Visual resume for Benjamin J. Cirillo, MBA. Brand, product and innovation management are my focus. See my portfolio at http://engineofideas.wordpress.com or check out my LinkedIn profile at http://linkedin.com/in/bencirillo

1. BENJAM
IN
J. CIRILLO, M
BA
VISUAL RESUM
E

2. ABOUT
I’m a recent MBA graduate
with a focus on branding,
innovation management
and new product
development.
I have experience in building
relationships, managing people
and the overall structure of
business, as you’ll see from the
following slides.
Born
here
Now I
live
here

4. WHILE IN SCHOOL
Loyola Quinlan Net Impact is one of
more than 300 chapters globally
committed to making positive change
through business.
Association of Loyola Entrepreneurs
I like to keep busy

5. This year-long project
reformatted the annual
business plan competition to
focus squarely on social
enterprise: for-profit
ventures dedicated to social
good. Three student leaders
(myself included) set the
guidelines, arranged the
event and launched the
marketing campaign.

6. Not all who
wander are
lost

7. 2000-2003
• Downers Grove
Reporter
• Liberty Suburban News
• Plainfield Enterprise
Out of college, I knew I
wanted to write. So I
went to work for the
local paper, transferred
to a different paper after
a buyout, then kept on
writing for yet another
paper.
I spent my days in city council
meetings, police stations, school
board functions and courtrooms. It
was a ground-level view of how the
world runs, and a good place to
practice relationship-building skills.

8. 2003-2009
Journalism was fun, but not my
passion. So I left to follow
another interest: Music. In
December 2003 I joined Guitar
Center as a sales associate. I
was promoted to department
manager, then assistant
manager. In 2006 I changed
locations and continued on in
pure sales for three more years.
Guitar Center is based on an old-style
relationship oriented sales strategy. As a
result, sales associates end up working
with marketing, inventory, and supply
chain issues. As a manager, I also dealt
with basic HR issues like hiring and
scheduling. I went there to learn about
the music industry, and ended up
learning how to run a business.

9. 2009-2010
I led 4 operations as a crew
leader, running teams of 5-
20 people. We completed our
tasks in a fraction of the
expected time, despite the
challenges of working in a
high density area where most
people live behind locked
gates.
As a recruiter, I
administered the Census
Exam to hundreds of
applicants. I was then
chosen as part of an
elite team sent to help
out another district that
was having trouble filling
quotas.

10. 2011-PRESENT
After all that, I had management
experience from the Census,
relationship skills from the papers and
a top-down business view from Guitar
Center. It was time to put that together in a
graduate degree, focusing on
Entrepreneurship and Marketing.
But mostly I focused on
finishing school while
raising this one
In school I had an internship at
Plumtree, and I wrote
marketing plans for real world
clients Gibson’s
Steakhouse and Tanzanian
Children’s Fund
And then these two

12. NEXT STEPS
Now that school is over, it’s time
to move in a new direction.
I’m focused on brand management and new
product development, using the
relationship, management and
business skills I’ve developed over a
career.

13. WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

14. CONTACT
Linkedin.com/in/bencirillo
ben.cirillo@gmail.com
773.297.3579
Portfolio/blog at:
engineofideas.wordpress.com