UG Grad Grad Name Email Major Year work Location Bio Corporate Finance, Learning & Development, Product Development stevenwcran English Mr. Crane spent two years teaching high school English and now works in corporate finance. He has never taken any [email protected] from accounting or finance classes but has instead relied on the broad value of a liberal arts education to learn things on the job. Steve Crane m English 2003 DePaul He received his degree in English from UIUC in 2003 and completed an MA in English from DePaul University in 2009. Scott Farley is currently the Director of Learning & Development (L&D) for Joy Global, a manufacturing corporation that supplies heavy equipment to the mining industry. In this role, Scott is responsible for employee training, including course design and development, course logistics, and facilitation. Additionally, Scott is focused on driving talent development through succession planning, programs for “high-potentials,” and strategic workforce planning. Scott graduated with honors from UIUC in 1992, with a B.A. in English. After graduating, he took a temporary call center job with Motorola Inc. that turned into a fourteen-year stint with the telecommunications giant. Mid-way through that time, while working as a project manager on a major system implementation, Scott was asked to deliver training for sales and customer service personnel. From that point, he took a new career direction, focusing on training and employee development. While at Motorola, Scott completed an MBA at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. Knowledge gained through that program was essential when working with business partners to understand how best to impact their business goals and results. After his time at Motorola, Scott jumped from the telecommunications industry to the financial services industry, managing training for call center operations and for the IT services function at HSBC. Four years later, Scott took on the challenge of moving into the mining sector, this time focused on employee development at Joy Global. For those considering a career in Learning & Development, Scott recommends the following: Think of the work you do in study of English literature as analytical problem-solving. You’re learning critical thinking skills and how to sift through and synthesize large amounts of information. These are essential skills in most business roles. Let the writing skills that you’ve developed differentiate you. The sad fact is that many people entering the job market aren’t prepared to present themselves professionally in writing. An English degree gives you an advantage in that department, and people take notice scott_farley of that. Gain some exposure to basic business principles. Whether through courses or an internship, start building an @comcast.n Greater understanding of what’s needed to run a successful business. The value of L&D is measured in terms of how people *Scott Farley et English 1992 MBA Chicago Area development can drive business results. Matt is the Founder and Managing Principal of R2 Companies, a fully integrated private equity real estate investment firm based in Chicago, IL. R2 currently owns over 1.5 million square feet of creative loft office space in Chicago & The Midwest. R2 is in the process of redeveloping and repositioning the Goose Island neighborhood in Chicago, with 3 proposed office projects totaling over 700,000 square feet and public infrastructure improvements including pedestrian & bike bridges. Matt began his career in real estate as a broker, and was ranked the #1 Coldwell Banker agent worldwide in 2006, selling 761 properties in a year. Matt is a co-founder and former CEO or energy.me, a technology based electricity supplier nationally that financially supplies nearly 3% off all electricity in the State of IL. In 2014, Matt was named to Crain’s Chicago Business “40 under 40” list. Matt lives in the Chicago area with his wife Lisa and two young daughters, Riley & Reese, the Greater inspiration for the name R2. Matt graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998 with a BA in Matt Garrison [email protected] Rhetoric 1998 Chicago Area English Rhetoric. Gretta Hermes graduated in 2009 with degrees in English and Creative Writing. After graduation, she started working at an early-stage education technology start-up, ThinkCERCA, as the lead content editor, creating leveled lessons, managing freelance writers, assisting in the development of a new platform, and negotiating content licensing. Gretta now works as an Account Executive at Narrative Science, an AI company that has a platform, Quill, which can analyze data from disparate sources and generate perfectly written narratives for the intended audience in seconds. She is responsible for supporting global adoption through current partnerships and emerging channels. Previously at Narrative Science she worked on the gretta.herme English and English deployment team configuring Quill and the pre-sales team building proof of concepts for prospective clients. While at the *Gretta [email protected] Creative from Greater