Scott Van Valkenburgh shared his career journey with students in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and reminded his audience to stay curious and feel comfortable saying 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know.鈥
A top leader with a global computer software company offered advice and encouragement to 黑料不打烊 students as part of a new speaker series hosted by an executive-in-residence with the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business.
Scott Van Valkenburgh, senior vice president of Global Alliances and Channels at Alteryx, was the featured guest in the first event of the new Executive in Residence Speaker Series: Behind the Resume, hosted by the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business in partnership with the Porter Family Professional Development Center and Beta Alpha Psi.
The March 14 campus discussion was led by David Goslin, executive in residence, and Kai Bilotta 鈥24 of Beta Alpha Psi.
鈥淢y whole life is not linear,鈥 Van Valkenburgh told his audience. He reminisced about the start of his academic career studying abroad in Japan to landing into the Management Information Systems major at the University at Albany, SUNY because his friend was the dean鈥檚 son.
Prior to graduating, Van Valkenburgh was offered a position at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
鈥淚 still wasn鈥檛 sure what I wanted to do,鈥 he said. Instead of immediately accepting the offer, he briefly chose to work as a park ranger in Hawaii for a year before joining the firm.
Van Valkenburgh opened up about the challenges he faced, including starting a business that faltered. He discussed the impact around being laid off, emphasizing that such experiences are common.
鈥淎fter my experience, I started saying, 鈥業 work as鈥 versus 鈥業 am鈥 because your value as a person is not measured by your job title or how much money you make,鈥 advised Van Valkenburgh. 鈥淵our job does not define you.鈥
Students engaged with Van Valkenburgh throughout the event. When asked about his success, Van Valkenburgh said he was lucky to have a mentor in Frank Brown, a former partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers. 鈥淎n early piece of advice from Frank was that I was using a lot of language with 鈥業鈥 in my presentations,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 would have a greater impact if I said 鈥榳e鈥 more.鈥
When asked what advice Van Valkenburgh would give the students, he told them to keep a curious mindset and be willing to say, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know鈥.
The next Behind the Resume speaker takes place Thursday, April 11, at 4 p.m. in KoBC 145 with Aaron Isbell, client executive at Snowflake.