How did you get started at Con Ed, and how has your career taken shape there? 

I have always been very focused. I started at Con Edison back in 1998 as an assistant engineer. In that role, I was assigned to learn about different parts of the company and give presentations to a multidisciplinary committee. I learned about everything from fossil generation to nuclear energy. When I graduated from the program, I started my career as a technical supervisor, moving up to become a section manager, and then a senior system’s operator, and finally, to the role where I am now as a General Manager.

While I was in these roles, I really wanted to understand, how do you supervise people? How do you measure productivity? How do you get to align folks with the strategy? 

What inspired you to pursue engineering?

My brother was a great source of inspiration. He’s a civil engineer and he’s 13 years older than I am. Growing up with him, we had a lot of discussions around engineering. I attended Samuel Gompers Industrial High School on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, a public school, where I studied computer science and electrical engineering. I didn’t find computer science challenging enough but I did find the challenge that I wanted in electrical engineering. I received an engineering degree from the City College of New York. While I was in college, my brother was already in the field. He knew what I was going through in terms of academics, and was always very supportive when I needed any help with my coursework. 

Could you tell us a little about your service on the Board of Directors of Bronx Works and why that’s important to you? 

I was raised in the Bronx, not too far from Yankee Stadium. I am a die-hard Yankee fan. Growing up there I knew what the challenges were. It was not an easy place. I knew kids that didn’t know anything outside a mile radius from where they lived. Knowing first hand the challenges that Bronx kids face really inspired me to give back to the community.  

BronxWorks is a non-profit that helps individuals and families improve their economic and social well-being. They work with everyone from toddlers to seniors to build a stronger community. Their mission really resonates with me, and I’m a big supporter of the STEM programs there. 

What are the most important qualities of a good leader?

My mother and father are from Puerto Rico, they came here in the mid-1950s. One of the values they instilled in myself, my brother, and my sister was the importance of education. They didn’t have the opportunity to finish school back in Puerto Rico, they had some challenges. But they always told me that you can be whatever you want to be in life, as long as you have a passion for it, and you have the time and energy to do it— you can do it. That encouragement stayed with me. Encouragement is what I always try to bring when I manage teams. I always try to encourage folks to do their best. 

I also think it’s important to look for someone who is a great listener, who really tries to understand people on a one-on-one basis. It’s important to have high emotional intelligence and to demonstrate integrity and sound ethical decision making. 

Why did you pursue an EMBA?

I always tried to balance academics and practicality. I had an engineering degree and I was doing technical work and so that balanced out. As I moved on to more leadership roles, I was getting the practical hands-on part of it, but I knew there was more involved. I wanted to learn the different philosophies behind management, leadership, and strategy.  

One of the most important things that I learned in the EMBA program is how to create an environment of intrinsic motivation and high morale.

“As much as you think your career is going to last forever, eventually one day it’s going to end,” Fox said. “I wanted to be prepared for life after football.” Fox enrolled in an MBA program designed for athletes at the University of Miami and eventually retired from football. He said that the advanced degree provided the foundations for him to become an entrepreneur. “It gave me the tools and network to launch a tech startup,” he added. After a year in the making, Earbuds, his new social music platform, will go live this fall.

A similar version of the MBA program Fox completed is coming to the Gabelli School of Business. The program, which caters to athletes and artists, was introduced at an August 2 event at the Gabelli School, which included panel discussions by top CEOs and athletes-turned-business professionals.

An Opportunity for Reinvention

“Overall, this segment is looking to reinvent themselves and reinvention is often times arduous,” said Associate Dean Francis Petit, who will oversee this niche Executive MBA. “This program will provide the necessary tools.”

The first cohort is expected to begin in winter 2019, following a curriculum similar to the existing Executive MBA program. Modular in format, it will include team projects, career coaching, presentations, and site visits to companies in the New York area, along with a capstone project.

“In essence, they will travel this academic journey together, similar to their team experiences throughout their playing days,” Petit said, adding that the program will eventually include artists, celebrities, and other creative professionals. “Artists and celebrities have, in one sense, a similar profile to other MBA students,” he explained, in that “they have a skillset that makes them thrive in a particular area. However, in order to have a more comprehensive skillset for creating value in today’s economy—the MBA can be that launchpad.”

