Overview:

Scholar Alumni couple Erin (’99 Com) & Tony (’99 Eng) Talbert join Following the Gong to share their joint story and advice after meeting early in their Penn State journey. After serving as Lion Ambassadors and ringing the gong, Erin pursued a career in consulting and Tony went into financial services roles. They shared their advice on these fields, including commercial real estate, family transitions, and career transitions including moving into roles in community organizations and small businesses. Erin and Tony offer advice that is helpful for any Scholar, not just those in similar fields, as they both took directions away from their major and have navigated their journey together, including as donors to and volunteers with the College. For each of their bios and a more detailed breakdown, continue reading these show notes!

Guest Bio:

Erin Talbert ’99 Communications is currently an active community volunteer, elected School Board member and small business owner. Before that she spent nearly 20 years working in the pharmaceuticals industry. In her 11 years at AstraZeneca, Erin worked in several commercial roles including Marketing, Managed Markets, and Sales. In her 7 years with Accenture, Erin focused on change management, organizational design, and communications. She now owns Brandywine Outdoor Living and works with landscape architects and their clients to add the outdoor "finishings" to large scale landscape projects including furniture, lighting, shade, and planters. Erin graduated from Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications with Bachelor of Arts in Advertising/Public Relations with Honors and a minor in Labor & Industrial Relations from Penn State in 1999.

Tony Talbert ’99 Engineering is a Partner of The Shidler Group, where he is responsible for real estate investments, acquisitions, capital markets and developing new investment strategies, including The Shidler Group’s most recent multifamily, hotel, and net-lease investment platforms. Since joining The Shidler Group in 2013, Tony  has been instrumental in the acquisition of over $3.24 billion of office, hospitality, and multifamily assets throughout the U.S. Tony was previously with Chatham Financial Group where he co-founded the firm’s real estate investment banking practice where he specialized in capital raising and complex debt advisory assignments, including a $1.3 billion securitization of One Bryant Park in New York after beginning his career on Chatham’s derivative desk. Tony graduated from Penn State’s College of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Industrial Engineering in 1999.  He earned his Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School in 2004.

Episode Topics:

· Coming to University Park and choosing Schreyer from Maryland and Hawaii and as a first-generation student – and meeting your future spouse on day 1!

· Selecting a major based on skills rather than topics and as a first-gen student, or as a student in DUS

· Making a career pivot as you are nearing graduation based on pre-professional experiences and succeeding regardless of alignment with your major

· Leading while walking backwards with the Lion Ambassadors

· Working your way through school with on- and off-campus jobs and managing time

· Learning from pragmatic thesis topics like marketing plans and product component dissection

· Going to business school after starting your career and switching from consulting to corporate roles

· Stepping away from traditional careers to focus on family and finding new opportunities locally

· A crash course on working in commercial real estate and forming business partnerships

· Reflective lessons on the Scholar experience , success, relationships, mentorship, and more