Each year the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business & Economics Alumni Association honors alumni who have exemplified professional accomplishments, commitment to excellence and dedication to the community with the “Alumni Award of Excellence”. This year an additional category was added to honor a young alumni, 5 -10 years out of school, based on the same characteristics. I’ve been honored to be the first recipient of the Young Alumni Rising Star Award. Below is my acceptance speech.

2018 marks my 6 year anniversary from when I graduated from Lerner and I can safely say that I never thought I’d be standing here accepting the Rising Star Alumni Award. I am honored to be the first recipient of this award and have to start by thanking the selection committee as well as John Linthicum for nominating me. I am grateful for the recognition I’m receiving for my accomplishments, commitment to excellence, and dedication to the community.

I did not make the journey here alone. My parents instilled the value of a solid education in me, the question was never IF I was going to college but where I was going. Once I landed at UD that philosophy continued and I have numerous people to thank who supported, mentored and coached me, including many professors in the room tonight.

Today, I am a Digital Product Manager on Capital One’s Commercial Innovation team. Product Managers are always striving to make a lasting emotional impact on their customers. With that in mind — viewing myself as the customer and UD/my education as the product, I played the what if game about key moments I had here, at UD. Here it goes:

• What if I didn’t join the Equestrian team freshman year where I met an Accounting major who persuaded me to join Delta Sigma Pi, Lerner’s professional business fraternity?
• What if I wasn’t encouraged to take a leadership position in DSP where I learned how to deal with conflict resolution and the importance of networking?
• What if Lerner’s Career Services didn’t exists, where I prepared for interviews?
• What if I never learned about PwC’s case competition in the Purnell hall and go on to be the winning team?
• What if that opportunity opportunity with PwC didn’t turn into a full time offer and I didn’t have the courage to negotiate a role switch into the IT advisory team?
• What if Jill Pante, Director of Lerner’s Career Service Center, didn’t answer my random phone call 2 years after graduation when I was having a quarter-life crisis realizing accounting wasn’t the right career path for me?
• What if she didn’t share my resume with a hiring manager, John Linthicum, a fellow UD alumni?
• What if John Linthicum never hired me and and didn’t become one of my biggest advocates?

What I like about the what ‘if game’ is it highlights the moments that matter most to me, each one small on its own but together have an outsized impact. These moments could easily be over looked, but they were pivotal in shaping my experience and helped me evolve into the professional that I am today. I owe countless amounts of thank you’s to the people I have met here at UD that helped me build the professional foundation that I stand on. I wouldn’t be able to do the things I’m doing now if it weren’t for all the amazing people, experiences and lesson’s learned here at Lerner.

Thank you again!