By Gavin Lindahl
Staff Writer
Laurie Branch,CEO and president of Iroquois Group, visited the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts Thursday night to deliver a keynote speech at the Career and Professional Readiness Center’s (CPRPC) 2nd annual Internship Summit. Her speech focused on giving students advice on handling themselves in an internship.
Branch grew up in Olean before attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Branch skipped her senior year at Dartmouth and went straight to the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth to get her Master of Business Administration (MBA). Branch also attended St. Bonaventure herself and graduated with a Master of Arts in History. Branch keeps her ties to the school by teaching a finance course in the School of Business.
After graduating from Tuck, Branch worked for Procter and Gamble where she worked in brand management in the food division on Puritan Oil and Duncan Hines Cake Mix and Frosting.
“As you can imagine that was a great job,” Branch said. “We had to constantly try new products, and I really liked being asked to eat cake at a 10 a.m. meeting.”
After four years, however, Branch left her job to return home and work for the family business.
“How could I say no to a job that offered half my current salary, but a third of the company?” Branch said.
Branch also said she seeks a life full of continuous learning. She is currently enrolled in a PhD program at Case Western Reserve University as well as an English Masters program at Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English.
“As you can tell, I love learning and the people I learn the most from are my students in Finance 301.” Branch said. “Not only are they great to spend a few hours with every Tuesday and Thursday, but I am constantly learning more about how they think, and what they need from me to be successful in mastering the material which is pretty tough stuff to master!”
At the summit, Branch gave advice to students about interning for impact. As a president and CEO, Branch has a first-hand account of what it’s like for a boss taking on an intern from the boss’ perspective Branch began her presentation with a statistic stating 64 percent of all students who intern will get a full-time job in the field they interned in. It is something to consider when you’re out interning, according to Branch.
“You may find at your internship you’re doing something that you don’t want to do,” Branch said. “It’s better to learn that now instead of two years later when it’s your full-time job.”
She also passed on several other tips to students. According to Branch, prospective interns should go to the website of the company, as this is where they have official policies on internships. She also suggested making sure you know what is required of interns before applying, go to lunch with the boss and pay, be nice to everyone and always ask for more work.
“They talk about in sports that attitude is everything,” she said. “Well, let me tell you, in interning, attitude is also everything.”
