Our Team
 

Founded By Jill Tipograph

 
 

Jill Tipograph is an accomplished early career advisor and coach who has a proven track record of helping young adults envision and reach their potential at work.


Jill leads Tipograph Careers, the advisory and coaching practice she founded to guide college students, college graduates, and young professionals through the complicated labyrinth of career choice, job search, and workplace success. Her expert team of HR hiring professionals are career “diagnosticians,” customizing a roadmap for each unique client. We meet individuals where they are in their quest to select, secure and succeed in a job that plays to their strengths and interests.

Helping steer the career trajectories of young adults for 20 years is a natural progression for Jill, whose own career includes successfully guiding young people to choose and prosper in their summer and gap year programs, internships, and post-college careers. She founded and led Camp Tips, and Everything Summer, and co-founded Early Stage Careers. Jill is a certified, select member of the Forbes Coaches Council, a longstanding, professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, and a longtime board member of the non-profit organization, Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education.

Jill launched Tipograph Careers to meet the current challenges facing young job seekers and career changers. With the backdrop of an unpredictable economy, layoffs, and hybrid work arrangements, our process works because it is laser-focused on “fit” – diagnosing and clarifying goals – then pursuing them in a tailored, supported, and systematic way.

 
 

Meet a few of our COACHES AND SPECIALISTS


Judy Panagakos

COACHING PRACTICE LEADER & SENIOR CAREER COACH

Judy is our coaching practice leader and active senior coach for college students, recent graduates and young professionals.

  • She partners with clients to design and execute thoughtful job search strategies, which create a foundation for lifelong career development. By focusing holistically on all facets for the early career job search, from crafting personal marketing assets, developing interviewing and networking skills, identifying sources for opportunities and ultimately making clients have successful transitions to being working professionals. 

    Prior to starting work as a private career coach, she was employed for over 31 years at JP Morgan Chase in New York City. As a senior executive, she worked in a variety of specialized roles in Human Resources including recruiting, global onboarding and off boarding, as well as counseling employees, and helping students and young grads successfully navigate the corporate environment. She recruited college students for internships and training programs, and advised employees through all stages of the career life cycle. Judy is a graduate of Lehigh University with a BA in Economics & Urban Studies and has a Master’s in Information Science from Rutgers University.

    Judy is trained to use The Greenwood System™ an assessment tool that takes into account clients’ interests, values, personalities, and abilities to match them to best fit career options, and guides them to create a robust career action plan.

    In addition to her work as a career coaching professional, Judy is active in her community serving as a Trustee of the Yakima Valley Libraries, serving as Treasurer of the Yakima Valley Libraries Foundation, working with the Earth Day Yakima team, DAR Literacy Committee, and volunteering with the American Red Cross.


Matt Essert

MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT CAREER SPECIALIST

Matt specializes in helping college students and young professionals demystify and prepare for the management consulting interview process.

  • Matt’s career journey provides him with the experience and understanding needed to crack and conquer consulting interviews. Matt has conducted hundreds of hours of case interviews and worked with numerous students and graduates to help them break down the case interview process and effectively prepare to secure internships and full-time roles in both major and specialized consulting firms.

    Matt began his career in the digital media and communications industry before earning his MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. While completing his MBA, he was a career coach for the Tuck Business Bridge summer program, working one-on-one with college students and recent graduates to help them think through career options, workshop cover letters, resumes, and LinkedIn profiles; as well as held webinars about recruiting/interviewing for various industries, and conducted mock interviews. At Tuck, Matt pursued post-graduate employment in management consulting and joined EY-Parthenon’s New York Office. At EY-Parthenon, he was active in on-campus recruiting, both in identifying potential candidates as well as the interview and hiring decision process. He is currently Director of Strategy & Transformation, Global Commercial Services, at American Express. Matt also holds a BA in Philosophy from McGill University.


Terri Herschlag

CAREER COACH

Terri has dedicated her career to helping college students, recent graduates and alumni position themselves successfully for future job opportunities.

  • During her 20+ year career at JPMorgan Chase Terri served as Vice President and Head of Campus Recruiting for Financial Analyst Intern and Entry-Level Programs in Investment Banking, Private Banking and Asset Management. 

    Later, as Director of Career Development Programs at the educational nonprofit Marketing EDGE, Terri designed and scaled college student mentoring and internship programs while developing relationships with corporations, developing pipelines of candidates for internships and entry-level opportunities.  

    Most recently she worked at Pace University as a career counselor, where she guided both students and alumni in developing job search strategies and trained them on developing successful networking practices, writing impactful cover letters and resumes, and fine-tuning interview skills. 

    Terri holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from St. John’s University.


Lee Kramer

SUCCESS COACH

Lee is dedicated to guiding young adults and professionals on a transformative journey through life and career transitions to realize their potential.

  • Lee Kramer is a client success coach dedicated to guiding young adults and professionals on a transformative journey through life and career transitions to realize their potential, build resiliency, and uncover their passion and purpose. Lee has over twenty years of experience in higher education working with people to develop and achieve their academic, co-curricular, life, and career goals. His approach fosters growth, resilience, purpose and emphasizes a growth mindset. He specializes in helping individuals overcome hurdles, discover their unique strengths, and find their authentic place and purpose.

