Bev Porter
Director

Bev leads the Career Management Center with an outstanding professional background in top academic and corporate organizations. She has developed a reputation as a results-oriented, creative leader for her team and enjoys working with NC State Jenkins students to help them exceed their career goals. Prior to her time at NC State, she spent a decade in career counseling, program development and delivery, global coaching and corporate relations with another top-ranked MBA program. Bev holds an undergraduate degree in Materials and Logistics Management from Michigan State University and a Masters of Education in Counseling from NC State.
Bev is perfectly positioned to lead the Career Management Center and to serve as an advocate for students given her certifications as a Life Coach, Health Coach, Marriage Coach, and Social and Emotional Intelligence Coach.
Connie Fowler
Employer Relations Manager

Connie joins us with a business administration background. She began her operations career leading a team of 10 customer service / billing representatives with PennCorp Financial and moved to Lulu Enterprises during a high growth period, building their Customer Service department from one representative to seventeen over an eighteen month period. Connie’s approach to operations starts with a focus on clients where quality of service is a top priority. When it comes to people, she believes effective communication is key, and strives to create a positive and motivating environment developing strong relationships.
Connie received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from NC State Poole College of Management and her MBA from Meredith College.
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are & change the ending” ~C.S. Lewis
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Recent Posts
Patina Robinson

Born and raised in Raleigh, NC, Patina Robinson is proud to call the City of Oaks home and excited about joining The Poole College of Management Career Center team supporting both undergraduate and MBA students. After earning an undergraduate psychology degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Patina continued her professional and educational studies through Pfeiffer University’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. In addition to earning an MBA from Pfeiffer University, Patina also holds certification in Hotel and Restaurant Management from Wake Technical Community College. This educational background made a strong foundation for Patina’s success as an adjunct professor at both Meredith College and Wake Technical Community College. Through a multi-faceted career across diverse institutions such as UNC Health Care, Wake Med, Wake Technical Community College, and F&D Huebner dba McDonald’s, Patina has developed exceptional skills within the areas of customer service, training and development, relationship building, and student success.
Patina’s favorite quote as it relates to customer service: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
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Recent Posts
- 10 Most Common Behavioral Interview Questions and Answers
- B Academics Network Hosts the 2020 Global B Academics Paper Development Workshop
- When Business Sustainability Education Leads to a Career of Social Impact
- New Case Study Focused on Driving Conversations around Race, Brands, and Corporate Social Responsibility
- Haven Ventures Becomes Certified B Corp After Partnering with the B Corp Clinic
Caren Howley
Associate Director

Caren has had a diverse career with experience spanning the corporate, nonprofit and higher education sectors. She began her career in investment banking with Credit Suisse, advising large and mid-cap industrial companies on capital raising and strategic growth opportunities before moving into a leadership position as director of the worldwide financial analyst program. In 2003, Caren made a career shift into nonprofit leadership, where she remained for a decade before entering higher education. As a former Associate Director of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s MBA Career Management Center, Caren provided career guidance and individual coaching to MBA students seeking commercial real estate, investment banking, and finance-related positions. She also spent two years leading employer engagement and alumni relations for UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Wood Center for Real Estate Studies, where she had the opportunity to share career insights with both MBA and undergraduate students and lead diversity initiatives for the real estate program. As an Associate Director with NC State’s Jenkins MBA program, Caren provides career coaching support to the full-time MBA population, and manages the Peer Coach program.
Caren earned an undergraduate degree from Amherst College and an MBA and Masters in Education from Stanford University. She serves on the board of the Stanford Alumni Association of the Triangle, and resides with her family in Apex.
Specialities and Interests
Second-Year Career CoachPeople
Full Time MBA StudentsJane Mehringer
Associate Director

Jane Mehringer’s corporate experience includes starting the global campus recruiting programs at Credit Suisse and MetLife, focusing on finance, accounting and IT college talent.
In higher education, Jane served as the associate director of the Business School at Elon University and advised over 2000 undergraduate and graduate students. Jane discovered her passion for working with students when she ran the intern program at Saturday Night Live, where she started her career as Lorne Michaels’ Assistant.
Specialities and Interests
First-Year Career CoachPeople
Full Time MBA StudentsKayla Bethea

