Dr. Michael Pepe is one of Siena’s leading professors in the School of Business and teaches several different marketing classes. As a former graduate of Siena, Dr. Pepe dedicates his time to preparing his students for their future business careers. Dr. Pepe’s enthusiastic attitude and knowledge about the marketing and business world truly makes him a favorite among Siena’s marketing major and minors.
Years teaching at Siena: 12
Favorite food: Pizza! I can eat pizza every day from the time I get up to the time I go to sleep, I love pizza.
Favorite movie: Rocky
Favorite sport/team: Minnesota Vikings
Favorite band: ACDC and Guns ‘n’ Roses
Her Campus: Where are you from?
Mechanicville, which is a small town going toward Saratoga and is thirty minutes away from Siena.
Her Campus: What made you decide to pursue marketing as a career?
I actually started at Siena as an accounting major during my undergraduate at Siena. The reason why is my dad graduated from Siena in accounting and I always liked to do bookkeeping for him. I took my first introductory accounting courses and I enjoyed it, but as I started taking more upper level courses, I knew it just wasn’t the correct fit for me. I took my first marketing class at Siena College and I absolutely loved it. I said this is just the right feel for me.
Her Campus: What’s the best part about teaching international marketing here at Siena?
I think it’s the passion that the students have for the topic. Students are interested in the global environment and international studies so my favorite part is the enthusiasm that students convey for the overall subject matter.
Her Campus: What did you do before you started teaching at Siena?
Before I came to Siena, I was a senior business manager for an organization called Damon Worldwide, which is a global, private label food broker. I worked there for a couple years and I was part of a management training program, because I had been employed at Price Chopper Supermarkets and I was a brand manager for them.
Her Campus: Why do you put so much focus in achieving professionalism in the classroom? How did you get this idea?
What I’m trying to do is help students as best as possible prepare for their careers. I want as much as possible to simulate the business environment. It’s not just about conveying content about the materials, I want to stress to the students that you have to show up on time, you have to be respectful during class, you have to be thoroughly prepared because when you leave Siena College, whether it’s one, two, three years down the road, those are the particular rules that you have to abide by. The closer I can get the students to be in that mode of thinking, the better the transition will be for them.
Her Campus: Do you have a favorite topic or class to teach? If so, which one?
My favorite class to teach was BUDV 450. The first time I taught it was a strategy class last summer because it’s all application and it was the first time I taught it. I also love the International Marketing because the students have a lot of interest in the subject matter. It would be a tough call between International Marketing and strategy class, which is a capstone course. Those two courses are not just understanding the basics, but now we start applying it, so we still are making decisions with analytical components of the course which I really enjoy.
Her Campus: Which countries have you travelled to for work?
I’ve travelled to South America, Europe, mainly my favorite would probably be towards… actually my favorite country to go to would be Canada. It’s such a short drive from here and I think there’s a connection going back to my younger days where we would travel as a family up there, but I’ve always been fascinated with Canada.
Her Campus: You are a favorite professor among many of the marketing majors and minors here at Siena. What’s your secret?
I appreciate the kind words, but I just try to do the best that I can do to teach the students. One of the special things about Siena is that we’re not here to conduct research primarily and sit in an office. Our main goal and focus is on the students, making sure that we’re actively engaged with the students inside and outside of the classroom. I absolutely love what I do, it’s not just a job, it’s a career and I want to let students know that you can work very hard and enjoy what they’re doing. I want them to have a career that they really find challenging, but that they also enjoy.
He r Campus: If you couldn’t have a career in business and you could pick anything, what would be your dream job?
My dream job would be playing sports, no doubt about it. I would probably say a shooting guard on a professional basketball team.
Her Campus: Why are you such a big Vikings fan?
One of my first football games I saw in 1977, they used to play outdoors at this place called Old Metropolitan Stadium. It was freezing, it was snowing, this was in December and I turned them on and they used to have the “Purple People Eaters”, which they called their defensive line and they were tough. I saw this one player, who’s a hall of famer, Alan Page, who’s actually now on the Supreme Court in the state of Minnesota, and I said “Yeah, that is my team!”