(Posted January 28, 2013)

Michael Appleby, senior vice president for quality and supply chain at QVC, will be in residence Feb. 11-15.
Michael Appleby, senior vice president for quality and supply chain at QVC, will be in residence Feb. 11-15.

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Michael Appleby, senior vice president for quality and supply chain at QVC, the network specializing in home shopping, will spend five days in residence at Juniata College, sitting in on classes, advising students and holding mock interviews, from Monday, Feb. 11 through Friday, Feb 15.

Appleby, who specializes in planning and supply chain management at QVC, also will present a public talk, "Beyond the Classroom: Leadership and Life Lessons Learned," at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 13, in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science on the Juniata campus. The talk is free and open to the public.

Appleby, a 1984 Juniata graduate, will sit in on such classes as Business Ethics, Marketing Management, Marketing Strategies, The Management Process and Government and Nonprofit Accounting. In addition, he will spend part of every day meeting with Juniata students studying business in order to advise them on resume preparation, interview tips and career advice.

"Students really respond to an executive alumnus who is in residence, because the executive has gone through the same experience they have, sometimes with the same professors," says Kathy Baughman, assistant professor of business. "The executives we have invited in the past have told me that they get energized by being around students and the faculty."

Appleby earned a bachelor's degree in business and accounting in 1984 at Juniata. He went on to earn a master's degree in financial management in 1989 from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa.

Appleby's residency was made possible by an endowment from Carl and Nancy Glaeser. Carl Glaeser is a 1977 graduate of Juniata and Nancy Glaeser is a 1976 graduate.

Appleby has been with QVC since 1987 and has spent most of his career there in sales planning or operations. In 2010, he spent a year working to implement several major technology projects as senior vice president for business strategy and technology integration before returning to operations in 2011 in his present position.

The QVC executive started his career at the home shopping company as manager for inventory accounting from 1987 to 1990, and was promoted to director of inventory accounting in 1990. He worked as director of inventory control from 1991 to 1995. Appleby was promoted to vice president, returns and retail, from 1995 to 2000.

In 2000, he moved into sales as vice president of planning. In 2002, he was promoted to senior vice president of planning and programming and led both areas until 2008. He worked as the senior vice president of planning from 2008 to 2010. In these jobs, he was responsible for delivering sales for a retailer that had about $5 billion in annual sales.

Before starting his QVC career, Appleby worked at Kraft Foods as a loss control supervisor from 1986 to 1987. He began his business career at Ralston Purina, as a stock control trainee and manager from 1984 to 1986.
Appleby's residency was made possible by an endowment from Carl and Nancy Glaeser. Carl Glaeser is a 1977 graduate of Juniata and Nancy Glaeser is a 1976 graduate.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.