Katherine Ponzio, '03, Crafts Leadership-Development Programs as Philip Morris USA

Leadership studies majors often remark on the relevance of their education to a wide variety of professional pursuits. But sometimes the connection between leadership theory learned in the classroom and career application appears particularly striking. Take, for example, the case of Katherine Ponzio, ’03.  

During the spring of 2002, Philip Morris USA (PM USA), the nation’s largest tobacco company, contacted the Jepson School about recruiting a leadership studies student for an internship in the company’s corporate headquarters in Manhattan.  

Ponzio landed the internship and spent the summer working with the human resources department of PM USA on the creation of an organizational-development program. Specifically, she helped evaluate the program Leadership Journey for New Managers during its formative stages.  

Impressed by her performance, PM USA offered Ponzio a job in its human resources department following her graduation, right about the time the company moved its corporate headquarters from New York to Richmond.  

At first Ponzio fulfilled fairly standard human-resources functions, such as assisting PM USA employees with promotions, relocations and policy questions. But before her first-year anniversary with the company, she moved to an area in human resources dedicated to leadership development where her Jepson education has served her exceptionally well, she said.  

The PM USA Leadership Development Department designed and now administers three major programs, Ponzio explained. Discovery Days, a two-and-a-half-day program, educates new employees about PM USA’s culture, including the company’s mission and values.  

The weeklong program Leadership Journey for New Managers introduces first-time managers to the PM USA leadership model which focuses on four areas: providing direction, allocating resources, building individual and organizational capability and knowing where you are. 

“In this program, we talk about what leadership means at PM USA,” Ponzio said, “and how the biggest factor affecting whether an employee feels valued is the relationship between that employee and his/her manager.”   

Leadership Journey for New Managers utilizes various teaching techniques such as role playing, outdoor experiential learning and behavioral-assessment tools to help new managers build skills and learn more about how their leadership style affects the way they interact with their employees. “For example, program participants might role-play a scenario where a topnotch scientist refuses to wear his safety goggles,” Ponzio said, “and then discuss ways to resolve this conflict.”

The third PM USA leadership-development program, the four-day Executive Leadership Forum (ELF), aims to familiarize PM USA senior leaders with the company’s leadership model so that these executives can in turn teach it to employees in their departments. PM USA places a high priority on employee development, Ponzio said, noting that Chairman and CEO Michael Szymanczyk believes strongly in the leader-as-teacher concept. 

“All three programs were born out of senior-team initiatives,” Ponzio said, “and Mike continues to demonstrate his commitment and support for these employee-development initiatives by personally teaching each session of ELF and closing every Discovery Days session.” 

When Ponzio joined the Leadership Development Department, she headed a two-person team charged with planning and implementing Discovery Days, a quarterly program with an average attendance of 180 per session. Her responsibilities included coaching speakers on what to say, revising and developing program content as needed and working with outside consultants to design experiential-learning exercises, she said.  

Recently, Ponzio assumed the role of team leader charged with overseeing Leadership Journey for New Managers. In addition to managing program logistics such as the budget and vendor contracts for the off-site event, Ponzio continually develops and refines program content, coaches senior executives on their program presentations and conducts surveys to assess the program’s effectiveness.  

“At age 24 it’s pretty exciting to be running a program like this,” Ponzio said. “I learn a lot about business and have the opportunity to meet people from all over the company from entry-level employees to senior executives.” She also makes use of her Jepson education on a daily basis.  

“The analytical and critical thinking skills I learned at Jepson are especially important in my job,” Ponzio said. “Courses like ‘Group Dynamics’—where I learned how individuals in groups interact—are very relevant.”  

In particular Ponzio extolled the value of the experiential learning offered in so many Jepson classes. “‘Leadership in Organizations’ always resonated with me,” Ponzio said. “In this class, Chuck Metzgar sent us to study at Capital One for half a semester, and then we came back and created our own organization from the ground up based on what we had learned.” 

Ponzio also cited the relevance of “Communicating and Leading,” a course she took with adjunct professor Dale Gauthreaux. “Gauthreaux brought a lot of his business ideas to class and introduced us to different ways of brainstorming,” Ponzio said. “Having adjunct professors [like Metzgar and Gauthreaux] from the business world teach at Jepson is very important,” she said.  

Like many other Jepson graduates who have pursued careers in corporate America, Ponzio has not lost sight of the Jepson ideal of service. She has volunteered for various PM USA service projects, including the Weed and Seed initiative and the Central Virginia Food Bank. And as a member of the Human Resources Development Council, she helped plan a PM USA volunteer day at the city of Richmond's popular Maymont Park in which approximately 300 employees participated.  

Ponzio expressed satisfaction with her career thus far at PM USA and said she is considering attending graduate school to study organizational development. Like a number of other large American corporations, PM USA would cover 100 percent of the tuition if she decides to pursue this route. Not a bad perk for a young woman eager to augment her leadership studies education.