The impact of COVID-19 on our professional lives has changed the way we work. While people are working from home or on the front lines of the pandemic, even more have experienced lay offs and are navigating unemployment.

What do you do when a pandemic disrupts your working life?

Join us for a panel discussion featuring alumni who have transformed their careers, switched industries, and put their skills to work in the past 7 months of the pandemic.

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PANELISTS

Alex Mathew BBA '07
Managing Partner, J&J Investments LLC
Project Management Consultant, L'Oréal USA
 

Originally from Kerala, India, Alex Mathew was raised in Brooklyn, NY and has a BBA in Finance & Investments from Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business. Alex's career path had pivoted more than a few times to say the least. Originally from Graphic Design he pivoted to Finance, then to E-commerce, then to Marketing, and now Analytics and Project Management Consulting, alongside being Managing Partner of a commercial real estate LLC based in Dallas, TX.

A NYC resident, Alex brings a left-brain/right-brain approach to finding solutions. He is easily distracted by maps and trendlines, and understands the importance not only of data integrity, but also clarity; the speed and ease with which anyone can read and comprehend the situation very quickly.

 

Noam Mendel MS '13
Senior Vice President at Citi, Model Risk Management

Noam is a Senior Vice President at Citi, Model Risk Management. Noam’s team is responsible for activities that include updating and maintaining the global model risk management policy, interfacing with regulators and Internal Audit, training, quality control and assurance, and independent review and challenge initiatives support.

Prior to joining Citi, Noam was a Principal at the Quantitative Services Practice at Promontory Financial Group, an IBM Company. In this role, Noam advised clients on matters related to model validation, risk management, and regulatory compliance. His engagements have included validation of structured finance models for a top credit rating agency, validation of models banks used for forecasting losses for DFAST and CCAR report submission, and validation of Bloomberg models the client used for option-adjusted spread and yield analysis. In addition, Noam developed DFAST credit loss models for a bank holding company, developed CCAR PPNR models for a large bank, established a method to evaluate anti-money laundering controls’ effectiveness, and tested Promontory’s transaction monitoring system to ensure optimal functionality before deployment at the client.

Previously, Noam was a senior air force procurement manager at the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s mission in New York, where he managed complex deals that complied with U.S. and Israeli rules and regulations.

Earlier, Noam worked in research and development at an electro-optical technology company, where he implemented and tested image processing algorithms as well as designing circuit boards. Noam was also a teaching assistant for the Advanced Electronic Devices course and served as Radar Operator in the Israeli Navy.

Noam earned a B.S. in electrical and electronics engineering from Tel Aviv University and a M.S. in financial engineering from Baruch College, City University of New York, and he is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM). 

 

Steven Hemraj MPA '14
Healthcare Entrepreneur 

Nineteen years ago Steve Hemraj fled his homeland of Guyana seeking asylum in the United States for persecution of his sexual orientation. 

Prior to migrating to the USA Hemraj worked in the private sector: 13 years in banking and three years in manufacturing and TV broadcasting. He was also the founding president of the Essequibo Coast Chamber of Commerce and Industry and led trade delegations to Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Costa Rica. 

Steve is a public health professional with 17 years of healthcare experience in program management and evaluation, clinical practice management, community planning and partnership, chronic disease management, populations health and quality improvement. His particular area of expertise is in HIV.

In 2004, he was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to serve as the first chair of the HIV/AIDS Service Administration Advisory Board. He served on the NYC HIV Planning Council as the finance officer for over 10 years. Last year, he received the New York Knows Master Class Award for his contributions in ending the (HIV) epidemic in New York. He is currently in startup phase of his own healthcare innovation company focusing on community health, linakge to care and matching resources through partnerships for greater healthcare outcome for minority communities.