Brayden Riggs, a senior from St. Charles, Missouri, studying marketing, management, international business, and advertising, spent his summer as a product management intern at Pella Corporation in Pella, Iowa.
“My responsibilities included performing competitive reviews to analyze differences in product offerings, photography styles, messaging, positioning, and conveying technical information. I also used historical data to create reports highlighting market trends, product inclusion rates, and inclusion in market segments to rationalize product offerings.”
Prior to applying for the internship, Riggs was aware of Pella and had seen how the company invests in business students through the Ivy Sales Program. Seeing their impact on students at Ivy assured Riggs that Pella would be a great fit. He had no doubt they would incorporate the same levels of investment into their employees.
“My internship experience was fantastic,” he said. “Pella has a top-tier internship program. We had weekly Q&A sessions with business executives. We were able to tour the plant, test lab, and sales branch to better understand how the business operates. The internship experience allowed me to network with other interns and leaders around the business and develop a greater understanding of the business. I also had a great leader, mentors, and team that I was a part of, and I couldn’t be more grateful for everything they did for me.”
Riggs continues to stay busy outside of school, working as a student equipment manager for the Iowa State football team, coaching a college flag football team, and running his business, Riggs Sauce Co. In his limited free time, he enjoys taking photos, making videos, and spending time with friends. Riggs has also enjoyed much of what Ivy has had to offer and credits the college with helping him prepare for his internships.
“First, in BUSAD 203, I learned how to write an effective resume and developed professional skills that set me above other candidates. In my marketing courses, my professors have had us think from a company perspective. My projects in class are usually based on real-world scenarios and this thinking translated to my internship. So, when I got to Pella, I knew what questions I needed to ask and how I should think to be successful.”
Interning at Pella was everything that Riggs could have asked for, and he reflects positively on his time there. They are a corporation that invests a lot of time and effort into their internship program, which made for an incredible experience.
“The company has a strong culture based around caring, learning, and results, and I felt that I fit in with this culture and it was easy to buy into. As a company, Pella has the ability to develop talent. This was consistently shown through the hard work they put in to help develop our skills and knowledge, leading us in the right direction of finding success in our careers. It has been an incredible experience working with great people, building meaningful connections within Pella, and learning about my interests while seeing them in practice.”
