An Elizabethtown College education is for people who feel the pull to contribute to the world. With a network of 24,425 living alumni, our graduates leave Etown to become the influential advocates and changemakers the world needs more of.
Meet Elizabeth “Bets” Keen ’77, an Accounting alumna with a minor in Marketing, who helped grow her family’s business, Keen Transport, from one facility in Hudson, Ohio to one of the largest heavy haul trucking company in the U.S. with 13 facilities. Keen is now dedicated to volunteer work and generously funded the Keen ’77 Family Business & Entrepreneurship Lab in Honor of Dr. Petru Sandu. Keen’s philanthropy also extends through her two scholarships – the Elizabeth A. Keen Entrepreneurship and Family Business Scholarship for students enrolled in the Family Business and Entrepreneurship Minor and the Elizabeth “Bets” Keen ’77 Business Scholarship for students pursuing studies in Business
“Etown made me. The background that Etown gave me and the confidence they gave me got me my first job.”
What defined your Etown experience?
I had a very small-town background, and when I came here, I thought I would be going home every weekend. However, when I got to campus, I never left and even camped out during Thanksgiving. I became a resident counselor, and really enjoyed it. My friendship with my Etown roommate has been very important in my life, and my resident counselor during my first year influenced me to pursue becoming a resident counselor.
How has an Etown education changed you as a person?
I came to Etown with an interest in accounting, and I wanted to be a CPA. Because of the great professors and ideas at Etown, my path changed. There was a wonderful marketing professor at the time, Barney Raffield, who was just infectious and got me interested in marketing. That marketing background helped me throughout my career.
In order to graduate in three years, I took a May term, and in that May term there were two professors who also impacted me. I took a history class and a jazz class, and both of them were just fantastic. I’ve held that love of all different kinds of music from that innovative jazz professor. What I learned in that history class made me want to do more and see more in life.
Small colleges give students a special confidence. And at a big university, I don’t think I would have gotten that. I think that the personal touch that a small college can give is really important to many students.
How has your Etown degree benefitted you and your career success?
My senior year, Etown brought corporations in to interview students. I interviewed with many, but really liked Ralston Purina out of St. Louis, and they were looking for their first female management trainee. They eventually flew me to St Louis, and I got the job. That experience was impactful for the rest of my life. It was a cool program, because they took a year to train you in all areas of the company, and that was very beneficial. That door was opened by Etown.
I was at Ralston Purina for five years. My father was working as a vice president of a trucking company, and he decided he wanted to start his own company at 57 years of age. He came to me and asked if I’d be interested in coming into the business. I did, and we grew it from 20 trucks to being nationwide in 13 facilities, and Caterpillar’s biggest hauler.
After we sold the company, I pursued my passion and started a dog training business. I ran that for several years before I sold it to a friend. Right now, I’m involved in different nonprofits.