From the sales floor of a local sporting goods store to a position as a national manager of Nike, Inc. Eugene (Gene) Purtell ('93) used his BCC degree and some nuts and bolts experience to advance in the corporate world.

    Gene chipped away at his BCC education over ten years, determined to finish it while working full-time. By tackling it slowly, however, he acquired on-the-job training beyond what a degree alone could give him.

   With the combined education and sales experience, he worked his way up the corporate ladder to his recent appointment as Equipment Sales General Manager for National Strategic Accounts and Strategic Department Stores at Nike, Inc., with no further degree than his A.A.S. from Broome Community College in Business Marketing and Management.

   Gene took his first BCC class directly after his tour of duty in the United States Coast Guard. Enrolling in at least one class each semester at BCC for ten years to graduate. He first took non-accredited courses to bring his skills up. "Broome is a great place to begin your higher level education," Eugene said. He appreciated the small student-teacher ratio on the campus and felt it was more personalized and friendly. During this time, he was working at Dick's Clothing and Sporting Goods, a job he received when he stopped into the Binghamton (Court Street) store on a whim, back in 1986 and filled out an application.

   "It was the right thing to do professionally," Gene said. While at BCC, he maximized the value of his classes by integrating: working in the field he was studying. In his case, he was getting business and marketing experience on the sales floor at Dick's.

   After he received his degree, he continued at Dick's, becoming store manager and eventually a merchandise buyer for the company. It was in this position that he had an informal conversation with a Nike manager. "You build relationships that go above and beyond business associates. We became friends," Gene said. At a business dinner one evening, the Nike representative mentioned that the company was having a hard time finding people to relocate to New York City. Eugene said he would be willing to go there, and that was the beginning of his job move to Nike.

   "It was quite a transition, even though Dick's was growing," Gene said. "Learning just the organizational structure of a global/Fortune 500 company is a job in itself."

   Part of what earned him his position was his flexibility and mobility, and they would be tested in his next six years with Nike. The company sent him to Beaverton, Oregon where he was a product line sales manager, then to The Netherlands as a European apparel sales manager, then to Dallas as a strategic account executive, and on to Chicago where he was an apparel sales manager for the entire Eastern region with sales of over $40 million. He is now in charge of equipment sales for a number of national accounts with Nike, and back in the world headquarters for Nike in Beaverton, Oregon.

   With all of his travels, he still remembers his roots at BCC and appreciates the lessons learned from those courses. "The marketing and selling classes (with Bob "Fitz" Fitzgerald), QBM and effective speaking courses are the foundation of what is incorporated into my career on a daily basis," he said.
In Oregon he plans to start chipping away at his Bachelor's degree, another long, determined process. But it's a personal goal, not a professional one, an illustration of his own philosophy. He says, "Take control of your own life; your success is dependent on what you put into it."
He adds, "I would have to say, 'Just Do It!'"

Back to Alumni Profiles