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WOUB Wednesday: rue21 CEO Bill Brand
< < Back to woub-wednesday-rue21-ceo-bill-brandATHENS, OH – Bill Brand will talk about how his path to becoming a retail executive started by learning about storytelling at WOUB Public Media during the next WOUB Wednesday on October 27 at 7:30 p.m.
“WOUB Wednesdays are a great way to provide students the opportunity to talk with industry professionals virtually,” said WOUB Director of Student Professional Development Michael Rodriguez.
Brand grew up outside Buffalo, New York. Even though he was not an Ohioan, he instantly found a new home in Athens and at WOUB. He worked all four years at WOUB learning the ins and outs of news, broadcasting and media. Thanks to connections from WOUB and Ohio University, when Brand graduated in 1987, he got a job producing the 11 p.m. news at WSYX in Columbus. After Columbus, Brand went on to become an assistant news director and then a news director. Then he got a call that took him outside of the TV news business.
VH1, a music video cable television channel, wanted him to come work there. Brand became the vice president of programming and production at VH1. He was there for five years. Then, he moved on to a senior vice president position at Lifetime Television. After five years in that role, Brand was offered the senior vice president of programming position at Home Shopping Network (HSN). During his 11 years at HSN, Brand worked his way up, eventually becoming president of the company. After HSN, Brand went on to become a senior vice president and chief retail officer at Carnival Corporation and then in November of 2020, he was named CEO at rue21.
“Throughout fall semester, we have several former WOUB students scheduled to talk with current students and alumni,” said WOUB Community Engagement Manager Cheri Russo. “The former students are excited to share what they have learned out in the industry with current and former WOUB students.”
Other upcoming WOUB Wednesday speakers include Buckeye Broadband’s Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN) Program Director and Anchor Justin Feldkamp and ESPN Crewing Supervisor Kim Kanner.
The virtual discussions are held on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. throughout the semester and are open to all current and former WOUB students as well as WOUB staff. Those interested can register at bit.ly/WOUBWednesday Registration is required for each session.