On Friday May 27th, 2016, executives from VE New York City firms came together at Mercy College to recap on the year’s progress for their firms. The day started with our first guest speaker, VE alumnus and recent Mercy College graduate, Angel Cespedes. Mr. Cespedes spoke about his own VE experience and where that has taken him today, as a college student and as an entrepreneur.
The students were split into groups led by the VE Fellows and discussed some key questions about expectations, mistakes, successes, and lessons learned from their year in VE. Students shared how they overcame communication difficulties between friends and coworkers, the important practices that differentiated their company from others, and what executive mistakes they made and how they learned from them. The lively conversation was a great segue into the panel portion of the event, featuring six VE alumni.
The panel discussed their VE experience and how their early leadership roles contributed to their college and working careers. Alumni shared how many of the themes students spoke about earlier in the day — such as communication, professionalism, and organization — are present in their college and career environments.
Michael Russo, VE alumnus and founder of Sticky Quotes, concluded the day with his story about his transition from studying sharks in science class to being on Shark Tank with other hungry entrepreneurs. Mr. Russo highlighted how his VE experience enabled him to come as far as he is today, with two Bachelor Degrees and a growing start-up business intent on spreading positivity.
Thank you to our panelists and guest speakers for joining us for the Spring Executive Conference and sharing your wisdom with our VE executives!
Panelists and Guest Speakers
Andrew Boryk, Mercy College
Angel Cespedes, Mercy College
Naasik Islam, Fordham University
Atul Kapoor, Soft System Solution
Malinda Madhoo, CUNY York College , JCD Associates Inc.
Michael Russo, Sticky Quotes
Suveer Seemangal, BluBase Consulting
Charan Singh, CUNY Baruch College, NYC VE Central Office Intern