ALEXANDRA FOTINOPOULOS '13

Tell us about your work. I am a Managing Consultant within IBM Consulting Hybrid Cloud Services and have been with IBM for 5 years. Currently, I am serving as the Lead Project Manager for an IBM Consulting Acquisition, integrating a Cloud Services Provider into IBM. The acquisitions space at IBM is very exciting as we are able to learn and leverage key assets and offerings that an acquired company provides as well as share the valuable services IBM offers to its employees and clients. Leading an acquisition focused on integrating a Cloud Services Provider into IBM has been so rewarding as I have learned so much about how a company operates end to end as well as the key benefits of cloud computing for our clients. I also serve as an IBM Consulting Community Leader within Hybrid Cloud Services Americas. This year, I am serving as our Inclusion and Culture Lead, fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment within IBM Consulting. Last year, I led the Engagement and Communications pillar, where I led the creation of key programs such as our Mental Health Awareness Week. These two roles have been extremely rewarding and important to me as I hope to be a part in making IBMers feel part of a greater family.

In October 2021, you hosted a Mental Health Awareness Week at IBM. Can you explain the objective and the work that went into the projects? During 2021, I served as the IBM Consulting Hybrid Cloud Services Engagement and Communications Initiative Lead. I set out, in partnership with key team members, to host a Mental Health Awareness Week in recognition of World Mental Health Day on October 10. Our goal was and has been to end the stigma around mental health and normalize our discussions on the topic in the workplace. We did so by launching a series of events from open forums to discuss mental health in safe space, to more structured sessions around how nutrition plays a key role in mental health. Due to the virtual times we had/have been in, we felt it was imperative to host this series of events to foster an environment where IBMers felt supported and heard on any issue(s) they are facing.

In my opinion, IBM, as an organization, is a strong advocate in supporting their employees and clients’ mental health. Not only does IBM support its employees, like me, advocating to end the negative stigma around mental health with community-wide discussions and events, but it also offers a Mental Health Ally Badge and encourages its employees to commit to the IBM Mental Health Matters pledge. This speaks to the importance IBM places on their employees and client’s mental health.

What is your biggest career failure/challenges you have faced, and what did you learn from it? Work life balance has been a key challenge I’ve faced throughout my career thus far. I believe it is something that with experience and time one continues to refine. I often find myself in a position where I prioritize work over other aspects of my life, which at times is needed and other times can be detrimental to those around me. I have learned from my mentors and peers different tips and tricks to help me be a better advocate for myself, whether it be setting blocks on my calendar to catch up on work, going for a walk during the day, and/or having a backfill to escalate to when I am on vacation. These are small actions that I have implemented, and they truly helped me attain a better work life balance. I also attribute this better balance to my supportive manager. When you have a manager that supports and encourages you to take the time you need, it alleviates any anxiety or stresses that may come. I hope to continue to reflect on and adjust my behavior to continue to seek better balance in my work and life.

What is your proudest accomplishment? In my current role as the Lead Project Manager for an IBM Acquisition, I have partnered with workstream leads across the integration team to create repeatable and scalable work products that are being used and implemented across the 10+ IBM 2021 acquisitions. Coming into the acquisition space and being able to create new and now repeatable work products such as process flows, internal websites, timelines, and more from scratch is extremely rewarding as well as being able to receive real-time feedback from key senior leaders within IBM.

In what ways did MKA prepare you for the path your life has taken? MKA has been an integral part of my life. I am so fortunate to have attended MKA as it not only prepared me from an academic perspective, but it also allowed me to become more confident in myself and my ideas and has directly contributed to the person I am today. The way MKA encourages its students to be creative, think differently, and challenge the status quo are all key attributes for success. I am very thankful.

Tell us about your work. I own an insurance and financial services business. I have an office in West Orange about two minutes from where I grew up (and am probably one of the only people in the world to reverse commute from NYC to NJ). It's been really rewarding to learn the industry and manage a team and business. We sell insurance products like household lines (auto, residential, commercial insurance, life) to investment products for estate planning (annuities, long term care/disability products, 401k investments). We're all about protecting what is most special to you; whether it's your property or your family, we do it all!

What is your biggest career challenge you have faced, and what did you learn from it? Off the top of my head: the first was changing industries in 2017. I went from working in tech to jumping into a whole new industry with less than the bare minimum of experience. To say I had to learn things on the fly would be an understatement. Being thrown into the fire of having to staff an office, run a business from scratch, manage payroll and taxes, and handle customer policies, service, and inquiries was a pretty big culture shock. Lately we've been facing challenges due to the crazy inflation rates, something that's not unique to my business, but it's made customer spending more challenging and pricing for our products less competitive. I've learned to put a lot of trust into my team; empowering them has been a fundamental key to building a successful practice. Also, having patience is rewarded in the client service industry. Good things generally happen slowly, and bad things can happen quickly.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment? I'm really proud to have built a business that hires and grows careers in the community. This industry sees a lot of job hopping, and I take a lot of pride in providing my team a stable environment to learn and grow their careers. Turnover is the norm here, but I've been retaining and growing my core group of employees since we've opened. They've helped form the backbone of an agency that has been recognized to operate on an elite agency level for over five years running!

