Web Programming Company-Wide
While in college, Michael Markel, B.B.A.'07, took full advantage of the opportunities presented at the Haworth College of Business. His junior year, he worked on a grant-funded project with Dr. Alan Rea building websites for local non-profit organizations. During his senior year, he began working at BlueGranite, a business intelligence consulting firm, as a SharePoint developer which led to full-time employment after graduation. He later took what he learned from those experiences and turned it into a successful career as a web programmer for site furniture supplier, Landscape Forms.
Landscape Forms is the leading site furniture design and manufacturing company in North America, providing items such as benches, transit shelters and LED lighting to businesses and organizations worldwide. Committed to the environment, Landscape Forms offers an impressive list of products made with recycled materials and practices sustainable business practices. This is a challenging yet important facet of business, and according to Markel, “We are reaching the limit of many of our finite resources, and businesses need to find ways to continue to reach new markets and create new products that have sustainable lives or products that can be completely recycled.”
As a web programmer, Markel works on Landscape Forms’ corporate website and has also developed an intranet site that is used daily by all company employees for things such as retrieving company news, downloading sales documents and recording hours worked. When asked how the Haworth College of Business benefitted his career, Markel comments, “The business and communication skills I gained at WMU help me translate business needs into software programs that benefit the entire company.”