Students enrolled in the Personal and Professional Development (PPD) program this semester got down to business by getting out of the classroom.
The four-credit PPD series, required for all undergraduate majors in the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, gives students opportunities to take part in career planning, explore professional leadership and network across industries.
As part of the PPD program, Bridget Turel, director of professional development and external engagement, schedules a full slate of activities each year, including site visits to businesses in northeastern Pennsylvania. This semester, PPD students toured Mondelez International, AxelRad and CornellCookson. Students got a taste of the inner workings of a snack food giant, donned the gear of a local screen printer and opened the doors to an international manufacturing facility.
Through the visits to these three very different businesses, PPD students got a chance to see leadership in action and learn about a variety of career opportunities. “It’s a complementary part of their undergraduate education to see leaders in their field outside of the classroom, learn what they do, what their path was and how they solve problems,” said Turel.
Satisfying Snack Attacks Around the World
Joe Farrell ’10, who sits on the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board for the Sidhu School, serves as the director of North American customer engagement operations at Mondelez International. Farrell, along with Todd Wagaman, senior director of North American shared services, and Heidi Stecik, people lead, welcomed students and talked about their career development at the worldwide company with a goal “to empower people to snack right.”
The company meets its delicious mission with brands including Oreo, Cadbury, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, BelVita, Clif Bar and Ritz. From the Wilkes-Barre location, Mondelez manages the customer supply chain, keeping retailers like Target, WalMart, Amazon, Costco and Dollar General stocked. The team works to make snackers happy while also ensuring on-time deliveries, increased productivity and fewer trucks on the road.
The Mondelez staff in Wilkes-Barre needs talented logistics and supply chain experts to deliver delicious success, but the team also employs customer service representatives, human resources professionals and graphic designers. “There are so many opportunities locally, in the United States and globally,” said Farrell.
Wearing Their Hearts on Their Sleeves
The crowd was standing room only in the small conference room at AxelRad. Owner Dave Maloney welcomed PPD students to the screen-printing shop. Joining Maloney were Dennis Condusta, general production manager, and Tyler Rice, who started as a graphic design intern, but forged his own career path and now wears many hats including marketer, contract printer and IT guru.
Maloney started his career as a therapeutic staff support (TSS) worker before cashing out his 401K to buy two pieces of equipment and start his screen-printing business in his mother’s basement. “Either you’re working for somebody or for yourself,” said Maloney.
Maloney turned his hobby into a business, growing AxelRad from a one-person show to a shop of more than 40 employees. Condusta jokes that he plays Tetris with t-shirts, making decisions to keep materials moving in and customer orders moving out — sometimes up to 300 packages a day. But it’s his potential to impact the small business that keeps him showing up at AxelRad as opposed to a large corporation. “There’s always a next step,” said Condusta. “I could come into work today and make a change for a small business TODAY.”
Bobby Cox, a senior business management major with a minor in sports management, attended all three site visits. He was caught up in the AxelRad story, from the early days through the addition of staff and the move to the current location. “I thought it was pretty cool how the owner started the shop in his mother’s basement with just him and another employee taking risk after risk,” said Cox. He was also inspired by Maloney and the positive attitude he shares with the AxelRad team. “I thought his story was really motivating, showing that you can do anything you want as long as you work hard and keep moving forward.”
Opening Doors to an International Business
Focus and safety were the themes for the start of the visit to CornellCookson. The facility in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, manufactures industrial rolling doors and grilles for companies across the United States and around the world. Mike Bogdon MBA ’08, director of manufacturing operations, gave students a glimpse at the company’s nearly 200-year history before having them put on vests, hard hats, goggles and sleeve protectors. Though the manufacturing floor requires certain precautions, Bogdon noted, “It’s poetry in motion out there.”
Once in safety gear, PPD students had a chance to experience the poetry of the process firsthand. Bogdon offered a step-by-step explanation of the CornellCookson’s procedures, from receiving necessary parts to putting pieces in place to adding a custom paint job and shipping the products to their final destinations including malls, theatres, parking garages and sports arenas.
The CornellCookson location employs approximately 300 hourly production associates and 200 support staff who work to get doors in the hands of 700 dealer partners worldwide. “Thousands of doors go out per month,” said Bogdon. And though the company has been around for nearly two centuries, there’s always something new in the works. Bogdon talked about fiber optic and CO2 lasers that will change the business, as well as an order for more than 100 doors for a Florida school district to protect against storm damage — an order that represents a year’s worth of work that will be turned around in three months. The one thing that hasn’t changed? The manufacturer’s commitment to its customers. “At the end of the day, we take pride in our quality and deliver on our promise,” said Bogdon.
Though tours have wrapped for the fall, during the spring semester, students will have a chance to Guard Berkshire Hathaway and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
Gianna Manzi ’23 serves as the PPD program graduate assistant and accompanied Turel and the students on the fall site visits. Looking back on her own time as an undergrad, she sees the value in the off-campus tours for students at different stages of their academic careers. “It’s a great experience for the students and for myself,” she said. “For sophomores, they get a head-start on thinking about what they might want to do. For seniors, it helps them get more of a grasp on what they’re looking for.”
All business programs in the Sidhu School of Business and Leadership are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Less than 6% of the 16,000+ business programs worldwide have received AACSB accreditation.
