Strategy and experience prove to be the path to success. Equipped with a Trent Bachelor of Business Administration degree and impactful community-based research experience, Jennifer Zentner recently launched a career that clearly reflects her interests in strategic management and social innovation.

Now working at SuccessMap Consulting Group as a strategic planning associate, Ms. Zentner helps start-ups, established businesses, non-profits and associations to reach their own success. On a daily basis she researches organizations, analyses their environments and recommends strategies to optimize their performance and impact. All of which, she has performed successfully before.

“Right now, I am supporting seasoned professionals,” said Ms. Zentner. “However, the goal is to drive strategy sessions with clients on my own in the future.”

Looking back, it becomes apparent that projects she completed as part of her Business Administration studies at Trent’s School of Business served as a positive precursor to the rewarding work that she is doing now.

“Due to the nature of my community-based research project for the YMCA of Central East Ontario, and its close alignment to my current job, it served as a great base to draw experience from for my new role,” she says.

The on-the-ground experience gave Ms. Zentner the opportunity to collate data, conduct a community needs assessment and attend strategic planning sessions.  

“Armed with the information gathered, I then did some research and came up with recommendations for them going forward.”

She credits Dr. Tom Phillips, adjunct professor at Trent’s School of Business and director of Co-op, Careers and Experiential Learning, as well as Ryan Sisson, coordinator, Trent Community-Based Research at the Trent Community Research Centre (TCRC), for helping her to secure the project and support her through the research process.

“The hands-on approach combined with the self-directed nature of an individual project made it an extremely rewarding experience.”