>> I did end up choosing Penn State.
I had originally started in computer science.
Actually, I did my first
semester as computer science.
I had at the time enjoyed working with
computers and my dad was a computer programmer.
But as I started to get into it, I
kind of realized that I didn't want to,
ironically at the time, spend my life
behind a computer, doing programming.
But I ended up switching into business during
my freshman year and I think I just liked some
of the ideas and concepts around
the supply chain management.
I wasn't really a marketing person.
I didn't really want to do finance and
accounting, and supply chain just seemed
to be a good kind of operational, get your hands
dirty, and, you know, be able to really kind
of get involved with solving problems and
thinking in a very process-oriented way.
When it comes to manufacturing of
products and shipping of products,
there's a very logical approach and path that
these things take and it's a good way or for me,
it was a good thought process
for, I guess, how I like to think.
I actually started at a software
company when I got out of school
and that really took the supply
chain management planning
and optimization concepts
and put it into software.
And I did implementation and I did consulting
and presales work around that software.
So that gave me a really great idea and
understanding of sales and operations planning
and best practices and how tools and data
integration can help support a business process.
And since then, I had worked, from the
software industry, I had actually gone
into the business industry, went into Campbell
Soup, another agricultural products company,
and then McNeil Consumer Healthcare.
I find that my tools and best practice and
business process knowledge that I learned early
on in my career allows me to help companies who
really can use that kind of outside perspective
of those best practices and how do others in
the industry take best advantage of these kinds
of tools and set up and implement
their business processes.