Susan Packard, founding executive behind HGTV and CNBC, recently shared her insights on leadership and innovation with more than 2,000 new College of Business students at the college’s Fall 2017 Welcome to the Majors at CFE Arena. The college hosts the event at the start of each semester to introduce incoming business students to the culture of the college and give them tips on how to succeed.
Packard, co-founder of Scripps Networks Interactive and former chief operating officer of HGTV, encouraged students to take risks and to find a career a career that sparked their passion and a team that made work fun and rewarding. Under Packard’s helm, HGTV became one of the fastest growing cable networks in television history. Today HGTV is available in more than 98 million U.S. homes and distributed in more than 200 countries and territories. She also helped to build Scripps Networks Interactive to a market value of over $10 billion.
Following the student event, Packard joined UCF College of Business corporate partners and community leaders for the Burr+Forman Leadership Luncheon, where she was interviewed by Dean Paul Jarley and took questions from the audience.