Ken Mallon
Chief Product Officer
4INFO
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
In my senior year at UConn, I had a Statistics professor who earned his PhD from Stanford.
That statistics professor later wrote a recommendation letter for my graduate work at Stanford.
I'd never been to CA, had no money, but knew Stanford's reputation, so I went and made it work.
After graduation, I spent a decade in the health sciences field, unrelated to what I do today.
I worked my way up to a director level in the biotech and health sciences field.
I decided to take a risk and a pay cut to enter the tech field and go work for Yahoo.
Without taking those risks (statistics, Stanford, going to Yahoo), I wouldn't be where I am today.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Southington High School
Southington High School
Career
Chief Product Officer
I manage the data science and product teams, working closely with engineers to build 4INFO products.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Science
Technology
Helping People
Day to Day
I spend time with all parts of the company from M&A to sales to operations and engineering. Most importantly, I spend time with customers understanding the needs and getting feedback on our products. A great day starts with someone having a creative idea followed by team members huddling and brainstorming details. On a perfect day, that idea turns into a solution that is coded and ready to test by the end of the day.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Be curious-you have to have a passion for observing people and understanding what people want and need. That curiosity for how and why things work will help you understand your consumers.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Peers:
"You don't need to go to graduate school; you should just become a high school teacher."
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