    He most recently served as the Director of Student Life at the Wharton School for more than 15 years. He worked with over 2,400 students per year to help them in all facets of their undergraduate experience. His work included career exploration, wellness, finding community, personal, professional and leadership development, and identifying international opportunities. His work fostered connections between the students and their classmates, as well as alumni, corporate partners, faculty and staff.

    Lee created and scaled a for-credit career exploration course for sophomores and juniors to introduce them to various industries and connect them to Fortune 500 firms such as LinkedIn, Google, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and more in NYC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. This included orchestrating impactful professional, learning development and career readiness/networking workshops. Through the connections made from this course, students received summer internships at these companies. Lee previously worked in Student Affairs administration at the University of Pennsylvania and Emory University. He started his career as a high school teacher. Lee received his B.A. from Emory University and his MBA from Drexel University. He is certified as a Master Life Coach and is trained in Positive Intelligence Coaching.


Cheryl Lambert

INTERVIEW SKILLS & BRANDING SPECIALIST

As a communications expert, Cheryl provides interview skills training power sessions and helps our clients architect their brand and personal story.

  • Cheryl teaches presentation skills at Fortune 500 firms as well as not-for-profits. Previously, she held top-level executive positions on Wall Street where she was responsible for hundreds of personnel worldwide, managing enterprise risk and global operations. She created processes that developed talent and increased responsibility. Having interviewed countless individuals, Cheryl knows what it takes to have a winning interview. As an interview architect, Cheryl develops clients' stories to optimize communication, and creates positive and memorable impressions which prove integral to their getting hired.

    Cheryl completed Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development, and leads the Harvard Club’s Public Speaking Special Interest Group. She earned her BA at Rutgers College.

    She served as Chairman of Boys Town NY Board of Directors, and created and led a workshop at the Center for Employment Opportunity in New York City.


Deborah Friedman Lesser

GAP YEAR & PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COACH

Deborah is a strategic partner working with students, college graduates and young professionals to create gap experiences that are aligned with their early career and/or educational goals.

  • She brings 20 years of experience running gap year programs, doing gap year consulting and working directly with hundreds of college students and young adults on experiential education programs in over 20 countries. Having a meaningful gap experience creates a foundation for one’s career path and further education. 

    As a certified coach, Deborah supports clients with their personal and professional development. Previously, Deborah managed UNICEF's holistic career development program, P²D (Personal x Professional Development) and designed a subsequent strength-based program. Her process allows clients to better understand themselves and the world and to apply this knowledge to shape their early career pursuits. 

     Deborah received her Master’s degree in International Education from the School for International Training (SIT), holds a coaching certificate from The Coactive Training Institute (CTI), and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in Communication Arts and a minor in Business.


Janine Rowe

CAREER COACH

Janine is a certified career counselor with a track record of supporting the career success of young adults who previously have completed neuropsychological evaluations, benefited from academic accommodations or organizational support.

  • Janine is currently a therapist at the University of Rochester. Most recently, Janine worked as a career counselor and Assistant Director of Careers and Disability at Rochester Institute of Technology. She helped college students and alumni secure internships and full-time positions. Janine is also experienced in consulting with employers. Janine has a BA from Hamilton College, and a Master’s in Counseling from the College at Brockport, SUNY.


Terry Walton

CAREER COACH

Terry has over 25 years of experience in executive search, career coaching + development, and she is Myers Briggs (MBTI) certified.

  • Terry spent 10 years as a Partner and Consultant with Heidrick & Struggles, an international executive search firm, where she focused on the Consumer / Media, Industrial / Manufacturing and Education / Not-for-Profit sectors. Her clients were guided by her understanding of the search process and her ability to identify the best and most qualified candidates for each role. Terry understands how to prepare candidates to stand out in the hiring process, providing her coaching clients with professional resumes, outstanding interview preparation, and targeted job sourcing capabilities to help them secure their desired role.

    Terry focused on early career development as Manager of College Recruiting for First Union - Florida, and as founder of 20’sEmpowered she focuses on educating young adults to improve job opportunities, hiring potential, and career success. Terry has her BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.     


Neal Wendel

SENIOR CAREER COACH

Neal is a 30+ year HR Executive who has recruited college students and graduates for Fortune 500 internships and training programs. He works with our early career clients using targeted job search strategies to position them successfully with hiring managers.

  • Neal is a 30+ year HR Executive that spent his career in Training & Development and HR Business Partner roles in the Financial Services industry, including technology organizations. He has provided career coaching to entry level employees at Citibank, American Express, JP Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse, and Marsh. Neal has mentored many early career employees, helping them navigate and integrate into corporate environments.  He has recruited college students for internships and training programs. He works with his early career clients to execute job search strategies that align to their interests and skills. He teaches clients how to best position their education and experiences with hiring managers.

    Neal holds an M.B.A. in Organizational Behavior from Pace University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Brooklyn College. Neal served on the Board of Directors of NYHRPS, a professional organization of senior HR professionals. He was an Adjunct Instructor at Baruch College, teaching Business Communication and Advanced HR with a focus on Career Development.


 

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