>> So Penn State.
Graduated in 1985 with a degree in marketing.
My path has been one that, if you would have asked me way back when where would I end up,
this is the last place I would have ended up.
I'm in the technology business, but I sort of refer to myself
as an accidental tourist in the technology business.
I started off as a salesperson for a local newspaper in my hometown.
Probably the best experience for me
in my Penn State career was working for The Daily Collegian.
I was a sales rep for The Collegian, and in doing that,
I learned how to basically service accounts, build relationships with customers.
Coming home after graduation, I got a job with a local newspaper.
Did that for a number of years.
And through a connection through my network, got an opportunity to work for Xerox.
Working at Xerox, I sold digital printing equipment to the commercial print industry.
What was really interesting about that is I really learned about selling via emotion.
In that world, the emotion was profit.
Wasn't about buying a copying machine or printing a piece of printer equipment.
It was really about the profits they could earn selling the output
of those devices as a commercial printer.
So I learned about this idea of selling on emotion, building relationships with people.
Understanding their businesses and helping them understand how they could leverage products
and services that my organization offered to be successful.
Again through my network, someone that I'd worked with at Xerox,
he had left and gone to work for Microsoft.
And for years, he was constantly trying to recruit me to work for his business partner.
And I told him no, you know what, I'm a big company guy.
Let me know when Microsoft is hiring.
Well, one day, got a phone call.
And he said, guess what, change in roles.
Would you be interested in interviewing for my role?
And I took that opportunity, and I earned the job.
So for the last 12 years at Microsoft, I've had a variety of roles in the partner business.
So my career has sort of taken this unplanned path because of my network
and because I followed my passions, which leads me to the point now where I get
to spend my time working with folks that are deeply vested in our technology,
but also deeply vested in their relationship with Microsoft.
And my role, from a business development perspective, owning the relationship,
building trust, allows me to work with these business partners
and help them be successful and grow a business together.