“Luck favors the prepared.”
This was one piece of advice shared by Warren Fristensky ’74, retired senior vice president of Wiley and Sons and member of the Board of Regents at Saint Peter’s University. Fristensky imparted this advice upon a class of MBA candidates during the Executives in Residence (EiR) course, which is offered through the master’s program in business administration at the University.
EiR is offered twice a year and as part of the course, Saint Peter’s alumni who are senior executives from major corporations and successful entrepreneurs return to the University to meet with graduate business students. The executives share stories and advice they have learned throughout the course of their career and students, who previously prepared research on each of the executives, ask questions about their values, experiences and beliefs. The program began in the fall of 2007 and continues to be a tremendous success.
“We are fortunate at Saint Peter’s to have a long list of highly successful alumni who are willing to share their stories with our students,” said Jack Hampton, Ph.D., professor of graduate business and professor of the EiR course at Saint Peter’s University. “A repeated theme is a simple message: to succeed in life, as well as in business, you must develop skills to work productively, want to do the job and your bosses and colleagues must enjoy working with you.”
The executives for the fall 2014 course included Kenneth J. Mahon ’73, senior executive vice president, chief operating officer and director of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc.; Raymond Chiu ’86, consultant and information systems executive and former vice president of ISO; Warren Fristensky ’74, retired senior vice president of Wiley and Sons; and Deborah A. Bello, Esq. ’76, vice president and chief legal officer at Prudential Financial Services.
While the executives represented a diverse range of industries, they all shared specific advice about what the students could do to advance their careers.
“Come in early and stay late,” advised Mahon. “People will always question whether they have more power than you, but if you are there longer than them, they can’t say that you don’t work harder.”
EiR is an essential component to the mission of the Master of Business Administration program, which is designed to prepare graduates to manage people, assets, ideas and technology in a rapidly-changing global environment; to equip graduates with critical thinking and problem-solving skills with a particular focus on operational, strategic and financial risk; and to develop ethical leaders with a breadth and depth of knowledge who will advance the standards and procedures in the field of business administration.
“The course was insightful and definitely made me rethink my objectives in my career,” said Paula Jnoville ’15. “I would recommend the course to anyone looking for a transition in their lives.”
Alumni interested in becoming an Executive in Residence can contact Sharon Morrissey at (201) 761-6126 or smorrissey@saintpeters.edu.