University of Illinois, she held roles in a variety of extracurriculars and jobs, her favorites being her work on the first online Hermes m Writing 2009 DePaul Chicago Area version of Ninth Letter and doing special projects for the Center for Children's Books. Mrs. Kim earned her degree in English in 2003, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. While at UIUC she played in the symphony orchestra and volunteered through the Krannert Center Student Association. In 2011 she completed her MBA at the University of Virginia and joined Bank of America’s Leadership Development Program. Prior to business school, Mrs. Kim managed the fundraising research department at The Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan and jinna.kim@b received scholarships from the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement and Korea Society. She is now a ankofameric VP in Enterprise Payments at Bank of America consumer headquarters, and continues to pay-it-forward by mentoring and Jinna Kim a.com English 2003 MBA Charlotte, NC volunteering. Ms. Nelson, who earned her degree in English at UIUC in 1997, is a Customer Enablement Manager for the West Region for Campus Management, a software company that powers solutions for the higher education space. She provides leadership to higher education institutions, mentoring, coaching, and driving team collaboration to empower student success. Since 2000, Susan has worked to support global sales by communicating market needs to inform solution development and planning. In addition, Susan manages and mentors new team members and primes talent for growth aligned with company strategy and market needs. Prior to joining Campus Management, Susan worked as Senior Engineer for Salesforce, Team Lead of Solutions Consulting for Hobsons, Director of Academic Programs at Pearson and Senior Student Consultant at SunGard Higher Education (now Ellucian). These roles developed her depth of experience in management, organizational change, and global sales support as well as in driving relevant solutions to serve the education market. Prior to her work as a consultant, Susan worked for a decade within higher education enrollment management and student susanenelso affairs in Missouri (KCOM), Maryland (Johns Hopkins University), and Colorado (University of Denver). I have been [email protected] Greater San promoted to Sr. Manager, Customer Engagement and oversee all of our customer advocacy and satisfaction efforts for the Susan Nelson om English 1997 Diego Area western half of the United States. I live in San Diego currently. Olivia O'Sullivan graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in English & Creative Writing. While at the University of Illinois she was an intern for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, an editor for Ninth Letter literary journal, worked in the Technology Services Department and was the Vice President of Member Education for her sorority, Kappa Delta. After graduation, Olivia started her career in advertising as a Strategist. She worked for agencies, in Chicago, like Havas and We Are Unlimited across iconic American brands like McDonald's, American Spirits, Craftsman and more. In 2017, Olivia moved to NYC to work for Dow Jones, where she led business strategy across Financial Services and Enterprise Tech clients. After a year she was promoted, and transitioned to manage product and innovation strategy across the business. Olivia now works in venture capital as an Investment Associate & Head of Corporate Engagement at Acceleprise. English and Acceleprise is a B2B, SaaS accelerator focused on go-to-market, sales and fundraising with offices in SF, NYC and Toronto. Olivia olivia@accel Creative Greater New In her current role, she is responsible for supporting investment decisions, running the accelerator program in NYC and all O'Sullivan eprise.vc Writing York City Area corporate partnerships and engagement (from building the pipeline and client prospecting to sales and execution). I am currently the Sales and Marketing Manager for Agrible, a growing tech startup affiliated with the University of Illinois Research Park. Prior to starting work with Agrible, I had a short stint as a claims adjuster for The Hartford Insurance in Aurora, IL. I graduated from the University of Illinois in 2014 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Integrative Biology. I will begin the full time MBA program at Illinois for fall of 2016. When switching from a pre-med concentration over in the School of Integrative Biology to English, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted do with my degree, but I knew I enjoyed reading and writing. I also knew I didn’t want to teach, which seemed to throw everyone off balance, and many worried loudly over how I would ever pay my bills as a barista. This incredulousness is what has driven my non-traditional career choices, and I leatricepotte love proving that an English degree from Illinois prepares students to communicate effectively, think critically, and be [email protected] English, creative and persistent in all endeavors.