Tech Leadership Series – Pioneering Pace Pride at the Seidenberg School

On Wednesday, April 25th, 2018 Seidenberg School of CSIS hosted Leadership in Technology – Pioneering Pace Pride, a technology and networking event with six alumni who were the first generation from immigrant families to go to college. The event was held at 165 William Street and was a great opportunity for our students to hear from and network with inspirational alumni. With six leading personalities in the technical industry, the discussion was compelling and Pace students who attended were privy to a fascinating perspective.

The event started with a warm welcome to all the six leaders from our Dean Dr. Jonathan Hill on behalf of the entire Seidenberg School. Over the course of the evening, each of our guests shared their life experiences, career stories, and as their memories of Pace University which was a great help and motivation to all our current students.

Here are our honorable guests:

  • Michael J. Lynn – Currently Principal, ARG* Oversight. Michael’s parents are basically from Ireland. They moved to New York when he was a child. Initially Michael was very much interested to pursue his career as a doctor, but due to financial problems in his family he decided against it. After that, he planned to become an engineer. However, during those days there were almost no jobs in the field of engineering, thus he quit this thought too. Michael finally decided to achieve his career in the field of finance and came to Pace University. He worked as a student assistant at the Pleasantville campus, graduated in 1978, and remarked that “Pace gave me lots of opportunities to succeed in the first ”
  • Dora Gomez – Currently Dora is a board member of ACFE, HTCIA, and INFRAGARD. Initially she lived in Ecuador with her parents and her elder brother. Dora believes in working independently and not relying on anyone. She too got admission to Pace University and loved the environment and the people she met. Dora worked two internships (one during the summers and the other in the winters) during her studies, through which she was able to pay for tuition and books herself. Dora Graduated in 1986. She believes in the thought “Work hard to get what you want.”
  • Tom Reynolds –Tom comes from Ireland where he is the eldest child among five kids. He was inspired by his father (who worked for 12 hours a day) and so Tom started working at the age of 13 to support his family. After completing his high school, Tom got admitted to Pace University. Tom mentions that fellow panelist Maurice Dimeo was the first person he met at Pace. Due to his financial family conditions Tom wasn’t able to buy professional clothes for his internships that he did during his studies. Thus, he worked for loading and unloading of trucks to earn money for clothes. Tom graduated from Pace in 1982. He says “Pace gave me opportunity to work” and, presently, Tom works as Controller at Stone Harbor Investment Partners.
  • Vito J. Depalo – Presently, Chief Auditor of Global Information Technology, AIG. Vito is a techy, through and through. He comes from the southeast of Italy, where his father worked six days a week and 15 hours a day to support his family. Vito says: “Every day while getting ready I remember my dad’s hard work.” Vito had a cousin studying at Pace who always had great things to say about it, and so Vito ended up coming here too. Vito believes “No matter be it Columbia University or Stanford or Pace, it’s all about EDUCATION.” He had three internships during his studies. The last internship he had was converted into full time job after his graduation in 1996. Vito says “Coming to Pace was a like a land of opportunities for me which prepared me for the corporate world.”
  • Joe Nocera – Graduated in 1981 and currently, Deputy Chief Auditor BNY Mellon. Joe was born and raised in Coney Island. He says that he had no idea regarding business before he came to Pace. Joe expressed “Pace not only gave me an education foundation but also many more things apart from academics. Pace provided me opportunities to do different, do better. I learnt to take up and handle responsibilities here.” He advised students to listen to the professors and counsellors who will always help them to get better. He believes “You have to ask questions if you want to learn.”
  • Maurice Dimeo – Presently, Maurice is a Client Technology leader at EY. He comes from Italy. His father worked in the Navy and was a huge inspiration to Maurice. He has a very strong work ethic and believes in hard work. Maurice says “Work as hard as anybody can!” Maurice graduated from Pace in 1987, and added “Pace is one of the schools where we get a chance to prove ourselves!”

After the highly motivating discussion from the tech leaders, our students were really excited and curious to know more about their success and life achievements. Here are some questions that were asked by our current students to the panel.

