Alumni Profile You never know where for an internship at Oriole life is going to take you. Park and then I moved over December '06 grad Linsey to Ravens tadium for my THIS IS Poletti is living proof of that. co-op. I interviewed wi th Thi young woman HR and District Manager from nearby Media, PA, Kevin Kenney; another made her mark in the Widener grad. Kevin i the chool of Hospitality reason I am here. He really Management by capitalizing took risks to get me here." on internships and co-op It's been a real win for opportunities - from study­ Poletti, as her co-op turned abroad programs in witzer­ into a full -time job. he land and Italy to jobs with splits time between Camden pro sports teams. In school, Yards and M&T Bank he enjoyed the camaraderie tadium, where she works of preparing elaborate sit­ with the sales manager to down dinners at the Heintz cater 33 hospitality tents Dining Room. Yet Poletti outside the stadium on any never dreamed she'd wind up given unday in the food ervice industry. Poletti credits Widener ow, thanks to her co­ faculty for providing support ops, extensive networking, and networking oppor­ and orne prodding from tunities. "They look out for Professor Joy Dickerson, everybody's best interests," Poletti ha changed teams she says. "Every professor and hometowns. Through a made time for me. Whether non-credit internship with they're helping you network the PhiladeJprua Flyers and with alumni or keeping in ixers at omcast- pectacor, touch with companies, she met Widener alum Joe they're always willing to help." Carpi nella, general manager Her long-term goal is at Chickie's & Pete's outh to become a meeting and PhilJy stadium location. convention planner, organ­ Poletti interned there as izing corporate retreats, a management trainee bonus travel, and golf for ramark, which runs outings. And after winning the re taurant. an all -expen es paid trip to That job opened even the Professional Convention more doors with Aramark and Management oCla- and took Poletti to Baltimore. tion (PCM ) conference "I told them what I wanted in Toronto last year, Poletti to do in the future, and is well on her way to a they knew that sale fit me home-run career. m best," he explains. " 0 they Home-run hitter: got me in the sales office Linsey at Camden Yards. 30 LI EY POLETTI '06 PARLAYED o -or U CC E HERHOUSE I TO T lI E BJG LEAGUE Brian Tierney, the man who made James Earl Jones the voice of Verizon, would Hometown Boy like The Philadelphia Inquirer to get its voice back too. And as chairman and chief executive officer of Philadelphia Makes News Media Holdings and publisher of the Inquirer, he is now in a position to make that happen. Running The Philadelphia Inquirer Tierney is the public face of the group of local investors that purchased and Daily News is a labor of love the Inquirer and its sister paper, the '87L. Philadelphia Daily News, from the for Brian Tierney McClatchy Company for $515 million By Sandy Smith last summer. " My family has read the Inquirer for three generations;' he says, so he is familiar with both its past and its present. And if the Inquirer can regain a sense of purpose, he said in an interview not long after the sale, it could have a future as great as its past. Tierney offers the Daily News as an example of what he meant when he spoke of the paper finding its voice. " The Daily News has a clear sense of what it is and what it wants to be;' he says. "The Inquirer, which is still a terrific paper, sometimes has some uncertainty about what it is and what it wants to do. " It's like seeing an old friend who keeps changing the part in her hair every so often." Running Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc., which is still the region's dominant news organization, has required Tierney to use both the right-brain creativity he acquired in the course of a career in advertising and public relations and the left-brain rigor he developed while studying law at Widener. He embarked on both his PR career and his legal studies at about the same time, not long after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. "When I first got out of col lege, I was going to go right into law school, but I decided I wanted to try other things first," he says. So he started a public relations firm, in his words, "as a day job to pay my bills while I worked my way through law school. Here I was, going to be a lawyer, and I had a family and bills to pay, so I started the PR firm thinking it was 32 AIU .ffi niP r0 f i Ie something I would do while I studied to classes almost a tonic after the end get the papers back on a growth trajectory. become a lawyer. But the firm took off; it of a long day." In a recent interview, he described became really successful." Tierney offered praise for his some of the underbrush he had to clear. The success didn't stop him from Widener Law instructors. "I had some " We bought a company with a lot of enrolling in law school anyway. Brian terrific professors when I was at Widener;' challenges that was owned by one of followed his older brother Kevin 'S2L he says. " I can honestly say that the the worst-run media companies in the to Widener Law, where he would be professors I had at Widener were on a country," he said. "Part of the problem was followed by his younger brother, caliber with those I had at Penn. the labor contracts. Fortune magazine Michael '93L. " There was Ruth Gansky, who taught described them in December as the The law school years were a hectic me contracts and procurement issues; most archaic contracts of any in the time forTierney. " I was dealing with Chuck Peruto on criminal law; Fairfax United States. major clients during the day, then Leary, a constitutional law professor who " But with a lot of conversation, jumping in my car and driving down to had taught at Penn; and the real-world working in partnership with our unions, law school at night;' he recalls. " I knew folks who were members of the Delaware we were able to change just about every that I wasn't going to practice law, but Supreme Court- a real strong group of work rule we wanted to change .... What I I found it stimulating still. It was some­ professors." learned in law school was that negotiating thing that I thought would be useful, The recent drama surrounding is not about splitting the difference;' he and it has proved a useful tool as a negotiations w ith the newspapers' said. "The end result has to be some­ businessperson to have the law degree." unions and the layoffs of some 70 thing that works for both sides." While Inquirer reporters have not dampened Tierney was not directly involved in the his enthusiasm nor deflected him from labor negotiations, the negotiating team his goal of restoring the paper to promi­ he assembled kept this in mind. "I had some terrific nence. " We want to be in a position Tierney has also put muscle back where a year or two from now, if you into the papers' marketing efforts, which professors when I was ask someone, 'What is the best media have already begun to produce results. company in serving its community?' they "In November and December, Inquirer at Widener," he says. will say, 'You ought to go to Philadelphia circulation was up for the first time in and check out what they're doing there.'" two years. Daily News circulation was up "I can honestly say He is also well aware of the role the for the first time in four years" - a stark Inquirer and Daily News play in setting contrast to the papers' recent perform­ that the professors I the region's news agenda. Tierney and ance under Knight Ridder management. his partners have received tons of e-mail It's all in keeping with the ultimate goal had at Widener were from readers and professionals and of becoming the region's preeminent news have conducted both focus groups source. " The goal of an enterprise is to on a caliber with those and informal discussions to learn how grow, to serve the community, and to hire Philadelphians view the papers. "... One the right people to do the job;' he said. m I had at Penn." thing that comes through is that this is the most important media site for the reg ion;' he says of the papers and their "I also enjoyed the joint Web site, philly.com. When asked to provide examples, he " There's great affection for the intellectual stimulation continues, "I think it's helpful in negotia­ product;' he notes. "And there's a lot t ions, obviously. But what is particularly of pride in the fact that in Philadelphia, that law school offered. helpful for me is on the creative side. we've been able to do something that no "Many times, creativity is about one else has been able to do, and that's I found sitting in connecting things in illogica l ways, seeing have local control of the papers aga in. patterns that aren't necessarily obvious " The New York Times and the national at first glance.