Brandon Oelling earned his bachelor’s degree in computer graphics technology in 1998. He is the senior account executive with Appirio, a cloud solution provider offering products and professional services that help enterprises accelerate their adoption of cloud technologies. Leveraging his more than 15 years of sales leadership to develop and position innovative solutions, Brandon leads the prospective and current customer sales cycles to help understand Appirio’s differentiators, solutions and best practices for implementing cloud technologies, like SalesForce and Google.
Oelling credits the applied nature and experiential learning approach in the College of Technology as inspiration for his career path. A student job opportunity from Prof. Craig Miller doing illustration work for Bethlehem Steel Corporation solidified his choice. That project taught him the importance of teamwork, meeting deadlines, managing budgets and delivering great work. In 2011, Chris Barbin, the CEO of Appirio agreed and Brandon was awarded the “Hero in the Ranks” Award.
Oelling received the 2014 Outstanding Technology Alumni Award from the College of Technology. Award winners were asked to how their degree benefited their career. He answered:
- The technical graphics program allowed me to very quickly blend theory with application. Because of the ever-changing nature of technology, it’s really about learning to manage and adapt to change that becomes as important as ever. I didn't realize it at the time, but while the foundational theories rarely change, the ability to apply them to new technologies and applications does. Being able to absorb and apply those skills quickly is something I pull from every single day in my career. It all started with my training and experiences in the program.