Former Corporate Exec, Branding Consultant Joins Marketing Department to Share Expertise With Students

After a 20-year career as a senior executive and marketing consultant working on global brands across a variety of industries, including wine and spirits, consumer packaged goods and food, residential real estate, and the entertainment industry, Steven Savino made a career change by moving the corporate world into academia and bringing his expertise with him into the classroom. This fall, he joins the Whitman School as an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Marketing.

After earning an MBA in marketing from Wake Forest University and completing coursework toward a Ph.D., he chose instead to pursue the corporate world, where he held senior executive positions for companies and brands like Anheuser-Busch, Time Warner Inc./Six Flags Theme Parks, Century 21 Real Estate, and Unilever, eventually starting his own consulting firm, Savino Global Group, LLC, where he was president and CEO for eight years.

However, about 15 years ago, he was looking for new challenges and also wanted a career more suitable for raising his daughter as a single father. So, he decided to pursue teaching, something he had always wanted to do.  He brought his knowledge in the field to Lehigh University, where he was a professor of practice in marketing at the College of Business, as well as the assistant dean for Lehigh’s graduate business programs.

“It was the right time in my career and my personal life to make a change, and I have loved teaching ever since,” he says. “What I really find most satisfying is coaching and mentoring students. It’s the students that make it all worthwhile.”

Savino made the decision to come to the Whitman School this fall for many of the same reasons. He retired from Lehigh but knew he wanted to keep working with students, and he had the added incentive of moving closer to his two grandchildren, who live just outside of Syracuse.

As an assistant teaching professor at Whitman, he is looking forward to bringing his know-how into the classes he will be teaching this fall: Principles of Marketing and Essentials of Marketing.

“It’s my goal to get students excited about marketing through real world case studies based not only on my experience but those of my colleagues in the industry, as well,” he explains. “Over time, I hope to initiate experiential projects with real companies based on the connections I have made in the field and allow our students to have some interaction with former colleagues from both the for-profit and nonprofit space to hear their experiences, too.”

Savino also hopes to help prepare students with soft skills like confidence in public speaking and presenting, problem solving and other critical elements of business that don’t necessarily come from a textbook. He sees it as his responsibility to help students “be able to take action day one on the job.”

“The Whitman School felt very comfortable from the get-go and was a natural fit for me,” he says of joining the faculty. “I think I have a lot to offer with the experience I bring from both my time in the corporate world and my years of teaching. Joining the quality faculty at Whitman was an easy decision for me, and the move also allows my wife and I to spend more time with family in the Syracuse area. I’m very excited to be a part of the Whitman School.”

 By Caroline K. Reff