Internship Profiles

Energy is not the first area people think about when you hear "marketing," but for second year student Phil Perry, COMED provided an incredible Summer experience. Here are some details on his internship with the Chicagoland utility.

Internship in Energy / Program Management (Phil Perry ’11)

COMED, AN EXELON COMPANY, OAK BROOK, IL, ENERGY EFFICIENCY MARKETING INTERN

Experience prior to Booth: I worked for Chevron's Credit Card group. I began as a financial analyst working on budgets, forecasts and securitization. I transferred into the merchant acquiring group, leveraging Chevron's relationship with third party credit cards (Visa, Amex etc) to increase sales at Chevron stations.

What do you like most about the marketing career/internship that you have chosen?

The internship was very dedicated to marketing with a good mix of the strategic and tactical. I had a hand in helping build the strategic direction of the program while at the same time working directly with the creative aspects I so love in marketing.

Why did you choose this career/internship?

The programs I promoted were programs I could fully believe in. Increasing the energy efficiency of ComEd's customers is an important step towards reduced energy dependence. I enjoyed being able to work in a field I have grown to truly enjoy--marketing--while feeling that I was making important differences in how customers consume electricity.

What skills do you need to succeed in this field?

Interpersonal skills are critical. I worked closely with the entire marketing team and the agency, and being able to clearly convey my insights allowed me to make an impact on the strategic direction of the program we were managing. A good touch of analytics also helped to back up those insights. I was consistently called upon to translate external reports as well as analyses I myself put together in a way the entire team could understand.