Alumni Spotlight:

What I do now: My company looks after international payments and foreign exchange requirements for corporations across the world. We help companies reach parts of the world they typically can’t get to on their own and help them move money and facilitate transactions through payment channels across multiple currencies. The day-to-day workload consists of my team and I overseeing all relationships we have with clients. We have revenue targets for both retention and upsell, but our number one goal is to ensure the client is happy with the service they’re receiving and that we are an expert and trusted partner to them.

Why Hartwick: It felt as though Hartwick picked me in a sense. In March 1995, I was playing football (soccer for most people reading this!!) for England Schoolboys and while playing for my national team, the then assistant men’s soccer coach for Hartwick was in the stadium watching me. I ended up having a very good game and my father and I were approached afterwards to discuss if I would be interested in a four-year athletic scholarship. Up until that day, I had no familiarity with what a scholarship was and certainly hadn’t heard of Hartwick College! I’d been accepted into a few English universities at this point, but when I sat down and considered my options, I realized Hartwick was the best choice for me. It allowed me to obtain a degree, play soccer at the Division 1 collegiate level, and have the opportunity to experience the United States, albeit over 3,500 miles away from home!. As soon as I got to campus, I felt very welcomed, not only by the coaches and fellow players, but by the community as well. The community was very invested in Hartwick and the soccer program.

How did your Hartwick Experience impact your Professional Career: Hartwick shaped my career. For me, the degree in management had a wide curriculum that covered marketing, people management, accounting and how businesses generally run. When it came to thinking about the future professional world, I felt grounded and had a broad sense of how a business would work, based on what I had learned in the classroom. Being a student athlete also impacted my career, as the soccer program was run in a very professional manner. It was very important to always be on time, give your best effort, commit to a cause, and respect your coaches, teammates, and staff. It taught me about human values and gave me my first experience of a leadership role as I was made team captain for my junior and senior years. I had to lead by example and effectively communicate with others, and always with respect. At Hartwick, I was being taught all the time without even realizing it!

Necessary Skills for Pursuing this Industry:

• Knowledge of payments and the banking space.
• Personality and a customer-facing approach.
• Be open to new knowledge; you learn over time. And be realistic: you will make mistakes, but you will learn from them!

Favorite Aspect of Career: Travelling! In 2022-23, I was able to visit twelve different countries. I was immersed in different cultures, ethnicities, religions, etc. When you travel the world, you get the opportunity to see different things and places and it is a good experience to put your heart into being a good person, where you are respectful of the new people you meet and their own culture and beliefs.

Advice for students: Be inquisitive. Ask lots and lots of questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or guidance. Throughout my career, I’ve always been very forward in asking questions. If you don’t understand something, usually someone you know will. I think some people are afraid to ask questions, especially when speaking to someone in a more senior position. To me, seniority is a privileged position and one that should be available for mentoring, coaching and guidance. As an old mentor used to say to me, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer!”