Hometown: Lake Mary, FL / Columbia, SC
Education:
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- Master of Education, College Counseling and Student Development at NCSU (Anticipated May 2021)
- Bachelor of Science, Mathematics at Wofford College (May 2014)
Experience:
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- Career Counselor, Department of Computer Science, NCSU (6 months)
- Veteran Services Media Engagement, NCSU (6 months)
- All-Source Military Intelligence Officer, US Army Reserves (3 months)
- Account Manager/Data Analyst, MYCA Material Handling (1 year)
- Air Defense Artillery Officer, Space Operations, US Army (4.5 years)
Primary Roles:
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- Provide mock interviewing sessions and student coaching support
- Facilitate students in assessing career needs
Interests:
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- Hiking, Climbing, Soccer, Standup Comedy, Running, and South Carolina Football
“I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.” —Lou Holtz
John Hutchings
Associate Director

For over 20 years John marketed such products as the American Express Card, Kellogg Cereal and Vlasic Pickles, as well as owning his own marketing strategy and planning firm. In 2003, John changed his career direction and chose to help MBAs market themselves. His expertise is assisting MBAs in connecting their work experiences with their business school education in order to achieve their post-MBA career goals. John earned his BBA in marketing from the University of Iowa and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Office Hours by Appointment:
Mon 4pm – 6pm, Virtually |
Tue 4pm – 6pm, Virtually |
Wed 4pm – 6pm, Virtually |
Thu 4pm – 6pm, Virtually |
People
Working Professional MBA StudentsEd Kato
Executive Coach

Ed has more than twenty-five years of experience within the talent acquisition, staffing, recruiting, and human resources environment with additional experience in project management, business management and recruiting management. Much of Ed’s career has been working with clients and candidates matching the two together to help clients grow their businesses and to help candidates grow their careers. Ed has been the co-founder and the founder of four entrepreneurial companies in his career and has worked in the big business corporate environment as well as in the small business environment. His experience includes supporting talent acquisition programs in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, India, and China.
Ed received his MBA in 2010 from North Carolina State University – Jenkins Graduate School of Management with a concentration in Services Management & Consulting. He received his BS in Business Administration from North Carolina Wesleyan College and he attended Appalachian State University and participated in the Industrial Technology program. Ed is a certified Professional in Human Resources and he is a certified Project Management Professional.
Office Hours by Appointment:
Mon 5pm – 8pm, Virtually |
Tue 5pm – 8pm, Virtually |
Wed 5pm – 8pm, Virtually |
Thur 5pm – 8pm, Virtually |
Sat 8:30am – 12:30pm, Virtually |
People
Working Professional MBA StudentsLisa Batts
Executive Coach

Lisa is the founder/CEO of Capital Coaching, LLC. She established her coaching practice to support mid-career business and IT professionals to manage their careers and help them apply lessons she learned from developing her staff members at Fidelity as well as from her own multiple internal IT and managerial promotions.
Lisa has over twenty-five years of technology experience in the chemicals, state government, supply chain management, and financial services sectors. She launched her career transition from chemical engineering to IT as an entrepreneur and web developer then expanded into corporate roles of analysis, project management, before moving into a leadership position as development manager and then as director of quality assurance engineering at Fidelity Investments. Strong relationships have been a hallmark of Lisa’s career – whether it be in a service or sales capacity working with clients or as a manager and leader of onshore and offshore teams across the US, China, India and Ireland. In her corporate career, she was a mentor, advocate and coach for her many team members. As a volunteer career coach at Dress For Success and as a private practice executive coach, Lisa has provided the insight, advice and inspiration that has helped her clients to achieve their goals.
Lisa received her MBA in 2012 from North Carolina State University – Jenkins Graduate School of Management with a concentration in Finance & Marketing. She received her BS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University. Lisa has also completed training as an Authentic Leadership Coach at Raleigh Coaching Academy.
Office Hours by Appointment:
Mon 6pm – 9pm, Virtually |
Tues 6pm – 9pm, Virtually |
Wed 6pm – 9pm, Virtually |
Thur 6pm – 9pm, Virtually |
Sun 6:00pm – 9pm, Virtually |