Kimberly Poniatowicz

EDUCATION

University of Michigan, BSE Industrial and Operations Engineering, 2012

Indiana University, MBA, 2020

CAREER SUMMARY

When I started full-time with Disney, I first worked on a labor strategy team, ensuring that we have the right number of Cast Members, in the right place, at the right time, to meet our guests’ needs every day. I worked on labor strategy efforts with teams in California at Disneyland and with partners at the Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Working on projects with partners in different time zones and different countries was a great chance to build my communication skills.

In my current role as an Industrial Engineer at Walt Disney World, I work as an internal consultant to support analytical and process improvement projects for the parks and resorts, always striving to deliver a seamless and high-quality guest experience. I work with our Merchandise and Entertainment operations in our parks and am currently supporting opening plans for merchandise stores and experiences in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which will open in August 2019.

I am also currently working on my MBA by taking online classes. We regularly provide recommendations to leaders within the company based on analytics, but understanding other business concepts they might have to consider when making decisions makes me a better partner, and better able to understand implications of our recommendations.

Career Timeline
General Motors
Eli Lilly
Walt Disney World

What excites you about your career?
It is an exciting environment to work in because there is always something new to learn and always new challenges that need industrial engineering skillsets.

Reflection on Time Spent at U-M
I use skills every day that I learned from my IOE classes, especially statistics, optimization, simulation, and data processing. We apply engineering skills to projects, and work collaboratively with partners across the organization to inform business decisions.

Favorite Student Org
I was a member of the Michigan Marching Band, and really enjoyed my time performing at football games. It also offered me leadership experience that I have been able to draw on in my career.

Advice to Students
Seek out internships and professional work experience while you are a student. An internship is a great way to gain experience, and to make you a better candidate for a full-time position upon graduation. But it is also a great way to learn what type of work you like to do, what type of company you might want to work for, and what roles might be a good fit for you after graduation.
While in college I had a chance to work with several different companies on internships – General Motors, Eli Lilly, and Walt Disney World. These internships were a great way to see how my coursework applied to real work environments. Each internship also allowed me to explore a different type of work: manufacturing at GM, distribution warehousing at Eli Lilly, and a service-driven environment at Disney.