During his college days, you could have seen Keith Gambill on TV. With plans to become a sports journalist, he was a sports analyst and news anchor for the campus television station at Auburn.

During his senior year, however, Keith decided to pivot to a career in marketing. He took enough courses to minor in business, but he knew would need more. So he looked into the Master of Marketing program back in his hometown.

“Living in Nashville my entire life, I have seen firsthand how respected a Vanderbilt degree is across various types of industries,” Keith says. “I thought that the Master of Marketing program would do a great job of helping me broaden my knowledge of the marketing industry, specifically from a quantitative and research perspective, while also helping me fine-tune the communication skills that I had learned from my undergraduate journalism degree.” Since he was changing his career path so late in college, he also reasoned that he would especially benefit from the career counseling staff at Owen as he began his job search.

As he neared the end of the MMark program, Keith believes he made the right choice. “The broad range of material that the classes cover has prepared me with marketing knowledge across many different industries and functions,” he says. “The amount of real-world experience that Owen provided me with, through various competitions such as BrandWeek and the TEDx case competition, has been unbelievable. And the Leadership Development Program helped me identify some of my weaknesses and find various ways to improve on them.”

Best of all, Keith says, is the network of friendships he’s made. “My favorite thing about my Owen experience is how tight-knit a community there is. Whether it be with professors or fellow students, I feel as if I am on a personal level with so many more people than I would have ever thought for just a 10-month program.”

Fun Fact: Keith attended the Melbourne Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia as an exchange student.

“The amount of real-world experience that Owen provided me with…competition has been unbelievable.”