Penn State Prime Branding Panel to explore how founders forge marketing careers

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. –– Penn State Prime will bring together leaders from Google, American Eagle Outfitters, Scholar Hotels and Penn State for its annual Branding Panel, which this year will explore the different paths professionals can take to build careers in branding and marketing.

The “Founders Panel: Forging a Career in Branding” will feature professionals who have experience founding companies, organizations or initiatives throughout their careers. The event will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Atrium of the Business Building, with a reception to follow.

The panelists include Rick Ayers, associate vice president of marketing at Penn State; Gary Brandeis, CEO of Scholar Hotels; Kelsey Wertz Czartoryski, associate merchandise planner at American Eagle Outfitters; and Kate Wahl, product lead for AI Performance Solutions at Google. Timmy Garde, chief growth officer at Ardelis Health, will moderate the discussion.

Lila Mathias, a senior marketing major who serves as Prime’s president, said the annual event allows students to hear directly from professionals about the range of opportunities available within branding.

“Its purpose is to share with marketing students what different careers in branding look like and how they can evolve over time from lots of different avenues,” Mathias said.

This year’s panelists were selected in part because each has experience founding something, whether that means building a company or developing something within an existing organization. Mathias said organizers want those experiences to help students understand what starting something can look like across different areas of the industry.

The theme also has a personal connection for Wertz Czartoryski. Eleven years after helping found Penn State Prime and serving as president when the organization held its first Branding Panel, she will return to the event as one of the professionals speaking to students.

“This is a really full-circle moment for me,” Wertz Czartoryski said. “I was a founding member of Prime, and I was president when the first Branding Panel was put on.”

Wertz Czartoryski said returning as a panelist is an opportunity to show students that studying marketing does not limit them to a traditional marketing or agency career.

She took a different route, entering the retail industry and using her knowledge of customer insights to build her career.

“I’m hoping to bring a perspective that’s a little bit outside of the norm, that students are able to see that you’re not in a box as a marketing student,” Wertz Czartoryski said.

Ellyse Wilson, a junior marketing major who is Prime’s vice president of logistics, said the variety of professional backgrounds represented on this year’s panel is one of the aspects she is most excited for students to experience.

“I think that the versatility is really what’s going to be super interesting,” Wilson said. “They’re all in different avenues of branding and marketing, but I think that they all could have very similar stories.”

Beyond sharing their career journeys, the panelists are expected to discuss challenges they have faced and changes currently affecting branding and marketing.

Wilson said one of those challenges is standing out on social media as brands compete for consumers’ attention in an increasingly crowded digital environment.

“Because social media and content is so oversaturated, I’m excited to hear how they try to differentiate themselves,” Wilson said.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are also expected to be part of the discussion. Wahl’s role at Google focuses on AI performance solutions, and Wertz Czartoryski said she expects the emerging technology to generate conversation among the panelists and students.

“I know we have a representative from Google who specializes in AI, so that’ll be a really robust conversation that I’m excited to hear from the other panelists and what questions students may have,” Wertz Czartoryski said.

Wertz Czartoryski said authenticity is another major issue facing brands as consumers gain greater access to information and can quickly share their opinions about companies and products through social media.

“There is so much knowledge out there, and a brand needs to be able to provide specific traits that the consumer is looking for,” Wertz Czartoryski said. “So, authenticity, being able to know who you are as a brand and to really push that knowledge forward.”

For students preparing to enter a changing industry, Wertz Czartoryski said the ability to adapt is one of the most important skills they can develop. Students may learn hard skills such as market research, analytics and technology in the classroom, she said, but they can also develop the ability to pivot and become comfortable with unfamiliar situations.

“The ability to be agile is one of the most comprehensive soft skills that you can have,” Wertz Czartoryski said.

Mathias said hearing directly from professionals can be particularly valuable for students who may understand marketing concepts in the classroom but are less familiar with how those concepts translate into careers.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit difficult for marketing students and communication students to find opportunities to learn about branding avenues and the way that marketing actually operates in corporate America,” Mathias said. “Opportunities like these to hear from people that are actually in the industry and learn what’s happening firsthand are really valuable.”

The Branding Panel has been part of Prime since the organization’s beginning in 2015. Over its first decade, the event hosted 60 panelists and attracted more than 2,000 students. Last year, the 10th Branding Panel returned to an in-person format for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and drew more than 100 students to the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Atrium in the Business Building.

This year, students will again have an opportunity to interact directly with the professionals. Attendees can participate in a question-and-answer session during the panel, followed by a reception where they can continue conversation and network with panelists.

For Wertz Czartoryski, that opportunity is another connection to her own experience as a student. She said the first Branding Panel allowed her to meet professionals with different perspectives and that she remains connected with some of them on LinkedIn today.

“I hope that something that one of us says sparks something that will then give students the empowerment to come up to one of us and ask questions and to continue the conversations outside of the formal sit-down panel,” Wertz Czartoryski said.

Organizers said that the event can also benefit students outside the marketing major. Wilson said students studying areas such as supply chain or finance may ultimately find themselves pursuing careers different from what they originally envisioned.

Mathias said she hopes attendees leave with a greater understanding of the possibilities available to them.

“The people that we’re bringing on are very insightful, and they have such a large variety of experiences,” Mathias said. “I’m almost positive that everybody can take away something new that they didn’t know before.”