The new MBA program is the result of a collaboration with Jack Brewer, who launched the Miami program Fox attended after a career in the NFL playing for the Minnesota Vikings, the New York Giants, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Education has always been a priority to Brewer, who said he grew up watching his father teach himself to read. Though Brewer earned a master’s degree before he started playing, he saw many of his former teammates struggling after retirement and realized the need for a specialized program. At the Gabelli School, he will help recruit students and serve as a mentor.

“This program is about taking athletes and artists—people who never thought about getting an MBA—and giving them a support system and teaching them how to excel off the field,” Brewer said in his opening remarks at the launch event, pointing out that athletes and artists often have nontraditional educations and many never even have had to apply to college.

Transition Can Be Difficult

Panelists at the event included Fox News sports analyst Jared Max, sports attorney Steve Silton, and several Fordham alumni—such as William Catucci, FCRH ’58, former CEO of AT&T Canada, Malachy Fallon, GABELLI ’83, ’90, ’15, executive director of the Xavier Society for the Blind, and Mark Celani, GABELLI ’90, president and CEO of FICEL Transport. All discussed the importance of the MBA for career development.

Silton pointed out the assets athletes bring to the business world. “They are so good at recognizing and seizing opportunities,” he said. “That is unique and special. The MBA tempers their enthusiasm to take risks and prepares them to do the full analysis to determine what truly are the best opportunities.”

A second panel discussion revealed insights from athletes themselves about going into business after retiring from sports. Julie Hansson, a former Olympic gymnast from Norway, said she needed to redirect the energy she devoted to intense training throughout her life.

“When you stop, there is an empty space that needs to be filled with something else,” she said. Today, Hansson works for the NBA and her sister Katherine Hansson, also a former Olympic gymnast who spoke on the panel, is an assistant vice president at DNB, a Norwegian bank.

Garrett Klugh, a former Olympic rower, talked about retiring from sports at the age of 29. “The transition from athlete to real life is very difficult,” he said, adding that he returned to school nearly ten years later to earn his MBA. “I didn’t want to be the person in a firm who is a collectible,” he said. “Here’s our Olympian on the shelf.” Klugh felt it was important to separate his athletic background from his business career at a venture capital firm, and the MBA program helped him accomplish that.

Traits that Transfer to the Business World

Serving as a panelist, Fox reiterated that athletes possess many characteristics that, with proper direction, can successfully transfer to the business world. “We are very competitive and forward thinking,” he said, emphasizing the value of working alongside like-minded high achievers in the MBA program. “It created such a great ecosystem. Everyone was willing to collaborate and help each other.”

Gabelli School Dean Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., said the new MBA program exemplifies the Gabelli School’s mission to prepare students for careers in “business with purpose and community.” She also noted Fordham’s long history of educating athletes and artists, including football legend Vince Lombardi, FCRH ’37, baseball great Frankie Frisch, actor Denzel Washington, FCLC ’77, and bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC ’79, among others.

“These individuals succeeded because they know the meaning of determination and hard work,” she said. “We’re very excited to help former athletes and artists transition into successful business careers.”

–Claire Curry

This semester, a group of Gabelli School MBA and Executive MBA students traveled part of the same route, reflecting on their personal experiences and using those reflections to build leadership skills.

The trip was part of a course called Jesuit History and Leadership Culture, designed to teach students how life experience, and the self-awareness it generates, are keys to being an effective leader.

The trip marked the first time a Jesuit business school has experienced the trek from a Jesuit historical, cultural, and leadership development perspective, said Chris Lowney, FCRH ’81, GSAS ’81, the Fordham graduate and adjunct faculty member who taught the class.

“The path to great leadership is a personal journey,” said Lowney, a former managing director of JP Morgan and a former Jesuit seminarian. “We used our physical journey through this part of Spain to think, each of us, about our life journeys to become better leaders.”

