Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published in “Alumni”

The Next Step: Rob Murray & Stripe

‘The Next Step,’ is a monthly series that features recent graduates who’ve made exciting moves after Stern. We hope that their stories will inspire and excite you about what’s next.  

This month, we are featuring Rob Murray (‘20), a former Stern Venture Fellow who found his post-graduation bliss driving growth at Stripe, a technology company that builds payments infrastructure for the internet. I sat down with Rob (virtually, of course) on a sunny September afternoon to talk about his passion for Fintech, his relentless curiosity and his advice for finding the ‘next big thing.’

Ok, we’ll start off with an easy question.

The Graduate: Mayoral candidate and Stern alum Art Chang takes on City Hall

The Oppy is reconnecting with some prominent NYU Stern alumni with our ‘Graduate’ series. Each month, we’ll interview notable alumni that have made an impact on their community and industry. 

It’s generally considered poor form for a journalist to eat lunch during an interview. I’m not proud of violating that principle, but fortunately for me, the subject of this sitdown was 2021 New York Mayoral candidate Art Chang.

“Oh, you can go ahead and take ten minutes to eat if you want,” he said before noting that he, too, had his lunch waiting on the side.

For a man with years of experience in city development, tech startups, and New York’s municipal government, Chang (Stern MBA, 1998) is almost disarmingly lax in conversation.…

The Graduate: Melissa Gow

“A career isn’t built in a day or week or a month or a year. Careers build over time, so have patience. But have perseverance, too. Each thing that happens is part of the journey – it’s about the long haul. That’s the way to build a successful career.” – Melissa Gow

The Oppy is reconnecting with some prominent NYU Stern alumni with our ‘Graduate’ series. Each month, we’ll interview notable alumni that have made an impact on their community and industry. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

This month, The Oppy sat down with Melissa Gow (‘96), Managing Director at IHS Markit.…

The Next Step: Ashley Crone & Propel

The Oppy is introducing ‘The Next Step,’ a new monthly series that will feature recent graduates who’ve made exciting moves after Stern. We hope that their stories will inspire you and excite you about what’s next.  

Our inaugural article features Ashely Crone (‘20), Director of Business Development at Propel, Inc., a fast-growing startup that builds software for low-income Americans who are often overlooked by traditional tech innovation. I sat down with Ashley (virtually, of course) on a sunny Friday afternoon to talk about her career, passion for social impact, and advice for soon-to-be graduating MBAs.  

Why did you choose to attend Stern and what were you looking to get out of it?

A “Zoomside” Chat with Lorenzo Fertitta

Lorenzo Fertitta has done and seen it all. And yet, despite his extraordinary accomplishments, he has remained modest and kind. Not one typically for interviews or being in the spotlight, Mr. Fertitta was willing to be interviewed by The Oppy because of his love and nostalgia for Stern. In fact, he and his brother, Frank, created and funded the Fertitta Veterans Program in 2016 at Stern with a gift of $15 million. It is not often that an MBA student gets to interview a living legend – or a billionaire. While I admit I was nervous at first to interview the Lorenzo Fertitta, he immediately put me at ease.…

The Graduate: Ben Sesser

“It’s a lifestyle decision, a different path. There are great parts of it and really challenging parts of it. If you look at probability, it’s not going to be the most lucrative and it’s not gonna be the easiest. But you’re doing it because you cannot not start a company.” – Ben Sesser

The Oppy is reconnecting with some prominent NYU Stern alumni with our ‘Graduate’ series. Each month, we’ll interview notable alum that have made an impact on their community and industry.

This month, we’re bringing you the story of NYU alumnus Ben Sesser (‘12), co-founder and CEO of the startup BrightHire.…

The Graduate: Kevin McNally

The Oppy is commemorating some prominent NYU Stern alumni with our ‘Graduate’ series. Each month, we’ll interview notable alum that have made an impact on their community and industry.

Kevin McNally is the Portfolio Manager of Clough Finn Investment Partners LP, a long/short hedge fund investing in closed-end funds (CEFs) and exchange traded funds (ETFs). He has over 27 years of industry experience focusing exclusively on these markets. Prior to joining Clough Capital Partners LP in 2014, he served as the Director of Closed-End Funds at ALPS Fund Services, Inc. from 2003 to 2014, where he was instrumental in launching approximately $13 billion in total assets of CEFs in 14 funds.…

The Graduate: Vanessa O’Brien

There cannot be failure unless one gives up – I know that for certain.Vanessa O’Brien 

This month’s edition of “The Graduate” features Vanessa O’Brien (‘97), a British-American mountaineer, explorer, author and (of course) notable Stern grad! Among Vanessa’s many achievements, she set a Guinness World Record by becoming the first woman to reach the Earth’s highest (Mt. Everest 8,848m) and lowest (Challenger Deep 10,925m) points. Vanessa is the first American or British woman to successfully summit K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain, has summited the highest peaks on every continent (the Seven Summits) in a 295 day span, and has skied the last degree to the north and south poles in 11 months (Explorers Grand Slam). Her…

The Graduate: Ilana Fischer

The Oppy is commemorating some prominent NYU Stern alumni with our ‘Graduate’ series. Each month, we’ll interview notable alum that have made an impact on their community and industry.

As the nation waited in limbo for election results last Friday, I had the refreshing distraction of sitting down, virtually, with Ilana Fischer, CEO of Whisps and Stern MBA (2011). Ilana spoke about leadership lessons she’s learned during her career and how her life-long passion for cheese ultimately led to her dream job.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Let’s start off with an ice-breaker question. Describe your go-to-cheese board?

The Graduate: Jim Louderback

The Oppy is commemorating some prominent NYU Stern alumni with our ‘Graduate’ series. Each month, we’ll interview notable alum that have made an impact on their community and industry.

Jim Louderback is among the most respected figures in digital media with a 20-year history of leadership at the intersection of publishing, media and technology. 

He currently runs events business VidCon as an independent division of Viacom.  Jim  joined VidCon in 2014 as editorial director of the industry track, and took over as CEO in 2017.  In early 2018 he led the sale of VidCon to Viacom.  He is also a Venture Partner at seed investment firm Social Starts and recently did extensive consulting with a variety of top tech and media companies.…

Mission News Theme by Compete Themes.