Christopher Cartland ‘02, Value Stream Manager / Site Manager, Silgan Dispensing
I graduated in 2002 with my history degree and had little to no plan on what I was going to do. My first few years out of college saw an eclectic path; I worked for the Public Works department in my town, I was a bouncer at a rock and roll club, I worked in a recording studio, and I finally ventured off to start my own landscaping business.
I landscaped professionally for 3 years and was successful; I had nearly 70 accounts and a handful of employees. I realized being 6’7″ was not the best height for this industry and I sold off my company. At that point I had a friend who gave me an application to become a Buyer (Procurement Agent) for an aerospace firm he worked for. I knew nothing about procurement but knew that I had loved aviation and aerospace since I was little.
The rest is history. In 2005 I started off as an Associate Buyer, handling suppliers that performed chemical processing, non-destructive testing, and other metal finishing. Between that point and now, I have had 7 different job titles as my career has grown and I am now responsible for approximately $30M in sales annually. My team manufactures parts for landing gear, doors, flaps, tails, and flight controls, and we are on every aircraft that flies. I get to use the abilities I garnered from my history classes at PC (data retention and data analysis being the prominent two) in aerospace manufacturing.
