Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: News

Jane Locket, an Eastern alumna gives her speech on executive business management at Lumpkin Hall Tuesday. She spoke of her experiences that led her to work at IBM Global Services. (Alycia Rockey/The Daily Eastern News)

Jane Lockett will always remember in eighth grade her father telling her that girls do not go to college after she visited her brother at the University of Illinois.

Lockett, an Eastern alumna who received both bachelor's and master's degrees in business and education, shook off her father's words and went on to work at several major corporations and became a consulting principal for IBM Global Services.

Tuesday, Lockett returned to Eastern for her presentation, "Executive Management 101" in the Robertson Auditorium in Lumpkin Hall.

Lockett talked about life experiences and how they incorporated into the different jobs she had after graduation.

"With every job, I am bored after two years," Lockett said. "The third year, I think how can I rejuvenate myself?"

She said she knew she always wanted to graduate from college, but could not afford it after graduating from Proviso West High School in Chicago in 1966.

She took one year after high school to work for a veterans administrative building to earn cash for college.

Here she learned valuable skills including flowcharting and programming.

One year later she enrolled at Eastern, but dropped another year later to marry her college sweetheart. She had a child, but returned to school while working full time and earned her Bachelor's Degree in Education in 1976.

She went into teaching and while working at Arcola High School, school board chair Pat Monahan pushed her to incorporate computers into her curriculum.

"We were learning and achieving goals, while doing something new," Lockett said.

Lockett began to use the IBM PC Jr., a computer for younger students, and was so upset with the product she sent a letter to the company to complain.

IBM sent her to Chicago to talk with an education roundtable and they were so impressed they offered her a job. She initially declined, but accepted the job after earning her master's degree in 1986.

Lockett worked with IBM - moving her way through the company - eventually becoming Executive for Education Technology.

Lockett has since retired from IBM, but works with different companies in advising roles.

She is currently the Senior Vice President of ConnectEdu.

Lockett told the 60 plus students in the auditorium that there are three things one needs to be successful.

"Luck, time and talent," Lockett said.

Bill Girffiths, a junior management and information systems major, said Lockett's story was very interesting.

"She's done a lot of stuff and moved around the country," Giriffiths said. "It is good to see she has moved around and been successful."

Dustin Long, a sophomore pre-business major, said initially he did not like the presentation and thought about leaving, but thought it got more interesting as it went along.

"It was interesting how she moved from job to job and is living her life to the fullest," Long said. "I thought she was very charismatic and very good."


Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7942 or dscusack@eiu.edu.

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