MEMBER OF THE MONTH: June 2016

June’s Member of the Month is a seasoned marketing professional within our New York chapter that you need to know! Keith Kennedy serves as the Director of Marketing for STUDIOS Architecture and describes himself as a “jack of all trades”. With an engineering background and a passion for knowledge, his overwhelming drive and effectiveness serves him well on the Communications Committee. Let’s read below as Keith has shared some of his thoughts and ideas with us.

1. Describe your career path from college to now.
   Engineer to Marketer: I graduated from college in 2011 with an engineering degree and a year later started as a marketing assistant for a mid-size engineering firm where I quickly realized this is what I should be doing. Less than two years after that I became the marketing director of a large architecture firm in Manhattan and since then have moved to STUDIOS in the same role.
2. Best career advice you’ve received to date.
   My mother—who can be equally as frustrating as her career is successful—gave me the greatest advice before criticizing me for becoming a marketer: “they pay for your opinion, so don’t ever be afraid to give them exactly what they’ve asked for.”
3. What can we look forward to from the Communications Committee?
   It’s a very exciting time for our chapter–we’re refreshing some of our communications in a big way to better connect and engage with our members. We’re launching this Fall–and there’s still plenty to do, so join the committee if you’d like to be a part of it all!
4. Best marketing read?
   Harvard Business Review—I firmly believe in never, ever looking inside our industry for ideas ever again. HBR, both in print and online, is worth every penny for a subscription. There are a lot of fresh ideas that can be paralleled in our industry and that’s exactly what we need these days.
5. What have you gained from being a mentor in SMPS New York’s mentor program this year?
   Aside from the fact that my mentee, Zennia de Mesa, has taught me more than I could possibly teach her, the program has opened my eyes to one of the greatest things SMPS New York offers—the people we connect with. Everyone—and I do mean everyone—should be a part of the program.