Alumni Profiles

Darcy Orlik, B.S. marketing, ’92, M.S.A. ’95

As a clarinetist for Central Michigan University’s Marching Chippewas, Darcy Orlik remembers the words the late director Jack Saunders drilled into them: “If you are early, you are on time; if you are on time, you are late!

“Those words of wisdom have stayed with me and have proven very useful in my subsequent business associations,” Orlik said.

As marketing and communications manager for Firstbank Corporation, Orlik draws on her artistic side to generate the kind of marketing campaigns that require little financial investment for huge image payoffs. For example, she formed the Briefcase Brigade, a drill team composed of 15 briefcase-toting bankers. She also contracted the vocal group Three Men and a Tenor to produce the radio jingle, Thank You, Bankerman.

“The most valuable thing I have learned throughout my career is that no matter what the job or position in the organization, you must always be straightforward, honest, and respectful to all your coworkers,” Orlik said.

After working in sales and human resources for the Delfield Company, Central Michigan University, and the Comfort Inn/LaBelle Management, Orlik became marketing and human resource officer at Firstbank in 1997. She was promoted to her current position in 2002.

She credits part of her success to CBA’s great faculty.

“They continue to teach me valuable lessons. If I need advice or a sounding board, there are several professors I rely on, proving that my CMU tuition is still reaping rewards years after graduation,” Orlik said.

Orlik was greatly influenced by her father, Pete Orlik, founder of CMU’s department of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts.

“I grew up watching how hard my dad works. Whether at the studios or in his den writing another copywriting textbook, he is always jumping another hurdle and obtaining another goal or honor. He is a constant reminder that determination and hard work really do pay off.”