Mark Peurifoy is a senior industrial designer brand specialist for B/E Aerospace in Winston-Salem, NC. He has his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his Masters Degree of Industrial Design from NC State University. He lives in Winston-Salem with his wife and three year old daughter.
Mark is interested in learning about how he can operate the design part of his business in an entrepreneurial fashion. I found it fascinating about how many similarities there were between the business he is in (designing airplane interiors) and the business I am in (the grocery business) even though the businesses are quite different on the surface. When we design stores, we go through a similar process as his company does. The concern for the customer is evident in each business. Mark reflects the airlines’ brand identities in the aircraft interiors that he designs as we also reflect our brand identity when we design stores.
I agree with Mark that we can gain a lot of knowledge from our studies in the Masters of Entrepreneurship program that we can apply successfully to the businesses we are currently in. In addition we can use our knowledge to develop our own business model. Many of the entrepreneurs that I interviewed started working in a larger business, gained valuable knowledge and experience and then went out on their own.
