Meet the CRC Staff
Melissa Ruggiero
Assistant Dean and Director
Melissa leads the Career Resource Center and manages strategic planning for career development, internships and full-time employment for the school’s graduate and undergraduate populations. She directs a team that provides students with individual and group advising, required career courses, educational and networking events, employer information sessions and interview training. She also uses her extensive career services experience in building and maintaining relationships with all stakeholders, including students, employers, alumni, faculty and staff while remaining active in local, regional and national professional career development organizations.
Her team includes:
Undergraduate Services
Serves more than 3,000 undergraduate students through Career Connections courses, career advising, the Practice Interview Program, recruiting events and more.
Caitlin Rush
Senior Associate Director
Caitlin leads the undergraduate career services team. She serves as the main instructor for Part II of our undergraduate Career Connections course, that builds upon career concepts, techniques and exercises from Part I. In addition, she coordinates experiential learning opportunities focused on career exploration and professional development for our undergraduate students. These opportunities are available through our Career Passport program, which includes our career courses, as well as myriad networking events, conferences, workshops and case competitions. Caitlin also founded our highly successful Management Volunteer Program, which connects students to service learning opportunities throughout Western New York. Finally, she is the School of Management student club liaison and works closely with our student leaders.
Christopher Salem
Undergraduate Advisement Associate
Chris works with undergraduate students and employers in the areas of finance, management information systems, human resources, marketing and operations and supply chain management. Chris also assists undecided School of Management undergraduates with concentration decisions. In addition, he is the School of Management student club liaison and works closely with all the student leaders.
Brianna Hodge
Senior Career Planning and Development Associate
Brianna leads Part I of the undergraduate Career Connections class, which prepares sophomore management students to explore professional interests and begin researching and applying for internships. She also supports the Career Passport program, which highlights diverse co-curricular and experiential learning opportunities available to School of Management students.
Graduate Services
Works with more than 600 MBA and specialty master's students through in-depth career advising, orientation programs, networking programs and more.
Pamela Krakowiak
Senior Associate Director
Pam leads marketing communications for the office. She also develops and delivers workshops and programming for graduate students and is the lead instructor for the first-semester MBA class discussion course, MGG600. She works most closely with students, employers and alumni in the areas of marketing, health care management and human resources, along with undecided and collaborative degree MBA students.
Katie Rusek
Assistant Director
Katie provides career advisement to finance students in both the MBA and MS programs. She works most closely with students, employers and alumni in the areas of finance and operations and supply chain management. She is also the lead on international student career services, providing specialized resources, career programming and education at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Kevin Thomas
Senior Career Planning and Development Associate
Kevin provides career advisement to MS students in business analytics and management information systems (MIS). He also works with MBA students interested in information technology, cybersecurity and information assurance . He works most closely with students, employers and alumni in the areas of analytics MIS, technology, product management, cybersecurity and risk. Kevin also contributes to the CRC technology team and is the lead on the website.
Employer Relations and Operations
Collaborates with more than 150 employers annually and creates company-centric recruiting and brand-building programs, as well as multiple career fairs and networking events.
Amy Johnson
Senior Employer Relations Manager
Amy leads employer engagement by developing and strengthening recruiting relationships to maximize full-time job, internship and professional development opportunities for all School of Management graduate and undergraduate students. She fosters long-term partnerships connecting the school and its students with the business community.
Mikayla Walton
Recruitment Coordinator
Mikayla manages the logistics associated with on-campus interviewing, résumé collections and job posting activities for the School of Management. In addition, she coordinates the daily operations of the Career Resource Center, manages the student staff and practice interview program, as well as serves as the primary point of contact for students, employers and faculty.
Andrew Swanson
Assistant Director of Technology and Assessment
Andrew leads assessment for the office, which includes measuring, analyzing, and reporting key performance indicators related to graduate employment outcomes, engagement in experiential learning, customer satisfaction, career readiness and relationship management. He manages student and employer databases and technology platforms to foster innovation and streamlined service for the CRC and the school.
Internships and Experiential Learning
Serves all business students as well as employers across industry interested in collaborative learning opportunities. Leads the university’s Social Impact Fellows program and collaborates on other school and university experiential learning initiatives.
Carrie Gardner
Director
Carrie oversees all functions of the Internships and Experiential Learning program within the School of Management, including credit-bearing internships. She assists employers across industries in creating and promoting internships, and advises students at the MBA and MS class levels. Her past experience includes leading UB’s interdisciplinary Social Impact Fellows program and establishing the Jordan A. Daniels Nonprofit Board Fellowship. She has built a personal brand as a highly dedicated knowledge expert and problem solver.
Lauren Hooven
Assistant Director
Lauren assists undergraduate students in defining their internship and experiential learning goals, and can advise on academic registrations for internship participation as well as the work authorization process for international students. She connects with employers to develop meaningful internship opportunities for undergraduates. She oversees our Sophomore Sites program, is a member of the CRC communications working group and supervises our iExperience Interns. Lauren is a higher education professional whose mission is to encourage dynamic professional development and foster inclusive educational environments.