“You’re going to do great things after you graduate,” people used to tell Ben Peirce ‘01.

It turns out they were right.

A communications major, Ben founded the campus radio station and served as its first general manager.

He played hockey during his freshman and junior years, and in his senior year he persuaded the Manchester Monarchs to hire him for an internship. That position led to a full-time job after he graduated.

Ben began in the team’s creative services office, producing programs, pocket schedules and other printed materials. Soon he was making music videos and introducing teams over the public address system.

He loved the work, but after four years, working 40 games a season on top of his 40-hour work week began to take a toll.

“Before I had a chance to figure it out, the LA Kings called and hired me to do the same thing for the Kings,” he says, describing the next year as “a whirlwind.”

Not long after Ben and his wife, SNHU alumna Jen Forrester ‘01, returned to Manchester, Ben was hired by Griffin York & Krause, a Manchester advertising and strategic communications agency.

“I turn a pitch into a show, like I did at hockey games,” he says of work that has included promotions for the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.

Looking back, Ben says he is grateful to Southern New Hampshire University for helping him to launch his career and his life.

“I was really given the opportunity to write my own ticket there,” he says.