The class arrived in Barcelona on Oct. 2 for their 71-mile journey. Each day of the trip allowed time for reading and reflection, with the primary reading assignment being Lowney’s book, Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World (Loyola Press, 2005). The “company” in question is the Jesuit order; the book recounts how the Jesuits have been guided by the principles of love, self-awareness, and heroism, all of which are integral to successful leadership.

Class member Angel Cardoza, a general manager at Con Edison, said reading Heroic Leadership was influential and beneficial throughout the weeklong journey.

“I had a moment of sudden realization that [St. Ignatius] utilized the leadership pillar of love throughout the years,” said Cardoza. “This experience caused me to self-reflect, assess, and modify my leadership pillars as I lead my organization toward excellence,”

The on-foot journey got underway in Palau D’Anglesola, a village in the province of Lleida within the community of Catalonia. The group walked between 10 and 15 miles daily, passing rolling plains and valleys as well as cultivated grain fields and vineyards.

Starting on their second day, two students from the group took responsibility for keeping the rest on schedule. Each day a different pair shared this task, representing the different people who take on a leadership role and help a company keep moving.

These types of experiences taught the group “about perseverance, planning, coaching, empathy, setting goals that will carry us forward, and, above all, about being self-aware people with a deep sense of purpose,” Lowney noted.

Along the way, the students spent a night in Igualada, a municipality in the province of Barcelona. The history-filled city contains narrow, irregular streets as well as remainders of ramparts and a fortress dating back to the 11th century. Surrounding this “old town” is a newer one with wider streets and luxurious homes.

The juxtaposition of old and new echoed one of the questions students were asked to ponder after every day of the trip, one to apply in the workplace as well: “Are you going to make any changes in your demeanor, communication styles, and attitudes?”

The last leg of the trip brought the group to Manresa, the capital of the comarca of Bages and a place of pilgrimage for Catholics everywhere. It is the place where St. Ignatius stopped to pray on his journey and read in isolation in a nearby cave over the course of one year. There, he created the Spiritual Exercises.

The group returned by bus to Barcelona with new memories and meaning gained from their expedition.

Overall, the Camino journey gave students a chance to reflect upon their working styles and gain a clearer view of themselves to help them in their leadership roles.

–Casey Shenloogian

View the slideshow

“It’s not easy, and I’m not trying to project that I have the silver bullet,” he says, “but I share a bit about my own past and try to show them that there are some controllable things they can do to put themselves in a position to win.”

Crawley grew up on the working-class West Side of Chicago. As a young boy, he lost both of his parents, one of them violently. But his grandparents raised him, and he found extra support in the local community.

“I’ve had the good fortune of having folks who’ve believed in me and supported me,” he says, “everything from the Boys and Girls Club to my extended family to my colleagues when I first joined Morgan Stanley.”

“I had zero connectivity with [my undergraduate] school,” Crawley says. “When I went to Fordham for my MBA, it was the first time I had experienced that sense of community with an academic institution,” Crawley says. “I tapped into a powerful alumni network, and I also made a few of my very best friends.”

Networking has been central to his rise at Morgan Stanley, he says, but it’s his work as a mentor, “especially for black and brown individuals from below the poverty line,” that is “core to who I am.”

Crawley often helps junior analysts at Morgan Stanley, some of whom are fellow Fordham graduates, get their footing. He has come back to Fordham’s campus to speak at events with current students and alumni. He’s a new trustee for the national Boys and Girls Club, where he serves on the Midwest Regional Team based out of his native Chicago. And he recently joined the board of Covenant House New York, where he continues to meet with those young men.

For Crawley, who now lives in New York with his wife and twin daughters, it’s simply his responsibility.

“I have been given a platform to enable real change in people,” he says. “There is just a modicum of difference between me and the outcome of my life and these kids that I’m speaking to at Covenant House [and the Boys and Girls Club]. We are literally cut from the same tree, but people took the time to mentor and mold me.

“That’s why I want us to keep pushing forward.”

An Aug. 20th consultation of findings from a survey of New Yorker’s perceptions of Rio was the capstone project of a summer session led by Professor John Hollwitz, Ph.D. The consult focused on how Rio could increase visitors through tourism and business development. Students presented their findings and a strategic plan to professionals from the Visitors and Convention Center system, which included representatives from Rio and several other Brazilian cities.

