Athletics Hosts Annual Leadership Forum
3/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Pirate Blue
March 27, 2014
The Seton Hall University Department of Athletics hosted its Third-Annual Leadership Forum for current student-athletes on Monday night, welcoming a group of four distinguished alumni to Walsh Gymnasium for a discussion and networking opportunities.
The decorated panel of professionals included Bob Ley '76 of ESPN, Jim O'Brien '82, the Senior Managing Partner of Napier Park Global Capital, former swimmer Shannon Morris `92/M.A. '94 who now heads the Sigma Group and Bob Sloan MBA '86, a Senior Marketing & eCommerce Executive with over 25 years of experience at telecommunications leader AT&T.
Throughout the evening, the panelists shared unique insight derived from their own experiences en route to becoming industry leaders. Consistent with the vision behind the introduction of the event, student-athletes in attendance spent the majority of the event participating in an open discussion that ranged in focus from optimizing one's time as a student to measures that aspiring professionals can take in order to differentiate themselves in a job market saturated with comparable candidates.
During the discussion which was moderated by noted entrepreneur Glenn Horine, the panelists were asked to share their personal thoughts on being proactive during the undergraduate years, how to best network and create valuable, lasting relationships in an increasingly digitalized business environment and the importance of being prepared and having an educated plan while embarking on a professional career.
Another recurring theme of the dialogue was how translatable and marketable the skills acquired and developed during the student-athlete experience are when transitioning into the work force and how to best present those competences in the job seeking process.
In addition to the question and answer session as a part of the formal event, there was also a reception held in the Walsh Lobby where the student-athletes were afforded an opportunity to have one-on-one conversation with each of the speakers.
Now a staple of the Helping Athletes Learn to be Leaders (H.A.L.L.) Program calendar, the forum was opened to student-athletes of all classes for the first time; and saw all 13 varsity teams who were not in competition represented.
"This event embodies the essence of what we aim to accomplish through the H.A.L.L. Program," said Roberto Sasso, Assistant Athletics Director / Student-Athlete Development & Leadership. "Continuing to expose our student-athletes to opportunities that will aid their personal and professional development is our primary objective and we are extremely grateful to have had such an impressive group of alums offer their time and come back to participate in this year's event."
"I think our student-athlete base recognized how beneficial the leadership forum can be," he continued. "The fact that all our speakers were in their shoes at one time as students here at Seton Hall and have risen to the height of their respective fields definitely helped drive the message home. Our student-athletes were engaged throughout the program and their interactions showed an appreciation for the value of the first-hand knowledge that was being made available to them and a desire to extract as much information as possible."
"As Seton Hall student-athletes, we are extremely fortunate to have programs such as this available to us," added Joey Lacus, a senior swimmer and President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. "Events like this are representative of the commitment the athletic department has to helping us succeed even when we are done competing. Being a senior who is preparing to go out and start my career, I can say the feedback from the panelists spoke directly to what I am going through now and a lot of what they shared will help shape my approach moving forward."
