Jim D’Orazio is a known favorite among students at CSU, teaching Fundamentals of Marketing, Strategic Online Marketing, Corporate Social Responsibility and the capstone Marketing Strategy course. Twelve years ago he founded and currently moderates the Afternoons @Ahuja program; its attempt is to strengthen ties between the Cleveland Business community and CSU facility and students.  

In his “free time” he is President of a small consulting firm, Practical Web Strategies, which focuses on strategy development for online properties. He and his wife of 35 years are life-long Clevelanders, avid readers, and big Cleveland sports fans.

We sat down with Jim to ask him a few questions before his presentation March 25th.

What has been the most important lesson you learned from your students?

I don’t have all the answers and I never will.

Never underestimate the native talent of individuals. Given the right environment, that talent will emerge and delight. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.

On a Friday night, I like to ring in the weekend by:

Decompressing with a Grey Goose martini with friends. Live music makes it even better. (He seems like our type of guy!)

What can we look forward to hearing about in your presentation?

Three things have dramatically changed: the way customers define value, the way we communicate, and the target market. Also, we’ll take a look into how marketing has evolved with iconic Cleveland Companies.

Sounds great. Lastly just for fun, any hidden talents?

I dance pretty well for a chubby guy.