What advice would you give to other young alumni who want to pursue a similar career as a personal financial representative? Really learn the business and your customers. There's a lot of coursework and licensing needed to get into the field, and any type of financial product is so highly regulated. You really need to make sure that you know everything inside and out to give clients and potential customers not only the best products but also the best strategies that fit within their lifestyle. People will always look to you as the subject matter expert and trust that you'll always have their best interests in mind. Reputation matters in this business, and if you always put your best foot forward and put the client's needs above your own, you'll succeed. It's so important to network and get out in the community because often you really are your own brand.

In what ways did MKA prepare you for the path your life has taken? I can honestly say MKA did a great job preparing me. In high school I was a decent student, but when I got to college, I was shocked at how far ahead of the curve I was to my peers not only in writing (MKA had such a tremendous writing curriculum) but also in leadership and life skills. Senior year of high school I took a leadership course with a bunch of my classmates. I'll always remember one morning Dr. Hrab said that because of the school we were in and the education we were getting, we would probably always be put in leadership positions through the rest of our life. It resonated with me, and at the time I didn't realize why. But I look back on that lesson often, and it's pretty obvious just how well equipped and responsible MKA's education made me to tackle obstacles and challenges to this point.

Award on November 4. Enrique is the director of the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program and on the leadership team for the Men of Color Success Initiative (MOCSI) at Passaic County Community College. Through these programs, Enrique provides students with the academic support, leadership development, and financial assistance they need to graduate from PCCC and enter four-year colleges across the state.

2005. / MKA / Mr. Edmund Kozak; e.g.kozak@gmail.com

Mr. Manav Lalwani, 1 32 Blue Heron Drive, Riverside Court, Secaucus, NJ 07094-2391; 201-617-5312; manav.lalwani@gmail.com

Classmates AJ Jensen and Antoinelle Szweed with their sons Mason and Logan in Brigantine, NJ in July 2022. 6

Congratulations to Ryan Boyea on his marriage to Danielle in August 2022 in Maui, Hawaii.

Brian Nolan and his father Michael Nolan, a father-son team managing more than $1 billion in client assets in New York City and Philadelphia, have left J.P. Morgan Advisors for RBC Wealth ManagementU.S. Their departure marks the second heavy-hitting team this month to exit J.P. Morgan’s traditional brokerage unit in New York.

Congratulations to Chelsea Dougherty Henley and her husband Kenneth on welcoming their baby boy Graham Pace to the world on October 3, 2022. 7

Dan Marrazza was on Sports

JESSICA FRANKL '09

Tell us about your work. I am a staff photographer and photo editor for the NY Yankees. Previously, I was a photo editor for the NBA, and prior to that, I was a photo assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Why photography? How did you first become interested in your profession? I was a gymnast growing up, and when I could no longer compete, I started photographing the sport. My brother was a college gymnast at Stanford, so I had the opportunity to follow him around and photograph some of the biggest college gymnastics competitions that take place. Gymnastics is still something I photograph often (both professionally and as passion projects), as I work closely with the College Gymnastics Association. A few years ago, I took myself on a cross-country roadtrip, photographing men’s gymnastics preseason training, which was published in Victory Journal

What is your biggest career failure/challenge you have faced, and what did you learn from it? By nature, photography comes with a lot of failures - missed photos, bad lighting, etc. I learned not to be so hard on myself. Sometimes you just aren’t going to get the shot. That’s okmove on and get ready for the next moment.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Most recently, working to earn myself the opportunity to photograph the Yankees during the playoffs. It has been an amazing experience for me, and I’m learning from some of the best photographers out there. I’m very grateful and proud of the hard work I put in to get me to this moment. Another big moment for me was covering the gymnastics Olympic Trials last year. After all of the years I spent in and with the sport, getting to photograph the biggest stage was a "pinch-me" moment.

In what ways did MKA prepare you for the path your life has taken? In so many ways, but most importantly, MKA taught me the value of building relationships. That goes for both personal and professional relationships - friends, mentors, colleagues, and professionals. My best friends to this day are the friends I made at MKA, and I know that MKA played an integral part of teaching me how to network, which enabled me to grow my career the way I have. (PSshoutout to Bianca Roses for proof reading these responses!)