Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society Blog
Blog offers information to students preparing for a career in business.
Interested in finance? Take a listen to an interview by Leif Johnson ’21 withTed Lynch ’84. Leif first met Ted, Managing Director at Bank of America, during the annual spring Corporate Finance & Banking Workshop in Boston. Ted has been a great mentor for many students, including Leif, and he is eager to share new opportunities with Holy Cross students.
“Holy Cross will teach you to think critically and persuasively, no matter your major.” – Ted Lynch ’84
On Sunday, September 29, 2019 the HC Launch student incubator started off with its semester kickoff event. The application process yielded eight student-led startup teams, with ventures ranging from data security to the cosmetics industry. Paul Wiley ‘20 and Tom Cremins ‘21, managing directors, kicked off the event discussing the direction of the incubator this semester, matched student teams, and led an engaging team building activity. Continue reading “HC Launch Incubates Eight Student Businesses”
Leif Johnson ’21, Economics Major
Fall 2019 Ciocca Center Intern
Coming into freshman year at Holy Cross I played lacrosse, and only lacrosse. That is who I was my entire life. I am very thankful for the lessons in teamwork and leadership along with the life long friends I made being that these are things I will have forever. I was never in any extracurriculars being that I truly thought all I would do is go to college, play lacrosse, and graduate with a job waiting for me. However, at the beginning of my sophomore year that all changed when I sat down and thought about all the things I wanted to explore on campus and beyond. Continue reading “Ciocca Center Intern Shares Path to Finance”
Each semester the Ciocca Center hires a new intern to complement the Academic Internship Program through the JD Power Center on campus. Partnering again with Prof. Dan Ricciardi’s course offering, Leif Johnson ’21 is currently enrolled in “Managing Business in Society” and is interviewing alumni to show how a Jesuit liberal arts degree is an excellent foundation for a career in business. Check out his fall alumni interviews:
STUDENTS: Interested in the internship? View the description and consider applying next semester.
ALUMNI: Interested in being interviewed? Reach out to business@holycross.edu
This spring semester the Ciocca Center offered a new course through the Academic Internship Program. Professor David Chu, Director of the Certificate Programs and Prebusiness Advisor at Holy Cross, partnered with Katharine Quigley ’13, Digital Marketing Manager at Centage, to teach an Introduction to Online Marketing tutorial.
Complementing the Ciocca Center’s mission to connect the liberal arts to the job market, this new tutorial covered introductory marketing content through various readings and in-depth discussions with a focus on the Google Ads Platform. The five students then applied this to the design, implementation and assessment of an actual online marketing campaign for a non-profit, West Seattle Junction.
“A strong liberal arts education prepared me for an ever-changing digital marketing landscape.” starts Katharine. “It was rewarding to help current Holy Cross students learn new digital marketing concepts and vocabulary, and then see them pair those tools with their existing critical thinking and leadership skills to make a real impact on a nonprofit client.”
Thank you to Katharine for reaching out and offering to work with students on this technical topic. She worked with Professor Chu to identify readings, design a syllabus and spent every Wednesday night on campus working with students interested in a career in marketing communications.
Who were the lucky students involved? 18 students applied for this opportunity and only five were selected: Joe Egan ’19, Tim Haemmerle ’19, Olivia Lozy ’20, Lilly Puccia ’19 and Madeline Thero ’19.
UPDATE: Each of the students involved won a “Top Marketer Certificate” from Google! The award is based on successful completion of the Google Ad Grants Online Marketing Challenge, passing the Google Ads Fundamentals Assessment, and a positive client experience survey rating from their nonprofit. Congratulations on the excellent work!
Read more about the Google Awards here.
Thanks for reading! Cassie
Cassie Gevry, Associate Director
Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society
Anne Fink ’85, P17
President of Global Foodservice, PepsiCo
“One of my mentors has been a real model for servant leadership. This notion of putting others first stands out to me: just because you’re at the top of the organization, doesn’t mean that people are serving you.”
On April 1, 2019, Ciocca Center Student Intern Sarah Anderson ’20 interviewed Anne to learn about her journey in the food and beverage industry. Anne is the President of Global Foodservice at PepsiCo and is a member of the Holy Cross Board of Trustees.
What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you always know you wanted to work in the food and beverage industry? I grew up in a business family. My father and mother started a business when I was in grade school and it ended up being a family affair. It was a company called Mats Incorporated, a commercial floor matting business. My father started it from the trunk of his car selling doormats to businesses. Little by little, he grew the business into a pretty large and successful entity. Actually, my three brothers own the business and run it today and they have hundreds of employees. My mother would type the invoices at night and I used to help her. So, it was very much a family business. I grew up interested in business, curious and involved. I knew I liked business and was interested in pursuing a career in it. I had a good feeling for that pretty early on in life. Continue reading “Ciocca Center Intern to Interview Anne Fink ’85, P17”
Bill Abbott ’84
President & CEO of Crown Media Family Networks
“This is where being a major in English really comes in handy. I feel like I learned story, characters, and emotion and all the things that comprise great storytelling at Holy Cross.”