The legwork for the project was done in New York as preparations for the World Cup were well underway. Students found that while New Yorkers are open to traveling to new places and learning about different cultures, there is substantial reticence of going to Rio due to personal safety concerns.

However, EMBA student Joseph Pirraglia said of 150 New Yorkers the group surveyed, most of those visitors who’d already travelled to Rio would recommend visiting the city and would also like to return for another visit.

Pirraglia said that, as a first time visitor to Brazil, he too would like to return. He added that he found Rio’s personal safety issues similar to those in New York.

“You have to watch yourself when you walk around New York at night and that’s pretty much the same in Rio,” he said.

Pirraglia said the group advised the Visitors Bureau that they should attempt to draw parallels between two cities whenever possible and to promote the aspects of the city that New Yorkers might not be aware of.

“Like New York, the community in Rio is more open to people of different nationalities and sexual orientation,” he said.

He said that Rio’s open-minded atmosphere creates niche business opportunities that city should take advantage of, like marketing to the gay and lesbian community.

The study more or less confirmed the findings of previous research.

“The overall impressions I got from many people, including the hotel managers, is that although we were telling them some things they already knew, it was helpful to hear it from a New York perspective,” said EMBA student Kirsten Hase.

Others were impressed that students who had never been to Rio provided such spot-on analysis.

“For a consulting group who is foreign to Brazil, the research and recommendations presented by Fordham were of professional quality and demonstrated a through analysis of the situation we are facing,” said Milton Longobardi, chairman of the Latin American Advisory Board for the Chief Marketing Officers Council.

Contact: Tom Stoelker
(212) 636-7576
[email protected]

There will be little cavorting for the fifth cohort of Fordham Westchester’s Executive MBA (WEMBA) program. The Class of 2014 began the intensive program just after New Year and will spend the next 22 months hunkering down.

“Part of my job is to keep them sane through the process,” said Francis Petit, Ed.D., associate dean for executive programs at the Graduate School of Business Administration (GBA).

Petit said that the rigorous program is a good fit for the 22 new students, most of whom are already working in business and are seeking to further their careers with a Fordham MBA.

Executive MBA (EMBA) students tend to be a bit older, with this group’s average age coming in at 36. A more senior cohort means a more senior salary, with the average salary for this year’s group coming in at $125,000.

Petit was charged with putting together like-minded execs who will spend one weekend a month together on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9 to 5.

“The classmates make up a big part of the experience, so we recruit a higher level,” said Petit.  “They survive the process together.”

Petit said that corporate sponsorship, once a given for working executives, has waned in recent years. But, in general, companies still want general managers to have an MBA.

“It is a changing market and one of the things that happens is that since students are paying more out of pocket, their level of commitment is that much stronger,” he said.

As Dean David Gautshi, Ph.D., pointed out in his webinar last month, GBA has been well known for its part-time MBA program for over 40 years.

In Poets and Quants’ ranking of the top 50 EMBAs, Fordham tied with the University of Western Ontario in Canada and is just behind the University of California at Irvine at No. 26.

The Poets and Quants ranking measures the overall reputation of EMBA programs by combining equally weighted ratings from BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and U.S. News & World Report.

The new ranking also takes into account an array of additional data to assess the quality of the programs, from surveys of student satisfaction to increases in income attributed to the degree.

“We are, of course, always delighted and thankful to be positively recognized for our Executive MBA program and for our dynamic and spirited EMBA students and faculty,” said Francis Petit, Ed.D., associate dean for Executive MBA programs in the Graduate School of Business Administration.

“We also believe this recognition adds to the continued momentum of our program,” he said.

The Poets and Quants’ ranking maintains the high profile of Fordham’s EMBA program, which last year was ranked 25th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and was among the top 25 global MBA programs as ranked by CEO Magazine.

Launched in 2010 by John Byrne, the former editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com, Poets and Quants has received wide coverage by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and BusinessWeek, and has reached 500,000 page views per month.

