Through CSU’s cooperative education program, Alan Wragg interned at a Cleveland advertising agency for most of his four years as an undergraduate. He says the experience provided the foundational cornerstone of his eventual career in advertising media, most of it spent in New York City.
Now “retired,” Wragg is CEO of the Time Life Alumni Society, which publishes a quarterly newsletter and hosts speaker luncheons for a paid membership of 1,300-plus former Time Inc. employees.
His career includes 16 years at Time in senior sales management roles at Sports Illustrated and Life magazines. He was on the pioneering edge of cable television as publisher of the largest cable industry magazine, The Cable Guide, and as founder of the first electronic guide, Total TV Online.
Wragg also was a co-founder of About.com, a website for how-to information, and the creator of SafetyNet, the wireless industry's first mobile, cross-carrier, emergency alert system in the United States.
Wragg participated in the Marketing Club as a student and was a co-winner of the American Marketing Association Award during his junior year. “That award included a scholarship and a trip to New York City where we were introduced to major ad agencies and publishers. It was thrilling and I returned to Cleveland a very excited young man,” he recalls.