Matt Hamblin ’19 transformed his passion for service and leadership into a prestigious internship with the Accelerate to Leadership (A2L) program affiliated with Aramark, an international company that delivers experiences and services in food and facilities management. This internship led to a recent job offer to become the front desk assistant manager for an Aramark-managed property at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
As a marketing and finance double major, Matt took his experience to the table while working as the student coordinator for Classic Fare Catering at Berry. He qualified for the Aramark Step Up to Leadership (S2L) program, which gives sophomores, juniors and seniors the opportunity to engage in management training and gain valuable insight into their chosen career tracks. Matt spent the summer of 2018 as an Aramark intern in business operations and support services at Denali National Park.
Shortly after graduation, Matt beat out a group of 4,500 applicants to earn one of the 200 positions in the A2L program. He signed on as an operations associate manager at the William F. Bolger Center for Leadership Development in Potomac, Md., where he aids government officials in planning leadership training initiatives and carrying out events for leadership development.
“The S2L Program has around a 74% placement rate into the A2L Program, and the A2L has around an 80% permanent placement rate within the company,” Matt says. “I thought that those odds offered a great chance for placement in the company permanently, so I jumped on it.”
In April, Matt will begin his new position at Denali National Park, which offers the opportunity to meet a variety of travelers. “People have so many different ways of admiring the same things, and I am astonished by the love for our planet that I can share with people from all over the world,” he says.
Matt benefited from the encouragement and advice of his mentors at Berry: Catering Director Scott Wallace, Catering Supervisor Stacy Payne and Assistant Professor of Marketing Melissa Clark. “Scott and Stacy really took me under their wings to guide me toward a path of success not only in school, but professionally as well,” Matt explains. “Through connections they both have, I was able to experience a lot of what Aramark has to offer in the country, from national parks to the nation's capital.”
With years of industry experience on his side, Matt plans to use the next step in his career to become one of the youngest general managers Aramark has ever had. “I’m really able to put my education to work,” he says. “It’s always a challenge moving to a new place, but a Berry education and the hands-on experience I had have prepared me for an extremely dynamic workplace.”
Written by sophomore Faythe Choate
