What has your career path been like?
I started a teaching and coaching career in the Fall of 1966. After only 4 years I left the education field and entered the business world in sales. We sold hospital equipment for cystic fibrosis children and other breathing apparatus. I grew up in Grove City, soon found myself in Kansas City, Mo., then Denver, Colorado and then San Francisco, Calif where I still live with my family.
I am currently and have been the Vice President of Sales at Cytosport, the makers of Muscle Milk. I have had a very successful career in sales and marketing. I have served as VP sales for most of my career, leading sales teams with such large companies as Bristol Myers, Novartis, Pfizer etc. My physical education background gave me foundation in health care, at least to have basic understanding. Yet, was always able to maintain involvement in amateur baseball. That is much more difficult today in the business world due to time demands.
I started a teaching and coaching career in the Fall of 1966. After only 4 years I left the education field and entered the business world in sales. We sold hospital equipment for cystic fibrosis children and other breathing apparatus. I grew up in Grove City, soon found myself in Kansas City, Mo., then Denver, Colorado and then San Francisco, Calif where I still live with my family.
I am currently and have been the Vice President of Sales at Cytosport, the makers of Muscle Milk. I have had a very successful career in sales and marketing. I have served as VP sales for most of my career, leading sales teams with such large companies as Bristol Myers, Novartis, Pfizer etc. My physical education background gave me foundation in health care, at least to have basic understanding. Yet, was always able to maintain involvement in amateur baseball. That is much more difficult today in the business world due to time demands.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Being around young student athletes was very rewarding which is why even after entering the business world I continued to coach amateur and college baseball.
Being around young student athletes was very rewarding which is why even after entering the business world I continued to coach amateur and college baseball.
What types of recognition, awards, honors or activities have you been involved in?
I was awarded the Jack Williams Leadership award by American Legion Baseball for winning the National Championship in 2000. I was awarded the Major League Baseball National Championship award at Yankee Stadium by the Commissioner of Baseball, Sandy Alderson and Frank Robinson during the 2000 World Series. I have been selected in the San Ramon Valley Little League Hall of Fame, Danville, Calif. The Tri Valley Sports Hall of Fame located in the east bay of Northern California. I was a 2015 Inductee into the Mercer County, Pa. Athletic Hall of Fame.
Details are available at www.hootsbaseball.com and bio www.linkd
I was awarded the Jack Williams Leadership award by American Legion Baseball for winning the National Championship in 2000. I was awarded the Major League Baseball National Championship award at Yankee Stadium by the Commissioner of Baseball, Sandy Alderson and Frank Robinson during the 2000 World Series. I have been selected in the San Ramon Valley Little League Hall of Fame, Danville, Calif. The Tri Valley Sports Hall of Fame located in the east bay of Northern California. I was a 2015 Inductee into the Mercer County, Pa. Athletic Hall of Fame.
Details are available at www.hootsbaseball.com and bio www.linkd
How did your experience at Slippery Rock University help you find your first position after graduation? Jobs were plentiful at the time due to the Vietnam war. And while I was drafted, did not serve was deferred due to a shoulder injury. I was very lucky I guess but the injury kept me from continuing in athletics. I/We grew up in a different era. My father worked in the Pa. coal mines, then the mill. I learned to do a lot with a little. I was not the best student, but I knew how to compete which is what you have to do in business to have some success.
What is your advice for future graduates?
It is a big world today, made smaller by technology. In Northern California we are surrounded by all the technology companies. I think the young people today need to do a better job of personal communication. We all text, email, etc but your personality never comes thru in those methods. If you cannot communicate, articulate and engage with people it makes it a lot more difficult in the business world. 1966 was a long time ago, and I did not have the means or book knowledge of many of my class mates but I was never afraid to take a chance. Get out of my comfort zone, be flexible. That is key today as business changes so fast you have to continue to adapt. I have been thru 3 mergers and acquisitions and in every one of them I had new responsibility, new team members and new ownership. The last one was only a year ago, and at 71 while I do not need to continue to work and will exit in 2016, I find that my nature to compete lets me adapt to the change.
I have kept my friends who live in Grove City all these years, and enjoy traveling there a few times each year. My sister is a SRU grad and lives in Erie, and we only recently sold our parents’ home in Grove City when my mother passed away.
I have lived in California since 1971, first San Francisco and in Danville 25 miles out of the city since 1974. But I have never left my roots, what I learned as the son of an Italian coal miner, and a Graduate of Slippery Rock University.
Cleaning out my mother’s home recently, the pictures of the fraternity parties on the Slippery Rock River brought a big smile to my face. Those were great years, and left me with great memories.
It is a big world today, made smaller by technology. In Northern California we are surrounded by all the technology companies. I think the young people today need to do a better job of personal communication. We all text, email, etc but your personality never comes thru in those methods. If you cannot communicate, articulate and engage with people it makes it a lot more difficult in the business world. 1966 was a long time ago, and I did not have the means or book knowledge of many of my class mates but I was never afraid to take a chance. Get out of my comfort zone, be flexible. That is key today as business changes so fast you have to continue to adapt. I have been thru 3 mergers and acquisitions and in every one of them I had new responsibility, new team members and new ownership. The last one was only a year ago, and at 71 while I do not need to continue to work and will exit in 2016, I find that my nature to compete lets me adapt to the change.
I have kept my friends who live in Grove City all these years, and enjoy traveling there a few times each year. My sister is a SRU grad and lives in Erie, and we only recently sold our parents’ home in Grove City when my mother passed away.
I have lived in California since 1971, first San Francisco and in Danville 25 miles out of the city since 1974. But I have never left my roots, what I learned as the son of an Italian coal miner, and a Graduate of Slippery Rock University.
Cleaning out my mother’s home recently, the pictures of the fraternity parties on the Slippery Rock River brought a big smile to my face. Those were great years, and left me with great memories.
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