Zack Poelwijk ’08 Uses UO Skills for Startup Company

“Prepare to perform” is the mantra that Zack Poelwijk ’08 learned as the piano player for the Oregon Gospel Choirs and one that he still uses at his job with Limelight Department. He learned this saying from the former University of Oregon Gospel director, Cedric Weary who said, “It’s not the 90 minutes of performance that matters, it’s the four weeks of preparation going up to it. As long as you put the time in to prepare, you’re going to perform and hit a home run.” This is a method that he and the employees of Limelight Department take to heart as they meet and work with future clients.

Limelight Department is a firm that specializes in the Internet side of the marketing equation. Their business has grown despite the down turn in the economy with an emphasis in web design and development.

Zack is a 2008 grad of the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. As a Marketing/Sales student he uses his skills learned from classes to help further the business. As a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, he had many opportunities to interact with faculty through seminars that specialized in mock interviews with real companies. He credits his senior year and 400 level marketing classes for preparing him for his work in at Limelight.

And he is not the only one. At Limelight there are several other employees who are currently working towards their degrees from the U of O. Having their business in Eugene makes it easy for Limelight to recruit current students from the University of Oregon for internships with their company.

Zack highlights the benefits the interns get from working at Limelight, “They work on actual projects, actually value added projects that are on their way out the door to our clients. Limelight gets, in return, young motivated people who are eager and hungry. They work hard and they work smart. It gives us an opportunity to hire for the future as we grow.”

Limelight opened its doors in Bend, Oregon in 2003. A few years later it expanded to Eugene. In February of 2011, the company looks to move up to Portland to increase even further. The connection to the University is even more important for them at this time. They hope to encourage networking through this expansion. Here in Eugene, Limelight has reached out and worked with several businesses like “A Healing Space,” Cobalt Computer Services and Baxter Plumbing. (Baxter Plumbing is also a University of Oregon Alumni Association Preferred Partner offering discounted services to alumni members.)

For information about Limelight Department, visit their website.