Judith (“Judy”) Allen G.O. ’73 was born for marketing. The president and founder of Excellence Zone Marketing Strategies, Inc. makes her living helping clients solve their marketing and communications challenges. It’s a perfect fit for Allen, an enthusiastic go-getter who built her career on her passions.

 

“I love helping my clients solve their challenges, whether in marketing, communications, management or training,” said Allen, who earned her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her MBA from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. “To be an effective consultant, you have to connect with people where they are. I listen to their needs, then do my best to meet them. If you go in with your own agenda and nothing else, it’s not going to work.”

 

At Excellence Zone, Allen devises strategies for her clients ranging from social media and public relations plans to strategic planning and employee development. She helps them with marketing research, mission statements, integrated marketing communications, strategic events and just about every marketing strategy in between. She especially enjoys using the full breadth of her skills, including writing and editing.

 

Allen built Excellence Zone on the principles she learned working for Fortune 100 organizations such as Campbell’s Soup, Merck and Procter & Gamble. These experiences showed her the value of cultivating professional relationships and having a strong vision to drive a project.

 

Allen loves the diversity of her role and uses it as a showcase for the skills she’s honed throughout her career. “Working in the discipline of marketing energizes me,” she said. “Every day brings new challenges or allows me to solve an old problem in a new way. I find being innovative and helping my clients achieve their goals to be very exciting.”

 

Allen imparts her own wisdom to her business students at Cuyahoga Community College and Lakeland Community College. Being an instructor balances her career and allows her to share her expertise to educate others, she says. As a college professor she draws not only from her professional experience, but also from her experience at Glen Oak—an invaluable and transformative time in her life.

 

“Glen Oak embraced us as individuals,” Allen recalls. “It was an exceptional place. It met all students where they were and played to each person’s strengths. It was unique in that way, and I strive to bring these same values to instructing my own students.”