Charles Pizzi's job not only requires him to manage and rebuild a large regional company, but also to work out at the gym daily to combat the widening effect of consuming too many Krimpets, pies and doughnuts.
Pizzi, a Wharton alumnus and the president and chief executive officer of Tasty Baking Company, spoke to the Penn community yesterday about his own work and about the leadership skills necessary to succeed in the business world.
Philadelphia-based Tasty Baking -- the maker of Tastykake confections and other baked goods -- is the fourth largest baking company in the United States.
Though the audience of approximately 30 students sparsely filled the Huntsman lecture hall, many asked questions of Pizzi and even engaged in mild debate.
An overarching theme of the lecture was the importance of business integrity.
"I don't want to be associated with anyone who doesn't have integrity," Pizzi said. "Because I really believe that the number-one thing we leave this earth with is our reputation."
Pizzi, who has served as CEO for two years, also stressed maintaining a company vision and sticking to it regardless of outside factors.
"People need to believe in your vision," he said. "That is why people come to work for you, because you provide them with a vision. ... Consumers will follow that vision, investors will follow that vision and ultimately employees will follow that vision."
In devising a business strategy, Pizzi also recommended that students seek to be innovative and expand as much possible, as he plans to do with Tasty Baking.
"The vision for the company is to take this brand that has been around for 90 years and really leverage that into places it has never been before," he said. "We are in the cake business, and we are leveraging it into the candy business. How can we do what we did, leveraging in the candy business, in the ice cream business?"
Pizzi's plans for expansion include breaking into new markets geographically as well.
"Part of the plan is to enter new markets, which is why we broke into Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and soon we will move into New York City and the Northeast."
Some sources said that Pizzi is looking to expand his own horizons as well, though he denies the claims.
"Two weeks ago, I was sitting in my kitchen by myself Sunday morning drinking a cup of coffee with my dog, and I was reading an article in [The Philadelphia Inquirer] on the mayoral election," Pizzi said. "It said, 'The dark horse is Charlie Pizzi,' and I couldn't believe it -- I almost spewed my coffee all over the place."
Students, however, may not oppose the prospect, as they said Pizzi spoke well and delivered clear and useful information.
"I tend to come to a lot of these leadership things," Wharton freshman Mark Mbugua said. Pizzi was "one of the best, because he genuinely understood more than just his company. He understood politics very well, as he has been in both" politics and business.
The event was a part of Wharton's Musser-Schoemaker Leadership Lecture Series.
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