Following the Gong, a Podcast of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State
Schreyer Honors College
78 episodes
1 month ago
Are you a Schreyer Scholar looking to connect with Scholar Alumni for career and life advice? Or perhaps you are a recent graduate looking to take the next step in your career, or are a prospective Scholar looking to learn more about the College. When our Scholars submit their honors thesis, they ring a ceremonial gong to mark the completion of their honors experience. #FollowingTheGong is a show that features conversations with Scholar Alumni and friends with stories and advice on how to maximize your Scholar experience, prepare for your career and further education, and make new connections with a strong network of Scholar Alumni that blazed the trail before you. Episodes are released bi-weekly on Tuesdays when Penn State classes are in session and are available on major platforms.
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Are you a Schreyer Scholar looking to connect with Scholar Alumni for career and life advice? Or perhaps you are a recent graduate looking to take the next step in your career, or are a prospective Scholar looking to learn more about the College. When our Scholars submit their honors thesis, they ring a ceremonial gong to mark the completion of their honors experience. #FollowingTheGong is a show that features conversations with Scholar Alumni and friends with stories and advice on how to maximize your Scholar experience, prepare for your career and further education, and make new connections with a strong network of Scholar Alumni that blazed the trail before you. Episodes are released bi-weekly on Tuesdays when Penn State classes are in session and are available on major platforms.
FTG 0068 – PIVOT! With Engineer – Consultant – Entrepreneur Reed Taylor ’14
Following the Gong, a Podcast of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State
1 hour 13 minutes 38 seconds
1 year ago
FTG 0068 – PIVOT! With Engineer – Consultant – Entrepreneur Reed Taylor ’14
Overview:
Engineer Consultant Manufacturer Entrepreneur Reed Taylor ’14 Engineering joins Following the Gong from Connecticut to discuss his career story of pivoting from one role to the next, all while using his skills and experiences from being a Schreyer Scholar in Chemical Engineering. Learn how Reed went from making lifelong friends at SHO Time, participated in THON, and hit the slopes with the Penn State Ski Club before embarking on the first stages of a career in pharma, consulting, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship, with a stop at Harvard Business School mixed in. Reed shares great advice for any Scholar, but especially those with an itch to constantly learn and lead new things regardless of major. Reed’s bio is available below along with chapter markers detailing the topics discussed.
Guest Bio:
Reed Taylor ’14 is the Senior Vice President, M&A, Transformation and Strategy at Summit Wash Holdings in Norwalk, CT where he sources, researches, negotiates, and closes acquisitions of new car wash locations. He joined Summit when they acquired Soapy's Car Wash, which Reed owned with his investment partners at Saddler Capital. He also served at Vice President of Manufacturing at Spot & Tango, a human-grade pet food company, while running Soapy's Car Wash. Prior to that, he worked as Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group and Process Development Engineer at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Reed earned a BS in Chemical Engineering with Honors from Penn State’s College of Engineering in 2014. He also earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He is happy to speak more about mergers & acquisitions, entrepreneurship through acquisition, finance, consulting, or biotech. Please feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn.
Episode Topic & Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:44 Coming to Schreyer from a STEM high school in VA
01:37 Experiences at SHO Time
03:10 Deciding on an engineering discipline
05:47 Penn State THON
09:00 Using club experience in your career
10:37 Penn State Ski Club
12:55 The Honors Thesis!
19:32 Job searching as an Engineering student
22:03 Insights on entry level engineering roles
26:52 Deciding to go for an MBA
30:20 Advice for b-school for non-business majors
33:43 Consulting
38:10 Pivoting to manufacturing
46:12 Reed's career in car wash ownership
51:18 Lifelong learning
55:13 External trends in the car wash sector
01:00:58 Work life balance
01:03:22 Unasked questions
01:05:52 Biggest successes and failures
01:08:26 Thoughts on mentorship
01:09:44 Shoutouts
01:10:51 Reed's final piece of advice
01:11:51 How to connect with Reed
01:12:03 Which Creamery flavor Reed would be and why / Wrap up
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Following the Gong, a Podcast of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State
Are you a Schreyer Scholar looking to connect with Scholar Alumni for career and life advice? Or perhaps you are a recent graduate looking to take the next step in your career, or are a prospective Scholar looking to learn more about the College. When our Scholars submit their honors thesis, they ring a ceremonial gong to mark the completion of their honors experience. #FollowingTheGong is a show that features conversations with Scholar Alumni and friends with stories and advice on how to maximize your Scholar experience, prepare for your career and further education, and make new connections with a strong network of Scholar Alumni that blazed the trail before you. Episodes are released bi-weekly on Tuesdays when Penn State classes are in session and are available on major platforms.
