Alexander Ronky, ’18

As a Pediatric Immunization Specialist, I support pediatric and family practices throughout the City of Chicago with inventory management, patient identification, series completion, and any other vaccine-related inquiries. The offices that I serve are in some of the most underprivileged areas of the city and participate in the federal Vaccines for Children Program where children 18 and under can receive required and recommended immunizations at no cost. I am product trained and licensed to sell GSK's portfolio of vaccines to healthcare providers throughout the city.

A member of my fraternity had worked in the Inside Sales department at the Philadelphia headquarters located in the Navy Yard. He referred me for a position as an Inside Sales representative, where I spent the first year of my career. I was very much interested in going into a field-based role and made my interest clear to leadership. There was an opportunity to do an eight-month secondment in Chicago as a field representative. I interviewed for the role and was offered the position. I was then offered a full-time role in that position after the eight months were complete.

My educational background in marketing has allowed me to transition into a sales role with ease. My goal is to become a marketing brand manager within the company, and the skills and knowledge I learned from my time at SJU come across in my day-to-day work. SJU has taught me to sell myself as an individual, which allows me to have success in selling my service and support to customers.

My dual major in Spanish comes in handy when I work in the Pilsen or Little Village neighborhoods of the city, where the majority of the community is of Mexican or Latino descent. Being able to communicate in the language that is familiar to providers in this area allows me to build a stronger and more trustworthy relationship with my customers. It also has given me the ability to share and utilize product resources in the Spanish language.

SJU also instilled in me the values of Men and Women with and for Others. Although my role is rooted in sales, a large portion of it is consulting and support. I had the opportunity to be involved in APEX, WIP, and Collegiate Challenge during my time at SJU and the experiences of serving underprivileged communities still impacts the way I conduct business in low-income areas of Chicago.

I interned at NBC Sports Philadelphia, AmeriHealth Caritas, and with a Mayoral Candidate for the City of Reading. I also studied abroad in Madrid in fall 2016.