Catie Kelly ’11, executive vice president of Red Ventures Travel, presented a February 28 keynote lecture on her career achievements after graduating from Elon University.
The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business hosted Red Venture Day on February 28 with a keynote appearance by Catie Kelly ‘11 in the LaRose Digital Theatre.
Kelly has carved a successful path at Red Ventures since graduating in 2011 with a degree in marketing and rising to the position of executive vice president after a dozen years with the company, which is a media company that owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet, CNET, ZDNet, The Points Guy, Healthline, and Bankrate.
“Elon prepared me to be a well-rounded professional with high levels of curiosity,” said Kelly. “My experience gave me the tools and community to succeed.”
Kelly offered advice on what it was like to be a young manager. “Get people bought into you as a leader,” she said. An acquisition Kelly led had challenges and victories; however, the one thing she wished she would have done sooner was find out who other people listen to and connect with that person.
Students asked Kelly how Red Ventures utilizes AI and if there are any concerns within the travel industry. Kelly said the company does use AI for tasks such as fine-tuning content or helping build itineraries.
“There are two sides to AI,” Kelly said. “It helps us work faster but doesn’t work on the customer side.”
Kelly said that AI is growing, but more predictive behavior, and less computing, is what consumers actually want.
She also said that transparency is key to career growth. Kelly told students that she was open with her boss from day one about her career goals.
“Your career is a long journey, figure out one step in front of you,” she said. “The world 10 years from now will not be the same world.”