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Jennifer Mailey
by Cat Carlson
-courtesy of Erie Times-News
Mailey’s ability to build relationships in a fast-paced environment stems from a family tradition of healthy competition mixed with companionship. When her father and his siblings were growing up – and even after they had grown – they were so competitive with each other that they often made up games for the group to play. This eventually led to Mailey’s aunt developing and selling the concept of the game Balderdash, a popular board game that tests player’s vocabulary and ability to create fiction. The siblings all went on to succeed in many different fields, and although always competitive, they valued their relationships with each other. Mailey’s mother added a compassionate and caring side to a very competitive family, offering Mailey and her two sisters a well-rounded environment in which to grow up.
With her unique ability to see life from many perspectives, Mailey chooses to live her life by the words ambition, faith and knowledge. While her deep faith in God and love for her family offers her guidance, knowledge of the world and of communications give her the building blocks to make her ambitions become reality.
At the beginning of her career, these ambitions became reality in the field of broadcast journalism. Her first step was an executive producer for WSEE-TV from 1995-96. She then moved on to become an assignment manager and senior producer for KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh from 1996-2002. In 2002, Mailey was awarded the honors of being a Golden Quill Investigative Journalism Finalist and a recipient of the Associated Press Producers Award. She also moved on to try new things in the same year, coming back to her alma mater – Gannon University – as a major gifts officer.
In this role, Mailey used her relationship-building skills to reconnect Gannon and Villa Maria College alumni with the university and inspired them to give back to the school that helped to transform them. She also continued her education while in this position, earning a Master of Arts degree in Educational Leadership Administration. Additionally, she managed the group known as the Business Ambassadors – a club of local business owners and community leaders who gathered on a regular basis to exchange ideas and discuss issues of civic engagement and economic development.
Today, she continues to serve Gannon University in two roles – as director of communications and public affairs and as special assistant to the president. She is the youngest employee to serve as a member of the president’s staff. She serves as Gannon’s official spokesperson, in addition to facilitating positive relations with all of the University’s internal offices and the local, regional and national media. She has received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Gannon, making her work particularly important to her on a personal level.
Regardless of succeeding at a young age, Mailey has never let slip the importance of respect and humility in everything she does. She views herself as continuing a strong family tradition of success, respectability and commitment to community that began generations back.
Today, in Erie, Mailey engages with her community as in many ways. She was a founding member of the Young Erie Professionals steering committee in May 2003, and she continues her involvement with yep! as an active advisory board member. Mailey is also an inaugural member of the Women’s Initiative Steering Committee of the United Way of Erie County, and her other volunteer work has included work with Gifts for Kids, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, Hooked on Books/Erie Inner-City Neighborhood Art House, and Relay for Life/American Cancer Society.
In the rare hour when Mailey is not at work or volunteering in the community, she enjoys running and just living in Erie, with many beautiful places in which to pray and play. She advises young professionals in Erie to make learning a lifetime endeavor by challenging themselves in leadership roles, becoming involved in something they are passionate about, and continuing their education. As a successful young woman, Mailey sets an example of strength, determination and leadership to the many people with whom she forms relationships every day.