EASTON, Pa.(www.lafayette.edu), June 2, 2008 — Entrepreneurship runs in the family for Tom Kraemer ’86. After watching his father and uncles succeed with their own businesses, he knew that hanging up his own shingle would allow him the freedom to truly enjoy what he did for a living.

As principal of Kraemer Inc., a full-service marketing communications firm, Kraemer has the opportunity to impact businesses in a big way. He took the experience gained as the Lafayette Public Information Office’s first art director and as Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ national art director and transitioned it into providing art direction for clients large and small.

“What you learn very quickly when you work with a large professional services firm is that you’re not destined for partnership or principal because your skill set is unrelated to the core competency of that firm even though it adds value,” he says. “The only way to jump to the next level is to work for an agency where your skill set is directly tied to revenue or for yourself. You end up working harder, but it’s yours so you don’t mind. It’s the old adage, ‘If you get paid to do what you love, then it’s not really work.’

“Typically how large firms outside the creative industry manage designers is to give them a specific set of tasks with tightly controlled parameters. Creative people get bored very quickly – well, I did – and you have to fight for the plum projects and the professional contacts that go with them. That said, I think it’s valuable and was a very important step in my career to go work for a large professional services firm. After watching the really interesting projects get outsourced, I thought ‘I’m not going to grow unless I’m outside.’ The variety of work and challenges on a day-to-day basis are really satisfying.”

Kraemer Inc. specializes in brand development. Kraemer has worked with Fortune 500 companies like IBM, AIG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Panasonic, and Swatch. But it’s the mid-size companies like Korn/Ferry International, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP that allow him to flex his creative muscles.

“My real interest is mid-size firms because they basically need everything,” he says. “They’re not as recognizable as far as putting something on your résumé, but the work is definitely more interesting because you can really help them and see how you help them. You create something and see how their businesses are impacted positively because of what you’ve done.”

In 2006, Kraemer led the team that won a Webby Award for its design of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ site www.hybridcenter.org. The firm’s work was selected from more than 5,500 entries in the Guides/Ratings/Reviews category. The New York Times has hailed the Webby Awards as “the Oscars of the Internet.” Presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the Webbys evaluate web sites based on content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience.

Kraemer began attending night classes at Lafayette after landing the job as art director in the Public Information Office. He credits his education and his mentor, Ed Kerns, Clapp Professor of Art, with helping him transition to Pricewaterhouse and eventually his own firm.

“Exposure to the outstanding quality of people on campus as a whole had a real positive impact on me,” he says. “If you’re in the field, you’ve got to have talent. Having talent and a degree from an institution like Lafayette, that’s optimal. I think that’s what employers are looking for. It clearly did make the difference in making the leap from Lafayette to Pricewaterhouse. It definitely helped having that culture to fall back on. The professors were practically your friends. Ed was the prevailing professional ‘rock star’ at the time; he had just started there and everyone wanted to take his classes.”

Kraemer has hosted several Lafayette students for internships at Kraemer Inc. and has noticed a shift in what young people are interested in pursuing after graduation.

“I’ve had Lafayette students intern with my firm in the past, and they’re more than welcome to intern with us in the future,” he says. “I like teaching; it’s fun for me. I find that most of them are interested in entrepreneurship. They want to succeed.”