  1. How did Pace give opportunities?
  • Joe said “Pace teaches to learn to speak, learn to observe, learn to interact which is necessary to succeed”
  • Tom expressed: There are so many similar students in the same class. You need to be different. You need to stand out from the crowd. Pace helps to choose the right way for this which definitely was a great opportunity.
  • Dora said: Pace has high level of education compared to other schools. Teachers give good advises not only on academics but also regarding careers. Pace helps in building relationships which definitely helps in building careers.

2. What are the necessary skills that interns and employees must have?

  • Vito started with a great answer: “Hard work beats talent!” Everyone should be a hard worker, may he/she be an intern or an employee. Another important thing that Vito said, an understanding of the technology is really important and working passionately is a must.
  • Joe added up to this saying: “It’s all about communication (verbal and written). One must hire people who can communicate really well.”
  • Dora explained this by saying that interns and employees must have respect and good manners. It’s about how a person represents himself and lastly a person’s language is important too!

3. What slogan do you live by?

  • Tom: “Be on Time! Be late, be fired!”
  • Vito: “Regret the things you did, not the things you will do!”
  • Dora: “Take Risks!”
  • Joe: “Work hard and never forget where you came from!”
  • Maurice: “Live by your purpose!”
  • Michael: “Never give up! Do the best you can! Love what you do!”

4. How should Pace University’s students compete from other top level universities’ students?

  • Maurice came up with an outstanding answer to this saying that: “School doesn’t matter, what matters is EDUCATION! Show hard work, gain good knowledge, built in great skills and be passionate!”
  • Joe ended up with an amazing thought. He believes: “No doors will be shut if you are at PACE, all door will be open if you are here!”

The event ended up with our Dean Dr. Hill’s thank you note to all the six great leaders who were a huge motivation for all our current students. We thank our panel and hope to see them all again with an amazing event like this one!

Pace University’s STEM Collaboratory Camp 2014

pace-university-stem-campLast month twenty high school students from across the five boroughs embarked on a summer STEM adventure as part of Pace University’s STEM Collaboratory Camp, a collaboration of Pace and AT&T. For two weeks they learned and experimented with coding, robotics, Cybersecurity, Design Thinking and scientific research processes, among other skills. Then, they began to put their skills to work.

STEM Camp 2014_Seidenberg
On August 1st, 2014 the camp culminated with students formally presenting their very own Cybersecurity mobile apps. 

Special guests included Elizabeth Segal from AT&T, Kelli Kedis Ogborn from DARPA Legislative Affairs – Spire Communications, and Brook Gesser from U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Office.

Members of the media were invited to attend the graduation reception.

To view the work done by each team, simply click on the links below.

Team Cybot comprising of Jacob Sadeh, Lary Toyter, Maryia Spirydonava, and Mariah Torcivia presented their app,  Cyber Triv — an app that raises awareness about Cybersecurity.

Team Cybot | STEM Camp '14 | Seidenberg

Team FoCS (aka FOX), comprising of Nicholas Austin, Sole Stewart, Loreen Chan, and Christopher Boyce, created WE-FE — an app that allows you to monitor who’s on your Wi-Fi and take appropriate action. 

Team FoCS | STEM Camp| Seidenberg 

Team Rocket, comprising of Kemar Dudley, David Lebron, Summer Carrio, and Dishan Win, created the app Secure-IT — an app that shows you just how secure you are online.

Team Rocket | STEM Camp '14 | Seidenberg

Team Phisher comprising of Iya Hawkins, Anthony Agbofoati, Anastasiya Malinouskaya, Jeremy End invented Phisher — an app that allows you find all your old posts … and have a good long think!

Team Phisher | STEM Camp '14 | Seidenberg


For more pictures and videos from STEM Camp, follow us on Facebook.

Suhail Bhandari 

Upcoming Tech Talk Presented by Dr. Amar Gupta

This would be a terrific opportunity to meet the new Dean of the Seidenberg School and learn about the intersection of technology and medicine. Please join us for a lively discussion and lunch.

Upcoming Tech Talk

Telemedicine: Improving Patient Experience and Lowering Costs using Technology Continue reading “Upcoming Tech Talk Presented by Dr. Amar Gupta”

Skip to toolbar