College of Business Hosts Kastl for Forum

OBU graduate Carla Kastl was featured as the Paul Dickinson College of Business Business Forum speaker Friday, Nov. 16, in Bailey Business Center's Tulsa Royalties Auditorium.

Kastl, a 1995 alum, spoke to undergraduate students and business faculty during the annual event. The forum provides an opportunity for OBU students to hear from a business professional about his or her career path; advice for how students should prepare to enter the business marketplace; and how a professional's faith integrates with his or her job.

A native of Tulsa, Okla., Kastl attended Edison High School and began her college career at the University of Tulsa. After a couple of transitions through different schools, she graduated with a degree in business marketing from OBU. She attended college part time; played on the OBU intramural flag football team, which went to nationals twice; ran a successful business in Shawnee; and had three daughters - all while attending OBU.

Kastl began her professional career as a traveling commission-only sales representative in 1998 and moved to Nashville in 2001. While working, she also played as running back for the Nashville Dream, a team in the women's professional football league, until she broke her leg in two places, ending her athletic career.

She currently represents and sells for Paragon Films, a flexible packaging manufacturer of stretch film (commonly known as industrial shrink wrap) based in Broken Arrow, Okla. She said she is one of the few women in her field in a male-dominated industry. She also is a certified technician for Lantech and Wulftec equipment, setting her apart in her field. Her accounts include multi-location national accounts ConAgra, Tyson and RR Donnelly. She consistently has been ranked as one of the top sales reps for the company she represents, selling more than a million pounds each month of stretch film.

During the forum lecture, Kastl shared about embracing prospects in her own career. She said she noticed that in the stretch film industry, firms either focused on the film or the machines that use the film. Noticing an opportunity, she pursued training on the machines so that the combined knowledge of the film and the machines gave her a source of differential advantage among her peers.

"Carla has learned three valuable lessons that she wants to share with others," said Emily McCarthy, a freshman professional accountancy major from Tulsa, Okla., who attended the lecture. "The first is that what has gotten a person 'here' will not get a person 'there.' This means that each person has to make changes to accompany their different goals. The second lesson is that money does not buy happiness, and the only thing a person can control is their attitude. It is how they respond to unfortunate events that reveals their character."

Kastl's third lesson was to read the book, "The Success Principles," because it changes how an individual views success, McCarthy said. Kastl gave each student in attendance an iTunes card to enable them to download and read the book.