Can't have just one

For many organizations, Geneva graduates are a lot like Lay’s potato chips: they can’t have just one. This has certainly been the case for Merkle Inc., which is one of the country’s fastest growing digital marketing agencies

You may not have heard of Merkle, whose office is perched prominently but quietly at the top of a hill in Green Tree, Pa. But the company is now the largest privately held digital marketing agency in the country—and is on its way to even better things with five young Geneva graduates in tow.

A couple of years ago I received word that my brother, Justin Shaffer, who was mere weeks from graduating, was offered a position at Merkle in the field of Search Engine Marketing. He didn’t have to say much more than “no-rules vacation policy and free snacks” to perk my interest. Three months later, I was sitting at a desk just a few feet away from him, more excited about my career than I had been in years.

Over the past two years, Merkle has seen the benefit of making Geneva graduates like Justin and me a part of their company culture and has since increased the total alumni count from two to five. Having partnered with fellow 2011 grads Richard Sheets and Alex Winger for many business projects while we were students at Geneva, seeing them join Merkle over the past six months has been great. Even more recently, Daniel Martin, also a long-time family friend, started at Merkle just days after getting his diploma.

Co-workers joke that we’re going to need to turn the gym into a chapel, but I think that’s a testimony to the impact that we’re able to have in our tight-knit work environment. I look forward to seeing how the Lord continues to bless our Geneva graduates, and how we can in turn bless Him through our work at Merkle.

If you know of any Geneva graduates who are you think might be a good fit for a growing digital agency like Merkle, please let me or any of the gentlemen above know and we’d be happy to discuss further.

 

-Adam Shaffer ’11