On March 29, 2019, Ciocca Center Student Intern Sarah Anderson ’20 interviewed Bill to learn about how he turned his English Major into a career in the entertainment industry. Bill is the President and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks.
What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you always know you wanted to work in the entertainment industry? No, not at all. I was an English major, with a lot of political science classes mixed in there. I was really focused more either on law school or teaching when I was at school. But, after college I felt like more school wasn’t really where I wanted to be my first year out. So, I was fortunate enough to get a job in the media world, loved it from the beginning, and decided that’s what I would focus on. Entertainment is not something I intended on, but the liberal arts education provided me with a great backdrop for really anything I wanted to do because it teaches you and gives you a good sense of how to communicate and critically think and write. All of those are crucial aspects to any job. Continue reading “Ciocca Center Intern Interviews Bill Abbott ’84”
Bob Guillocheau ’82
Chairman & CEO of Ascensus
“We are very much a mission based company, values driven, and a lot of that came from my learnings at Holy Cross. The ‘men and women for others’ very much resonated with me and it’s something I bring with me everyday when I go to work.”
On March 22, 2019, Ciocca Center Student Intern Sarah Anderson ’20 interviewed Bob Guillocheau ’82 to learn about his journey from HC into the financial services industry. Bob was an economics and accounting major and currently serves as the Chairman & CEO of Ascensus.
Who/What inspired you to enter the business world? I graduated Holy Cross with an economics accounting degree and, typically if you have a accounting degree, you get recruited by what was back then the big eight accounting firms. There have been mergers and today it is the big four accounting firms. The world has changed a lot from 1982 when I graduated, but getting recruited is what got me into financial services and the business world. I took an accounting class in high school, taught by a woman by the name of Mrs. Ellis. She made it really fun and interesting and she was a businesswoman who explained to us how the world works and how accounting and finance plays into any aspect of company. Continue reading “Ciocca Center Intern Interviews Bob Guillocheau ’82”
On March 28, 2019 the Holy Cross Student Investment Fund competed in the UMASS Minuteman Equity Fund. With twelve teams competing, including MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown, Penn State, UConn, Northeastern and Babson, Holy Cross won $3,000 for first prize! The four students, (pictured below, pitched CVS. Congratulations!
Left to right: Hayden Ivatts ‘21, Jack Boyd ‘21, Jack McConville ‘20, Hannah Callaghan ‘20
The HC Student Investment Club, now in its second year through the Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society, is a group of 37 students from all class years and majors. After a competitive application process, students work in teams to gain experience in the fields of asset valuation, equity research and portfolio management with the Bloomberg Terminal on campus. The students work closely with alumni and have scheduled site visits in NYC and Boston, MA.
“On our recent trip to New York, we showcased this feat and the work of our club to key alumni in the financial services industry.” comments Jack Boyd ’21. “There, the Industrials and Technology Group showcased their pitch-decks on United Rentals (URI) and Square, (SQ) respectively. The rigor and quality of these presentations were amplified with the use of our Bloomberg Terminal and strengthened after weeks of hard work within their coverage groups.”
Thanks for reading! Cassie
Cassie Gevry, Associate Director of Student Engagement
Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society
John Andreoli ’82
President & CEO of Sullivan Group Insurance
“With an economics background, I knew I wanted to be in business for myself at some point, so this opportunity gave me the chance to build a business from the ground up and join a firm that had already been in existence, and then have built that for the past 35 years.”
On February 25, 2019, Ciocca Center Student Intern Sarah Anderson ’20 visited John’s Worcester office for an interview and to learn about his journey from HC into the insurance industry. John was an economics major and currently serves as the President & CEO of Sullivan Insurance.
Who/What inspired you to enter the business world? My path was a little unconventional. My dad was in the business on the life insurance side for 56 years. And I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. I wanted to play football when I got out of HC, which I did. For 2 ½ years I played professionally with the USFL (a league that’s not around anymore). I spent a little bit of time with the Patriots on injured reserve. So, I knew I wanted to get involved in the business world at some point, but I wasn’t sure exactly where. And I had my insurance licenses, and I decided that while I was playing, I would get into this business on a part-time basis in the off-season, which I did in 1983. It’s been continuous since then. With an economics background, I knew I wanted to be in business for myself at some point, so this opportunity gave me the chance to build a business from the ground up and join a firm that had already been in existence, and then have built that for the past 35 years. Continue reading “Ciocca Center Intern Interviews John Andreoli ’82”
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