Brendan Connolly interviewed his father Kevin Connolly and Jessica Somos about their occupations. Kevin is the Director of Finance at the University of Toledo Medical Center, where he is responsible for financial reporting, accounting, budgeting, and governmental reimbursement on a large scale across Northwest Ohio. Jessica is a Marketing Intern at the University of Toledo, where she maintains client relationships, fulfills marketing projects, conducts research, and assists with branding and external campaigns on a smaller scale within the university. Both occupations involve research and multiple responsibilities, but differ in their scope and focus areas within business and healthcare.

1. Memo
To: Professor Stephanie Anderson-Quinn
From: Brendan Connolly
Date: 3/19/2011
Re: Interviews with Professionals
Message
My first interviewee was my father, Kevin Connolly. He received his master’s degree in
Business Administration at The University of Toledo. Then he received his MBA at The
University of Toledo as well. Kevin has been working mostly in hospitals and healthcare
systems. His career has been spent in non-profit organizations run by businesses to
enable them to invest in new technology and medications and aging buildings. Kevin
works at the University of Toledo Medical Center in the finance and accounting
department. His official job title is Director of Finance. Kevin has many responsibilities.
They include being in charge of financial reporting, accounting, cost accounting,
budgeting, and governmental reimbursement. He has a very specific perception of his
job. It is that it is challenging due to the fact that his efforts to control costs and reduce
healthcare expenditures are on a national level. The purpose of his company is to
provide healthcare to northwest Ohio. It is located centrally in Toledo, Ohio. His
company serves all demographics and populations, with a high percentage being the
elderly. The University of Toledo Medical Center is a public company for the state of
Ohio. The company mainly provides healthcare services for insurance holders. Their

2. funding comes mainly from insurance companies, governmental payers, Medicare and
Medicaid, and patients.
The second person that I interviewed is Jessica Somos. She has competed 3.5 years of
a degree in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing and International Business
with language proficiencies in Arabic and French. She is graduating this May. As far as
real world experience goes, she has held a marketing internship for about one year. Her
role in the internship has little to do with managing the aspects of any department within
an actual business, but it focuses on maintaining customer relations and fulfilling specific
marketing projects for clients. Also she has been a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, the
professional co-ed business fraternity, for 3.5 years. She is currently working in The
University of Toledo’s Office of Marketing and Communications. Her official job title is
Marketing Intern. Her responsibilities include maintaining positive customer relations
through meeting directly with clients to ensure their specific marketing goals and projects
are fulfilled to their expectations. Their clients include the different departments within the
university such as athletics, admissions and residence life, as well as different colleges
such as business and law. She also does a lot of proof reading and critiquing of
marketing projects between the graphic designer, university photographer and the
account representitive. Also she partakes in strategic planning of marketing goals for
clients as well as university campaigns. Jessica also conducts, collects and organizes a
lot of qualitative and quantitative data for marketing research purposes for the university
including clients like Athletics and Apple Tree, the childcare facility on campus. Her
perception of work is that one should fully apply themselves in their works, regardless of
what the task or job may be. That work is something you are paid to do, where money is
a short-term, physical asset and can only go so far in fulfilling one’s life. By completing a
job the benefit of carrying a positive reputation and feeling full filled is an intangible and

3. long-term asset that cannot be taken away. The purpose of her company is to fulfill the
marketing goals of clients with the university as well as maintaining the university’s
branding image through external campaigns. It is located in University Hall on The
University of Toledo main campus. This is a non-profit organization. This company gets
its funding from the university Division of External Affairs, while the university is
supported though public school funding from government as well as from customer fees
such as tuition.
There are a few similarities and differences between each persons’ occupation. One
similarity is that each person has to deal with statistics and research during their job.
Jessica deals with market research in order to help their clients better market their
product or service. Kevin deals with research on a national level to better provide
healthcare to Northwest Ohio. Another similarity is that both have many responsibilities.
Each person has specific requirements for their occupation in order for them to complete
their job. Each occupation has different responsibilities and is not given one specific task
each day; they are given many different tasks each day.
Each occupation also has its differenences from the other. One difference is the scale
on which each job is based on. Jessica’s occupation is on a smaller scale within the
University. Kevin’s occupation is on a much grander scale of Northwest Ohio. Another
difference is that Kevin’s occupation impacts a different part of business. His job is
concentrated on the accounting aspect of the company. Jessica’s job is concentrated in
the marketing department of her organization.
I learned a good amount of valuable information through these two interviews. I learned
that later down the line when I am faced with a career or important occupation, that I will
have many responsibilities and it would be very demanding. I also learned that I would

4. always have to do my best work because they are not much room for error in the
business world. These two interviews were very valuable for me because I learned a lot
about what my future might hold.