a purpose in it and it’s OK not to know what it is,” she says. “God’s plan is always good.”