Crayola Executive Lecture Series

ESU has partnered with Crayola in the development of a Crayola Executive Lecture Series

This lecture series offers students an opportunity to learn more about the career options, business challenges, life experiences and educational opportunities of its guests.

The Crayola Executive Lecture Series is free and open to members of the public.

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Peter Ruggiero is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Crayola, a Hallmark company based in Easton, Pennsylvania.

He is responsible for all aspects of Crayola’s global business, providing strategic direction and vision for the company and brand. He is passionate about fulfilling the Crayola brand mission to help parents and educators raise creatively-alive children. Crayola LLC is the leading consumer products brand in the children’s creative expression category. Ruggiero began his career with the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche before transitioning to a key role on the corporate staff of Union Pacific Corporation. In 1997, Ruggiero joined Crayola and evolved through key leadership positions including Director, Corporate Sourcing; Managing Director, Europe; and Vice President, Global Finance; and, most recently, Chief Operating Officer. He has been a key member of a senior leadership team that has built Crayola into an innovation company and enabled the expansion of Crayola’s U.S. and international business units. Under his leadership, Crayola’s global supply chain has been transformed and enables Crayola’s strategy through the addition of critical capabilities, the automation of U.S. manufacturing, the integration of structured problem solving (LEAN and Six Sigma), the development of Crayola’s regional supply and logistics networks, and the execution of numerous sustainability initiatives including a 3.0 megawatt solar farm at Crayola’s corporate headquarters in Easton, Pennsylvania. Ruggiero graduated with an accounting degree from Villanova University, where he played varsity football, and earned his MBA in supply chain management from Lehigh University. He is also a certified public accountant and was honored in 2012 by Lehigh University with its inaugural Global Impact Award. Ruggiero serves on the board of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and as a Trustee of Lafayette College.

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Crayola LLC, based in Easton, Pa. and a business of Hallmark Cards, Inc., is the worldwide leader in children’s creative expression products. Known for the iconic Crayola Crayon first introduced in 1903, the Crayola brand has grown into a portfolio of art tools, crafting activities and creativity toys that offer children innovative ways to use color to create everything imaginable. Consumers can find the wide array of Crayola products in the “Crayola Aisle” at all major retailers.

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College of Business and Management Residential College

The Crayola Executive Lecture Series is a program of the ESU's College of Business and Management residential college. Through the residential college, students become an integral member of their community through their interactions with their peers, taking courses together, studying in groups, working in teams, and bridging the classroom experience by taking the learning to conversations over dinner with faculty and attending presentations by guest speakers, participating in community service, engaging in professional development workshops, and utilizing campus resources that are made available to their Residential College.

For more information about the COBM residential college, contact Dr. Sylvester Williams, dean of the College of Business and Management.

For assistance or special accommodations, please contact swilliams@esu.edu or (570) 422-3589. Accommodations may include, but are not limited to, services for physical, cognitive, visual or auditory assistance.