Ed Barone

I attended I.U.P. for my first semester of college in 1985 for a degree in Food & Hospitality Management and playing football. I soon realized that traditional college was not for me and that I preferred a combination of hands-on learning and the traditional academic classroom. Over winter break, I had a few meetings with Executive Chef Anne Miglio and quickly realized Williamsport Area Community College was the perfect fit. I never regretted the move.

As an Italian, food is at the center of our culture and holiday traditions. I was always in the kitchen with my mom or grandmother cooking. The passion I have for food led me to hospitality.

Hard to say what class is most valuable. I can say all professors had open door policies for me and truly cared about every student’s success. All the classes prepared me for success, from baking and culinary classes in Le Juene Chef's kitchen, to sanitation, equipment layout and design.

My favorite experience was working at Georgetown University Conference Center 1991-1995. We served over 2,000 customers a day out of four kitchens - a cafeteria for hospital employees, 1000-seat banquet room, sports bar, and fine dining room. A large organization like Marriott also provided me Executive Chef opportunities to oversee events at the Saudi Embassy such as Saudi National Day for 3,000 guests and a Ramadan celebration for 6,000 guests.

We all come to points in our lives or the old cliché “fork in the road,” pun intended. We decided to have a family and my second son was born which caused me to reflect on what was important: passion for an industry I still love today and being there for my kids' sports or school events. This was not an easy decision. I am glad I made the decision but always reflect on that change with mixed emotion. My PCT education and Marriott management training was very beneficial for the transition and for work with business owners today. Hospitality teaches us how to effectively communicate with all personalities. Wealth management is a relationship business with the need to establish trust. The management experience as an Executive Chef/Food Beverage Director has prepared me to work with business owners for all their planning. I can empathize with the risk and challenges they face daily.
 

The quote by Bill Bullard that sits in my office is my guiding principle: “Opinion is really the lowest form of knowledge. It requires no accountability nor understanding. The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another world.” When we seek to understand what the other person is communicating, we become better friends, partners, leaders and advisors.
 

We are entering a new economic environment driven by technology and we are seeing for the first time in decades that college graduates are experiencing greater unemployment rates. We attribute this to AI replacing entry level analytical/research jobs. Many Penn College degrees cannot be replaced by AI and the return on the investment for a Penn College degree versus a typical college degree is significantly better. So my advice is to think about the future, your passion and willingness to be nimble when things change. My other favorite quote is from Bob Dylan “There is no success like failure and failure is no success at all." We learn so much by taking risk and failing, but you need to keep pursuing success. Each of us has our own definition of success. So, what is your definition of success in the short term and long term? 

It provided me with academic knowledge and hands on learning. Academic knowledge may be theory only and is not always practical in the real world. Penn College brings those two learning processes together for students to be successful.

What I have shared reflects how PCT prepared me. I changed careers. Statistics indicate that most college grads are in a different field from their major. I would like to ask the following questions to students: How will each college you visit prepare you for the future of your chosen industry today and how will technology impact your industry? Is the college making investments in education to keep up with the evolution of technology in your industry? What type of learning strategies do you prefer and what does the college offer?