In its annual ranking of MBA programs, the magazine, which is published in London by the Callender Media Group, ranked the Graduate School of Business Administration in its tier one category for both its MBA and EMBA.

The big change from last year was that Fordham’s Executive MBA program was included in Tier I in the global category, something that Francis Petit, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Executive MBA Programs said reflected especially well on the school.

The MBA program, which had been unranked previously, was included in the North American regional category, putting it in the company of universities such as Columbia, Duke, Harvard and Stanford.

“This is, of course, positive news for our program and it continues the momentum we are building,” he said. “What is nice to see is that last year Fordhams’ EMBA program was ranked tier one within the North America region, and now we have made it to tier one within the global rankings.”

Both Petit and David Gautschi, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, were interviewed in a Q&A article for the magazine, “Take a Swing at This: The World’s Jazziest Institution, The Fordham MBA.”

In it, Dean Gautschi emphasized four themes the college has embraced as part of its commitment to its Jesuit heritage:

—Advancing understanding of business in the global economy.

—Advancing the understanding of business in a money center such as New York City.

—Advancing understanding of business in a media center; an element with a technological spin.

—An explicit drive to increase the societal understanding of business.

“These elements align together and all are anchored on the fourth and follow certain practice guidelines that in so doing reveal our Jesuit stripes,” Dean Gautschi said.

He also touted the creation of the Fordham Consortium, a gathering of 45 people from different walks of life, who come together to form discernment and to discuss ‘what is the purpose of business’, regardless of one’s global position.

“This organization is neatly reflected in the vision and construction of the MBA program where we are keen to bring different ideas and people together, not to drive unilateral thought but, to cover a range of different contexts. We need to understand these differences and celebrate them,” he said.

Fordham’s EMBA program is designed for business professionals and managers on the fast track toward challenging managerial and global assignments. The program focuses on building each student’s personal portfolio in management development with tools that can be implemented immediately in the workplace.

“We have been tirelessly focusing on how we can increasingly instill the Jesuit ideals within the Fordham Executive MBA experience,” said Francis Petit, Ed.D., associate dean for EMBA programs. “These initiatives focus on the education of the ‘whole person’ as well as building the global mindset and the importance of social responsibility.”

In addition to the required academic coursework, EMBA students will have the option of participating in a “Professional and Personal Development Initiative” within the Jesuit tradition. It is based on the following themes:

Career Management


This includes executive coaching, career life planning, goal setting, career enhancing skills and networking opportunities. Executive students will have the option of working with a coach/mentor throughout their studies and have access to career enhancing skills workshops, the Fordham University Alumni Database and other resources within the Office of Career Management.

Wellness


This includes areas such as health, nutrition, balance, meditation and spirituality. The goal is to enhance the creation of a well-rounded individual within the three pillars of the mind, body and soul. This initiative involves a working relationship with the NYU Langone Medical Center and Exhale (mind/body) on 59th Street in Manhattan.

Social Skills


This includes various social skills that are essential for business including wine tasting events, a golf clinic and other activities.

The second initiative is an Executive Certificate Option.

In addition to the academic degree requirements and required international capstone trip, Fordham EMBA students and alumni have the option of participating in a week-long international “Gateway” program that has a focus on strategy, business development, and social responsibility within a specific region of the world in the context of the Jesuit Tradition.

“Each ‘Gateway’ will incorporate class sessions, corporate visits, government appointments and a cultural component,” Petit said. “In order to qualify and obtain an Executive Certificate, current EMBA students and alumni must participate and complete one international Gateway program.”

Trip options include an executive certificate in global strategy on “Doing Business in South Africa” from June 19 through the 25th at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg.

A Gateway program for London, England, at Fordham’s London Centre at Heythrop College in Kensington Square is in the works for January 2012. Details are forthcoming.

“With these new offerings we are not only trailblazers in the Jesuit EMBA market but also in the entire industry as no other programs are offering such initiatives,” Petit said.

For additional information, contact Francis Petit at [email protected] and/or (914) 367-3271.

Also visit the following links:

Professional and Personal Development Initiative

Executive Certificate Option