Keaton Marn has been with Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort for over 4 years now. He was a member of the inaugural RISE class in 2018 as an Industrial Engineering Intern. After completing the internship program, he accepted a full time role as an Industrial Engineer for Orange Lake Resort and most recently was promoted to Senior Manager of Warehouse Services for Orange Lake Resort.
Why did you decide to do RISE?
Being an Engineering Major at UCF, they tend to try to force you to intern with companies like Lockheed, Siemens, etc. Senior year when I was looking for my last internship I received offers from Lockheed, Siemens, and Orange Lake. I had already did an internship with Lockheed my freshman/sophomore years and wanted something completely different from the Military Defense field. Since Siemens is similar to Lockheed, I was really shooting for Orange Lake. What sold me 100% to Orange Lake was the culture and the significance of my project, the Hurricane Plan for Orange Lake.
What was your RISE experience like?
The RISE experience was the best internship program I had been a part of. They treated me as an important team member and actually allowed me to contribute on significant projects, not just a glorified assistant. I also loved how invested Amy, the ALD team and my old boss were in my growth and presenting me with tons of opportunities to learn. Loved my RISE experience.
How has RISE helped in your career development?
Without the RISE program I wouldn’t be at Orange Lake at all. My time as an intern at OLR was so successful that it resulted in my old role as an Industrial Engineer being created for me when I graduated college. That role allowed me to showcase my talents at a high level and prove I was capable of performing in my current role as Sr. Manager of Warehouse Services. My entire career at OLR is credited to the RISE program. I never would have gave hospitality a try without it!
Stay tuned each month as we feature more RISE alumni and share their RISE-ing up stories!
